I went to Budget Exhaust today to try and find a bracket to attach to
the plastic box attached to the MAF sensor (basically, a cheap pop-
charger), but no luck..

So, not wanting to leave empty handed, I bought a breather filter for
$7 ($4 US)...a la Danielsan...see the url for a pic:
Pic of Breather Filter

When I fit the filter on, the tube coming off the engine was dirty.
It looked like the grime you'd see on a throttle body...

QUESTION:
Is this grime bad?
Can I clean this grime? If so, How?

Thanks to all!
FLO_BOY

 

if its on the outside of the tubing I would assume that its just as dirty as your engine. If its on the inside it can be.

All you have to do is open the hood and pour soapy water in there, agitate, rinse and repeat. Walla a clean engine, to include one dirty(grimy) piece of tubing.

 

The tube you are replacing with a breather filter is a crankcase ventilation tube. It allows positive crankcase pressure to escape. Without it, the pressure can cause seals to be damaged, and oil leaks to thus occur. Because the pressure often carries engine oil, as well as gasses, and waste by-products of combustion, the stuff in there looks just like the stuff in throttle bodies because it is the same stuff essentially. The reason why it is vented back into the intake behind the MAF where there is vaccuum is because these gasses pollute. Which is why they are vented back into the engine to be combusted. Which is why your car will NOT pass a visual inspection during emissions testing.

Besides polluting a bit more, there really is no harm, and besides an unnoticeably neater intake pipe (for flow characteristics), there is nothing to gain.

I just suggest you vent the crankcase back into the intake before any emissions testing.

BTW, you can purchase plastic ones with what appears to be a cotton filter element for about $1-2, that does the same trick, but doesn't look as cool, but is arguably better because it provides a visual indication of when it should be changed and filters MUCH better then the K&N style filters.