It's been a LONG time since I had my turbo off of its manifold, should I start with the engine dead cold or warmed up or somewhere in between? It seems every time I tried to remove the turbo in the past I would end up snapping something.

FWIW I'm using the copper locknuts and Gr.8 studs.

 

Don't worry everyone, I figured it out...

Cold and copious amounts of WD40 did the trick, now I have a gasket-matched turbo and manifold. w00t.