1G Sputtering above idle

[Brnfrt headache]

92 Talon tsi awd.
Got this car as a project that was barely a rollable chassis and a motor not hooked up but had enough hooked up to show me it started and didn't knock or anything so i bought it for $1000. It's supposed to have a good motor from a 91 and a fresh upgraded manual trans (he said $1500 itself) so i thought a grand was a fair price. $1200+ more and a couple months of work so far and not so sure about that. This is the only turbo car i've had other than an 85 Dodge Omni GLH i had back in the 90's so some stuff i'm a little less used to.
Just in the engine compartment, to keep on point, i have done the whole cooling system with all new parts, a whole new turbo piping setup with big intercooler, and had to basically assemble the rest from misc parts that were in a bin. I have come far enough to get it started and should be driveable now but i can't get it running good enough to do that yet.
It starts fine and idles pretty smooth but thats about all it does good. Once you try to rev it up it starts sputtering and seems to go very rich by the smell of the exhaust, then will want to stall before going back to idle. I recently drained the tank and put in some new premium and a new set of plugs but no real change in the sputtering. According to my vac diagram, i am missing my fuel pressure control solenoid, purge control valve and waste gate control solenoid valve but does have a boost controller hooked to the wastegate which i T'd into the line going to the BOV which i was told could work that way. I routed the fuel pressure reg vac line to the near open vac port to the left of it and have the 4 ports on the left of the plenum plugged off. I have pulled, switched and changed vacuum lines to no change so i don't know what else to try.
Does missing these solenoids and bypassing them cause this poor of running above idle or is my issue more likely with fuel delivery like injectors or the pressure regulator setup or simple like the fuel filter, none of which i have replaced yet?

I have some pics to hopefully show how i have things currently, hopefully they may show i've done something wrong or need to change something or that i have stuff right. Please keep i mind though that this car is intended to be a track only car and not a daily driver that has to pass emission tests or be good on fuel economy. Thanks for looking, Chris

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[Dsmkauai]

Boost leak test!! Common place is the jpipe, I like to use a very small amount of rtv on both sides of the gasket to help it completely seal. And don't t the bov to the boost controller. How are the spark plug wires and are they in the right order. And no you don't need those solenoids shouldn't cause the issues your having. Have you checked mechanical and base timing yet?

 

[EvilGST]

Is that the knock sensor plug I see just dangling behind the manifold and not plugged in?

 

[Brnfrt headache]

Boost leak test!! Common place is the jpipe, I like to use a very small amount of rtv on both sides of the gasket to help it completely seal. And don't t the bov to the boost controller. How are the spark plug wires and are they in the right order. And no you don't need those solenoids shouldn't cause the issues your having. Have you checked mechanical and base timing yet?

I will check the j pipe flange, that was on when i got it and i never took it off. Supposedly this motor came from a car that was running so i didn't suspect any timing issues being that it idles fine.
Where should i route the boost controller to?

Is that the knock sensor plug I see just dangling behind the manifold and not plugged in?

Is that the gray plug? I didn't see a place for it to go, what am i missing?
I only have a Chiltons manual, it came with the car...almost worthless.

 

[Brnfrt headache]

It's been frigid here lately but i finally got a look at the knock sensor and it turned out the po had it plugged into the other plug on the harness next to the grey one. The plug on the knock sensor was broken on one side meaning it probably was forced together. I plugged it into the grey plug and it ran so much better and no sputtering so i think problem solved, thank you EvilGST ! Only problem now is the snow will suspend a first test drive until ???