I feel you on the budget thing, doing a setback can cause your cost to go way up.
If you have your intake machined for a shoe / ride plate, I don’t think that you will be able to run it without a shoe.
When you sand the epoxy off of the fiberglass in preparation for your fresh intake install, don’t grind off any glass around the edge, opening up the opening in the hull. Center the intake between the strakes and ensure that they are parallel.

Level the intake side to side relative to the strakes.

Blending the inlet of the intake into the hull makes a big difference as to how the pump loads. Try to blend a smooth transition from the glass into the aluminum of the intake with epoxy. Try to blend this transition as far forward as 9-inches from the front of the loader pad. Be careful here as blending in the entry can excessively thin the glass, and no good could result from that. Same thing in the rear of the intake, typically you will need to clearance the bottom of the hull for the ride plate. Build these areas up with fiberglass, no wider than the opening cut into the hull. This will also help to prevent excessive cross-sectional thickness of the epoxy holding the intake.
Set the intake suction surface at 4-degrees relative to the hull next to the intake opening. This drawing illustrates a back cut shoe. Set your shoe depth (with no shims), at the end of the back cut, to be even with a straight edge across the keel. This will be a safe starting point. If you set your intake at an angle other than 4-degrees or the machined surface for the shoe is cut into the intake at an angle other than 4-degrees to the suction surface, note that as it will influence the back cut angle cut into your shoe so that your installed back cut angle is correct to the hull.

Good luck,
Joe
NOTE: Revised drawing for clarity.