On a 88 IROC 350 TPI does anyone know the purpose of the plastic baffles that are below the air filters? They are "u " shaped and held in with screws They route the air away from the filters. For performance should these be removed to get the air more directly to the inlet side of the filters?

 

GM has been doing stuff like that for many years in all different cars, they are installed for noise reasons mainly ever since a drive by noise restriction was passed back in the early 70's, that is what did away with all the cool ram air cars and functional hoods for a while.
Anyway, ya removing the baffles will help air flow, but most people go a step further and just remove the enitre plastic piece out of there and expose the entire underside of the filter, this will require some cutting though. Larry.

 

Thanks for the info, I've owned this car less than a week, so I'm really stupid about 3rd gens. I'll take your advise and open up the bottom too. I used my die grinder and got rid of other obstructions at the MAF end of the duct, that and a little JB weld to smooth a very rough transition point. Probably won't make a tinkers darn but, a lot little things adds up.

 

I've always wondered what those things were for. It looked like it was just getting the air to the center of the filter instead of coming in sideways.

Thanks for the knowledge.