Removing 8-port butterflies, input wanted

Hi guys, well since i bought my car with an 8-port import motor i had always wondered what the previous owners had done as the solenoid valve was not there, so the other day i decided to take off my intake and find out, i found that the butterflies were indeed still installed but were locked open, i did some research and found if they are not active then it is better to take them out as it still disrupts flow a bit, im never going to go through all the effort to get them working so i took them out this weekend, however i am not sure whether to take out the rod aswell as it exposes the holes between the ports :?: alot of threads on the net mention removing the rod completey and just welding the 3 outer holes closed to prevent a vaccuum leak however i am a bit worried whether the holes between ports may do harm, i know at the end of the day all the air coming from the intake manifold equally anyways but im still a bit sceptical, what do you guys think? The rod might not even cause much obstruction anyways but if im removing the butterflies i would rather remove everything. Here are some pics:

holes between ports

outside holes that will be welded shut

example of how the rod looks inside the runners, quite bulky actually

also another thing im worried about is since its 8-port the injector fires into one of each of the intake valves per cylinder instead of in the middle, and on my cylinder head i look inside and the valves that get the petrol are nice and clean but the ones that just get air look terrible and sludgy, il try clean them up and maybe they wont get so bad again since ive disconnected all breathers so the intake gets clean air only, i wish i had a normal 4-port but then i would have to change cylinder head and intake runners and feul rail. :facepalm:

Fuel.

Remove the rod if you are going this route. I take it there is a master throttle body further up ?

Hi Bigkriss, yes there is a master throttle body on the main intake, the butterflies in the runners are only there to be closed at low rpm's to give better low down torque, bt apparently at higher rpm's it restricts airflow a bit, so you reckon the holes between the ports won't be an issue aslong as the outside holes are closed? I would like to remove everything

Here we go i got the holes aluminium welded by a friend and then i filed it and sanded it neatly:

still would like to get the intake and runners polished before refitting them. Duno if il actually feel any difference in perfomance once all is done but i like the fact that itl be clear of unnecesary things since i would never have made the butterflies work.