[Zero10]

Haha, you risk all sorts of disasterous things. I have since realized the impact of these things, and removed all of the modifications done to stock boost control, and run between 11-13 psi.

If you want a smaller turbo, my advice is to go grab 2 turbo's from an 80's subaru with the turbocharged flat 4 1.8L. Those are much smaller, spool much quicker, and are nearly bulletproof. I can't recall what brand they are, but they're very cheap to get/replace as well. Very common turbo's.
If not, go perhaps for a tubo diesel's turbo, one of the VW ones, sized for maybe 1.6 or 1.9L. Those things are built to supply 20+psi of boost for 1.6-1.9L of displacement. Very tough little turbo's, pretty quick to spool up as well. I've seen lots of them going 200k+ miles, running 20psi of boost their entire life. Tough little turbos, and they would be sized appropriately for pairing them up on a 2.5L

Now, back to my setup and problems. The reason things can go so wrong, is if you get just a little bit lean, EGT's will skyrocket, forget a gradual rise, they will just explode upwards. Not to mention, it's already way off the turbo map of the K26/6, which means the efficiency is crap. That said, with a big turbo, and proper mapping (read higher fuel pressure, bigger injectors, etc), 23psi can be achieved relatively safely. With the K26/6, its a miracle that I didn't burn a head gasket, or exhaust valves. But I did melt part of the exhaust system (no lie!), if that gives you any idea how hot things got.