Man sometimes I just don't understand your thinking. Do you race or is this all DYNO testing. Cheese and rice if you aren't seeing ET increases at the track after porting an intake you better lay down the grinder. Give me a break.
Cheese and Rice? lol.
From my perspective...
I'm not a track racer. I did spend years with a Stock Eliminator racer for a mentor. A racer that Ford gave a car to, multiple class records over decades, yada yada yada. He owns his own bench and an home shop that makes many pro shops look half-assed (or call it "burger and fries" in the Great Lakes area lingo? lol ). He spent thousands on tenths. It's his passion and he is successful in about 50% of his experimentations. The fun is the personal pursuit for him. The trophies the recognition by the rest of the world. I'd imagine a like yourself from what I've read on the sites over the years. I have tremendous respect for people like you.
That being said - I am a street racer. A learn-by-doing street rat and I will say very successful "in my day". Success in that area needs the same drive and commitment, but in many cases (at least in mine) the value is what matters most. If you spend $1, you need to gain that performance. One simply doesn't spend $100 without getting something for it. From that perspective - intake manifold porting is simply not enough return on the investment. Not paying a pro, not paying Hughes(who I don't consider a specialist in this area), not buying a bench to static test. I'm not saying there's not improvement possible. I'm saying the best result you might get (assuming the racer actually is good enough to notice such a gain with their package) is not worth the cost. The BEST ain't worth it. So realizing any gain isn't worth it to me. Given the participants on this board, I think I'm in the majority here.