Wow! you have a memory like an elephant. That was a loooong read! Thankfully, it ended well. If anything was ever a dyno head shootout, that was it.
I'll never forget the look on my machinist's face when he stuck his finger in those Hughes CNC ports. He still ribs me occasionally on that dealio. Even worse when I drove 2 hours to have them flowed. The guy says " well, they sound like a garbage disposal".