To summarize, I mounted the intercooler and turbo in the bed. I ran copper tubing to and from the the turbo. I used a hollow drain plug as the return. The charge pipe was shop vac hose. I used an auxiliary oil pump to scavenge the turbo back to the oil pan. I had oil leaking into the exhaust housing despite the oil pump. Apart from the oil leak the turbo made boost and held it until the transmission shifted and then it would lose all power. I ran out of time to fix the oil leak, put an actual charge pipe on it, and tune it before moving. I returned it to stock before moving for obvious reasons.

 

can the turbo guys chime in on what makes a system only spool until shift change?

 

Needs load on the engine. Same reason you don’t build boost in neutral free revving. If you can manage clutch-less flat shift by briefly cutting ignition, boost won’t fall off near as much. Guys that are really good only loose a few lbs on the shift