For the sake of consistency, the dyno should have been performed the same way for each intake. However, I think that because of the positioning of the scoop, the impact on the intake itself was negligible. The only thing that would have changed is heat dissipation around the engine itself. My thought is that for one pull, this did not impact the results either. If this was the 3rd pull, in a serious of back to backs, then I'd argue otherwise. I like what I see here!
I think a stock car is still needed in order to provide a better picture. The gain here could be attributed to two things:
We know that the Air Raid is worse than stock, so some of the gain seen with this intake could be simply bringing the power level back up to stock then on top of that some from improved efficiency. 15 is a lot! But I think some of that is a testament to the previous intake's (poor) performance.
Breathing mods compliment each other. BigMoney had exhale mods already done. In my mind, helping the car breathe in will certainly compound gains from exhaust mods as well.
Anyway, I would certainly chalk this up as a win for MDesign. My expectation was "0 gain over stock is a win, anything less is on par with current aftermarket offerings". The only question is: what are the gains over stock? I think it is clear that there are some, we just dont have a quantitative figure to show.