I have seem some tuners claim the high pressure at the grill area will help force more air into the intake track. That is why they make the move to the long intakes. That's what I am trying to do with this mod. They have also made good power with the stock intakes. I am hoping this will only make the stock air boxes work better.

 

do you have any photos of your mod before the grill is installed?

 

My thread has some pictures. Send me a PM and I'll text you some of the pics.

I was going to go the same route you did but after careful consideration. I believe Upgrading inlet size to the boxes was the way to go.
The area behind the grill is a high pressure area for sure since the condenser/radiator slow the velocity of this air pushing some of it to the side. This is one of the reasons why adding velocity stacks to the tubes helps.
The failure of my setup is that is almost impossible to fully seal since my tubes are jammed in the core support.

In my opinion: Velocity stacks to your tubes and place the filter inside of the box itself

 

Hey @JME377 did you finalized the install? Opinions?

 

Not Yet! Have a little more cutting to do. Air box needs to go down a little more. mounting point on bottom of box keeps it up alittle too high

 

I would think that having the stock airbox over the pipes would cause heat retention in the box and lead to higher IAT's.

 

Would having bigger (3") piping/MAF housing/throttle bodies allow for increase in power somehow? Would the engine's computer throw in more air and gas per combustion as a result?

 

In theory, yes. Not a simple bolt on and go though. Change in MAF housing = tune required; all aftermarket intakes that are 'plug and play' taper down the MAF housing to OE size.

example: https://afepower.com/afe-power-ta-30...-intake-system

 

Install is done Only thing I have noticed it the car spins more but runs the same ETs but with worse 60fts. Hoping to get a good full run and post results soon. For now here are some pics

 

If you have a way to check your airfuels you should.

My car was running amazing with AEM filters and a gutted oem box.
When I switched to Q50 intakes with aftermarket filters and a custom 4 inch box I noticed it slightly leaner = slower but a good feeling since it means some tuning would yield better results.

 

Cool Any pictures of the custom boxes

 

Here's the crude aluminum version to get visual idea. Last picture is harder cardboard version since the aluminum version caved in during the second pull.
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VERY NICE You got me looking for Q50 air boxes now!!! Should get a nice ram air effect from that! What about behind the grill? how did you do that?

 

The HVAC Duct caved? DAMN!!!

 

Yes they did. The V36 engine bay get stupid hot. Seeing 150+ F will start to melt adhesives and I believe this is what happened. It was HVAC tape triple reinforced but still caved. The good is that I was able to use it to make a mold for the poster board design.
As for the front I have two 3.8 inch drain pipes feeding the boxes and going to the front. The pipes come out about 1/4-1/2 inch out of the radiator support, Since my pipes are open I'm still debating if I leave them where they're at or try to bring them closer to the grill.