These heads both specify the same fel-pro gasket and having seen both heads I really doubt it was port alignment unless the deck height was out of wack.
The most likely culprit was the difference in the intakes. The TF street intake makes loads of torque across the rpm band (good) but its peak power capability leaves something to be desired. Switching to any other intake that has better flow capacity will net more peak power but at what cost of torque.
I use a TF R series intake that would be a peice of crap for around town cruising (read no bottom end torque) but makes great peak power. Beats every other intake I have used, but I wouldn't use it for low rpm cruising. There are trade offs to almost every combination.
This particular "test" sounds like the editors were close to deadline and needed to fill some space in the mag. Conversation probably went like this " Hey we need a story. Lets go test two different intakes, get different numbers and write it up. No one will know any better, they think we are gods. Sounds good to me, lets do it."
Mike
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