So I was looking at the intake on my wife's '02 GLE the other day...
There is a cold air scoop between the radiator and the hood... not a bad idea! The scoop leads into a little box/resonator type thing, what's this called? It has about a 3" down leg on it with a grooved formed in it like you could put a hose clamp on it there. Well the down leg is closed on the end? I was wondering if anyone had cut theirs off, and what the effect was? If this doesn't make sense, I'll try and post a pic of it this weekend...

 

The "down leg" should lead to a white plastic container, if you're talking about what I think you are....That scoop brings in minimal amount of air though, and is not a CAI, since the stock air box assembly is very restrictive to free-flow of air.

 

It is also very beneficial for low-end torque, as I discovered recently when I reinstalled that scoop and connected it to the white box. I've gone the better part of a year with the scoop completely removed, and after reinstalling it the low-end/mid-range torque benefit was astounding.

 

Hmmmm. The plastic of the down leg is capped. That's why I was asking if cutting it off would make any difference. I'll get a picture this weekend, we have slightly different cars, so they might be set up differently. Uhhh, pardon me, but yes, that IS a CAI. It is a 100% cold air intake, no air comes from under the hood. Yes, you make a good point that the air path is not great. More than the change of direction, I don't like filter box slowing that air down, and then having to accelerate it again. Also, the bellows that attaches all this to the TB is bad for air flow.

Thanks for your interest!

 

agreed... if you uncapped it you would need to put some pvc or something to grab the air otherwise it would be just a waste because the airflow wouldnt be getting pushed into the engine. Never tried it though.