I friend of mine has an '01 24 valve, and is changing his turbo, and will give me a really good price on his stock HY-35, Is this a doable swap? Or would I just be better off going with the smaller housing for my existing turbo? I plan on running 4" exhaust from the turbo out, getting the PODS, and re-working the air intake for more flow, and tweaking the pump also.

edit: Or if not, what is my best option?

 

The HY is too small for you if you want to run POD's. It has a very small exhaust housing so that it will spool up quickly, but it can't handle the mass volume of exhaust flow that you will need if you go to big injectors.

 

So woukd the HX35 work? And If so would I still need to get a smaller housing for it, or?

 

As long as you are not planning to go for really high horsepower, the hx35 is the turbo of choice. The stock housings from 94 to 2000 are 12 cm wastegated, and pretty good up to near 300hp. Very nice around town and at lower rpm's. For more top end, you can swap to a 16 cm housing, or a 14cm wastegated housing ($$).