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Here is our Subie. It's not an outback, just the regular wagon.
There are three main paths for air to get into the engine compartment: the upper grill, the lower grill(s), and through the gap behind the bumper (see the 2nd picture where my foot is visible under the car, while looking down the front of the radiator). The engine intake is kind of interesting. The stock tubing is shown in the 1st picture. Oddly when poking my fingers through the front upper grill I could not feel this "funnel". This is because there is a deflector attached to the hood (3rd picture) which lowers in front of the engine air intake as the hood closes (4th picture). It does not seal the intake, it just prevents air from being rammed directly from the upper grill into it.
There is a 4th path for air to get in at present, but not a very good one. The fog light delete panels are actually grills and let air into the wheel wells (which are covered), and it can exit from the large hole in the fender that brucey used for his engine's air intake.
The changes I am considering making are fairly minor and are shown in the 5th picture. The license plate partially blocks the center low grill inlet, so I figure move it down a bit further and finish the job. Seal the flog light delete panels and the upper grill. The cross bars on the rack are already off, and the mud flaps come off this weekend.
Any thoughts on the opening on the bottom from the 2nd picture - seal it or leave it open?
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