(deit: i didnt read anything p[ast the first post when i wrote this, so it's mainly useles... oh well) stick a cone on your stock intake, make little heat shield for said cone. drill a hole in bottom half of stock airbox and thread in temp sensor.

 

I didn't think about sticking a cone filter over the intake tube like that. I have mounted a 2.5" filter on a 97 MAF before and it worked pretty good. As far as the torque loss with the airbox removed, I did notice a slight loss of midrange toque when running the cone filter off the MAF but top end did seem to roll on smoother and stronger. That is measured with a butt dyno so take it for what it is worth.