Right after I picked up my X I tore the stock airbox out and threw a random cone filter on because I saw the inlet pipe ran into the fender.

I'm like the next guy in here, I see a puddle, I have to stomp in it like a little kid.

Anyways what direction does the inlet pipe go in the fender? My first guess was down twards the bumper, and thats why I removed the airbox because I did not want to suck water up through it.

Thanks in advance.

So, would it be a bad idea, seeing as the airbox is removed and a cone filter is now there, to just fab up something to plug that hole out into the fender, preventing water from entering that way? Now when I say fab something, I mean like cover the hole with duct tape

You could patch the hole, but the engine bay is a bigger hole. Spend your efforts on sheilding the filter from spray from the engine bay.

Yeah, when you splash in puddles, the water/mud gets on your fan and it sprays around everywhere. If you're not careful there's gonna be a lot of water in you intake since it's just a cone filter. Looking at my engine bay and all the mud on top of my stoc air box, I would not run the cone at all, or not go through any water if you do. Period. Unshielded there's a great chance of sucking water in.

This is what it looks like under the fender.

Great... Thank you very much for the replies and help.

Dude, you're awesome. I wouldn't have torn my truck down like that just to show some guy what it looks like under the fender.

So what do the *ahem* crumple zones look like?

So now we know that the stock design gets cool air from the fender well and is pretty well protected from debris and water.

Putting a cone filter under the hood gives you a good source of hotter than ambient air and exposes you to water.

Why did you put that cone filter on?

I removed that resonator in the inside of the fender so that I can keep my stock intake set up but with the added of better airflow and also cooler. I also added an AIRHOG drop in filter and drilled two drain holes on the bottom of the air filter housing in case I would suck up some water. I used to have an AIRAID intake system, I dished it and I totally love and prefer the set-up I have now. IMHO, this set-up creates better performance and better protection.

I am perfectly aware of the cone pulling hotter air in from under the hood. A friend of mine about 10 years ago had a grand-am and he made a water crossing about a foot deep, well the air inlet was about 8 inches above the ground. can you say hydrolock?

I removed the stock airbox and saw some dried up dirty water droplets. Noticed the inlet was in the fender and remembered the whole hydrolock bit.

My first guess was it went down twards the front bumper. I see how it is set up now but still unaware of where the box inlet is in the fender.

Edit: Looks like it comes in behind the headlight and the large box could be to catch water and drain it.

Has anyone relocated their air box? or at least relocated the inlet so that it doesn't suck in water.
Believe me, if you like to play in the water, you will get water in your air box. Then the mass air sensor will shut down your motor, not allowing you to tack more than about 1500 rpms. If it does happen, turn off the truck and get the water out of your filter and it should fire right back up and run fine. althought you might have to have the dealer reset your "service engine soon light" this happened to me with my 2002 sesc. May be alittle different on older models.

I modified my intake as well, using the stock air box.
the resonator that you see in the picture is sealed that is NOT the intake. It will not catch water as most of it, including the enrtry tube to it is above the intake tube to the motor.

The intake is in front of the resonator, yes closer to the headlamp, It is inside the fender and it faces rearward (toward the resonator). there is not much INtake space there at all. between the fender sheet, the inner apron and the resonator there may be 3/4-1" of open space for the intake to draw in air.

I removed the two resonators inside the engine bay, (one hanging off the rad, and the other under some relays in the left apron) as well as the one in the fender.
I pluged the opening in the intake tube with the lid off a jug of Valvoline 10W-30 and the OEM clamp.
I removed the rubber Intake tube from the bottom of the air box (where the intake temp sensor is) and plugged that opening with a 2 1/2 pvc plumbing cap, a self tapping screw and some RTV silicone. Drilled a 3/4" hole in the cap to re-install the intake temp sensor.
The short pipe that connected the Airbox to the resonator inside the fender is now my 'Intake' it rests inside the fender and faces rearward and up. This is held inplace again with a self tapping scew and some more RTV.

K&N element, and I acheved a gain of about 10-15km per tank of fuel.

Added a 'Tornado' to the mix, installed that right in front of the throttle butterfly and that has added another 20-30km per tank
10 tanks on the tornado so far, took three tanks to see a gain, but it has been consistant ever since. Still have a hard time believing that the thing actually works!