it would affect airflow, you know engineers take hours to design that stock air box.... which is useless.

yah you could unplug everything (except the maf) and the car will run, don't expect any gains though.

or a ghetto fab pep boys intake. both will yield similiar results. most of your gains will be in sound, not power, so be warned.

sharpmaxell wrote:

all intakes are the same, tubing and cone filter. no need to spend the hundreds unless you want the name.

+1. the extra flow is what makes the difference, not the brand name. just make sure you go for at least a LITTLE bit of quality (ie. proper fitment).

well, i just saw a topic where someone removed just about everything but the MAF, changed the rippled rubber pipe with a smooth one, and a breather filter on the cam cover, so that looks good right now, since im a little short on money and it looks pretty promising. has anyone else tried that?

All of the various boxes and compartments that protrude from the airbox setup were designed by Nissan, as with all automakers, to serve as resonators that quiet the roar of the intake.  If you give the sound more room to reverberate, and in the process cancel itself out, it will muffle it quite a bit.  There is little to no horsepower lost in these chambers, as they only slightly affect airflow, adding minimal turbulence.  My best recommendation, which is what I did to my car, is to buy a MAF adapter (Treadstone is very good quality), a GOOD cone air filter (I got an AEM DryFlow), and then I made a simple bracket to hold the piping still during driving.   I HIGHLY recommend this, much cheaper than a full intake, with all the benefits.  Throttle response has improved a bit.