Biggest thing the intake will do is change where you make the power. I currently have a short ram set up on my truck to make room for the second battery. It is loud, and has moved the power band up in the RPM which is not what i would like in a heavy truck. When I get settled in to a new place I'm going to make a full on airbox for it again, and make some changes.
After doing parts designs for a while now, I will say stay away from tight radius bends if you can, keep things as smooth as possible, and if you aren't designing with a dyno on hand, then be prepared to have to scrap a few attempts to achieve something that is actually an improvement.
