I beg to differ with regards to the vacuum effect on the valve cover. There were a few tests that I read (it might take a while for me to find them) where a vacuum gauge was inserted inline with the tube running into the intake and it actually did not pull any extra vacuum. It was always reading 0 through all the rshared_pm range. Plus if you take into account an older motor that is actually blowing oil through that rubber hose and into the intake, it will raise the heat inside the cylinders and make it more prone to detonation and can foul out spark plugs sooner.

I do not think 4 ports is overkill. Also, the ports on the back of the block are technically hooked up like stock. In a stock motor that is how they are vented.