As to the detective work - thanks. I feel like a bit of a fool as it should have been obvious the moment I removed the dan flap. Actually, I should have been obvious the first time I disassembled the valve; yet I only noticed the big hole in the side of the valve the second time I removed it from the intake manifold!

As to the filter - yes, that was a bit of a cock-up on my part. Whoops!

As to the G.A.S. kit - "WOW" is all I can say. What a piece of work. What I especially liked was the aerospace grade silicone gasket; very trick. All that aside, you can really tell that the engineering behind the part was very thoroughly thought out; I can really appreciate that. The only thing I would change would be to add a "bevel" to the little shaft that the DISA plunger slides over so that the clip-ring can fit in there at the appropriate depth (getting that thing in while allowing a little clearance was a bit tough). That said, I am overall VERY pleased.

As I said, I'll be ordering two more up in short order (the other two cars are in storage for the winter already so there's no rush).