Roger Bill..... having raced a turbo car for years in rallying, all I can say is that turbo lag sucks! Getting the CR right and the right turbo impeller and size (i.e., not too big, and keeping it all tight, with a big exhaust pipe can make turbo lag go almost totally away.
The J-pipe shown is very nice and easy to fabricate, but turns in the exhaust side INTO the turbo can be a LOT,LOT tighter than that shown in the J-pipe pix, and it will still work fine; you can do 90 degree turns in an inch and it will work out. So the package can be made a LOT more compact than the setup shown. And the AC can be put up higher; not sure which AC package that Chuck is looking at but the Sanden type compressors are pretty small.