Basically the engine seems to have very little boost pressure, though it starts and runs smoothly. Fuel economomy has also markedly improved, which leads me to think the engine management is responding correctly to the reduced amount of air going into the engine.
If I give it full throttle, particularly when going up a hill or otherwise working the engine hard, at about 3000/3500 rpm boost kicks in and the car will accelerate away normally - lift your foot off and let the revs drop and the boost disappears again, like turning off a switch.
The local indy has done a Lexia session and informed me that there are no fault codes showing and the live data readings are OK.
The vacuum actutator valve has been swapped with another secondhand one, and it made no difference. Disconnecting the MAF brings on the management light, and the power is even further reduced.
So where do I go from here...I had a hard job keeping up with a 2CV away from the lights last week