I did drive with the front part of the air intake off for a week, as far as I could tell it was just the same, so I put it back...
Bearing in mind the air comes in the front, does a lil dogleg on route to the back,, goes into the filter, then left past the MAF, goes down, through the turbo, back to the front again, turns right through the inter cooler, then back up, left, and through the EGR. and finally enters the intake manifold. Not exactly ideal is it.
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