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Basically, my approach was to open up as much of the back of the box as possible without compromising how well it supported the filter. In order that the box doesn't develop cracks or allow air to leak around the filter I rounded the corners of the cutout and stayed clear of the adjacent sides and mounting brackets.
Here's the cutout:
To tap into a source of cold outside air I played with several ideas I came up with when visiting local hardware stores, notibly Home Depot and their dryer vent/stovepipe aisle. I thought about removing the fog light and running a pipe from there. Fortunately there was this large flat open stretch of plastic between the fog light and the wheelwell (actually part of the wheelwell lining). I was able to cut out a 4" diameter circle and install a dryer vent fitting. I used silicone glue and pop rivets. Here's a top view with the light assembly removed:
Here's a close up. Note that the horn was remounted to an existing bolt-hole in the fender:
Here's what it looks like from underneath:
Next is what I cameup with for the intake pipe:
(Roars of laughter...I don't care. Part of the reason I wouldn't buy a Porshe). Fact is this design provides a much smoother path than those accordian rubber tubes they sell at the auto supply stores. I might pretty-it-up with some foil backed insulation. I went through a couple other attempts but this was the simplest and least restrictive. It slips right over the inlet adapter, as shown:
Here's where the top end of the pipe needs to fit...a view of the mounted filterbox with the headlight removed:
Here the pipe where it enters the box. I removed the top joint from the upper 3" elbow. It's a thin aluminum version, not the steel type like the 4" bottom elbow. It's thin enough that it flattens just a bit as you bolt the filterbox down on top of it and becomes very snug.
Kind of sexy, what?
This is the top view just before installing the box. The foam is standard 1" x 1" window insulation that I glued in place with some 3M spray adhesive. It gets squeezed between the box and chassis, where there's about a 1/2" gap, and seals out hot engine air pretty well.
Hopefully I'll be able to pay Shawn Fogg a call sometime after this year's HC to do a direct comparison of air flow between my original one and the mod. Like I mentioned, I tried a couple other designs for the inlet tube. This one seems to flow better. The sound is actually not much different than stock. The others had more hard angles and also produced more of a growl at certain rpm's and loads. That's fine if you like it, but IMO it indicates air resistance or resonances that impede air flow.
Thanks to everyone who had input on this subject over the past year. Also, thanks to Cargogal for her great writeup on posting pics using Roadfly.com.
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