You take the chance of permanently damaging the engine IF the filter
without the housing becomes perforated, which it will, from road
debris and etc flying around inside the engine compartment when the
vehicle is at speed.

Put the BLACK BOX back on, and the air filter inside, and leave it be.

Lg

Werd!!!!!!!

Yep that SOUND really makes those economy cars much faster....

As for helping the car LEAVE it stock unless you want to do some damage.
Oh and K&N won't improve anything, except allowing more engine wear.

BUT you will get more SOUND....

Any changes might not sit well with the dealer (if he is still part of
the picture) and the warranty people. If the quality is there you
should be OK.

K&N filters got a great rep from going on air-cooled engines used in
motorcycles.  Then it looks like they decided there was more money in
the auto market so decided to move into that.  The only problem is that
an air-cooled mortorcycle engine is a completely different animal.  For
one thing the tolerances are not as tight.  For another, they last about 1/2
the mileage that a car engine does.  On a lot of bikes they run the engine
blowby right into the air filter, they don't bother with a PCV system -
this of course blows a lot of oil vapors into the air filter, making a
disgusting mess and wrecking the filter.  Replacing that sort of mechanical
misconecption with a K&N makes sense.  So does replacing the stock paper
filter on a dirt bike that is being ridden through liquid mud.  But a K&N in
a car?  Not wise.

Ted