my 99 OBW has the big ridiculous non-functional hood scoop. I was looking at the hood, and theres a plasic plate with screws that could be removed, opening up the scoop. Then i got to thinking how i could either modify my airbox or find a different airbox thats more or less open at the top allowing air to be forced into the throttle body. Has anyone tried this out? I know id have to relocate my MAF sensor. and someone on another board told me that the 99 model MAF is kind of flimsy. I think i would gain a few horses by doing this mod, also it would allow cooler air to be forced in, rather than warm engine-compartment air just being sucked in by the TB. Has anyone tried this or know how i might be able to go about it or am i just wasting my time? Thanks alot, Eric.

I don't want to rain on your parade, but I recall my 97 OBW drew its air from inside of the passenger fender well, up near the grill, not from the hot engine compartment. As well, I recall asking a Subaru technician about why the air box plumbing went all different directions and even had two sections of 2 inch diameter plastic pipe that extended about a foot and just stopped. He replied that they were designed to deliver or eliminate (duh, I can't remember) air pulses to the throttle body, or something like that. You may be creating a problem by eliminating them. Do some research first! And what about all of the water that you'll suck into that opening?

The hood scoop is not and never was intended to be an air intake- the Subaru is not a Chevy or a Pontiac . It was meant to ventilate a top mount intercooler- granted, there is no turbo nor TMIC on your car, but it still can function to ventilate your engine bay, just remove or space the blocking plates away from the hood:

 

 

The heat forced out of the vents was enough to melt the shell of ice on my RS :-).

oh well, it was worth a shot!

Other thing you could try is turning your hood scoop around. with the vents open underneith this would help draw hot air out of the engine bay.

 

I think on some models this can be done relatively easy. Others the hood scoop only goes in one way.

I THINK those tubes serve the same purpose on the Soobs as they do on my Z28... and that's as an intake silencer. It keeps the whistling noise down by using a tuned column of air. Took mine off of my Z28 when I installed an electric water pump, intake is a bit louder but no other effects... and I have a laptop plugged into that car all the time so I'd have seen any significant changes to MAF or MAP.

Turning the scoop may not change it's function. There is a high pressure region ahead of the windscreen base, because air is "bunching up" on it's way over the car.

 

The scoop would probably still force air into the engine bay.

It won't fit backwards without custom work either .