I'm not too worried about the engine noise anymore... though I will eventually build a new 3.0.
update time!
just thought you guys would be interested in this. I bought this intake off of ebay for my Toyota knowing it would be cheap ($33). I am a little surprised though to be honest. Came with more than I thought.
Typical K&N copy... needs to be oiled. Same quality as the $20 spectre filter. Tubing, adapter and brackets are made of lowest quality, fairly ductile aluminum. Surprised it had brackets though. Not sure why I have a breather filter either. Silicone hoses are really thick.
A little surprised at this, but expected... Just drilled and welded it up. I'm going to clean this up so nothing gets in the engine.
Also a little surprised at this too... These are for sale all over the place, but this is definitely not a machine weld. It's a TIG weld by hand.
I'd say it probably cost $8-10 to manufacture and about $5 to ship. not too bad of a profit margin anyway. Let's see what it does on the car.
edit: another note... the VAF meter adapter is better than the one you can pick up at a parts store by Spectre. I say this because I bought one for my Mazda and had to drill the middle four holes that these meters use, and as a result I was off by a bit and could only use 3 nuts. I shouldn't have a problem with this.