Nicks Garage 383 build

Speaking of manifolds, did anyone else notice Nick had a short, maybe 1/2" spacer on top of a divided-plenum intake? I've never liked that transition from open to flange irregularities/shelves. On a 4-hole intake, you can run an inverted tapered 4-hole spacer with the holes DOWN to smooth the flow, and on a divided plenum, HVH makes a radiused-rib spacer that fits RPM intakes' divider perfectly, but an iron factory intake could be port matched to it. Not sure if this caused a torque deficit, but I can't see that flow pattern being good or helpful. A 1" straight 4-holer probably would have jacked their torque numbers a bit, IMO. Like someone said earlier, there is more to successful engine building (for power) than bolting parts together.