That makes a lot of sense. About how the MAF sensor works.

The port for the egr valve was pretty much blocked when I took everything apart and now that it is clean I think it maybe malfunctioning. I'm going to make a bypass plate later today and try that.

As for "priming" the turbo I put oil into the oil inlet and manually turned the impeller. Then I held the fuel closed and had some crank the engine to bring up the oil pressure.