A bad idea to totally disengage the ACIS (valves open) 'cos you would loose all your bottom end torque.
Before I fixed my ACIS the valves were stuck in the
closed position so while my car was fine at lower revs, I was loosing a lot of power at high revs.
Toyota designed it to work the way it does for a very good reason.
As for the riser/spacers, I have no idea of their value.
I have read several posts on various forums about them, but have never found anything conclusive.