Remove intake duct = WAI?
 

I had to remove it the other day to install LED sidemarker. I had a thought: would removing the intake duct (black triangular piece on passenger side front) double as a poor man's warm air intake?

http://pictures.topspeed.com/IMG/cro...-20_600x0w.jpg

Not really. As soon as you get moving the engine bay is flushed with ambient air. You might gain a degree or two, nothing significant.

Combined with a grill block it can be very effective.
Overly effective, even. I had to put my intake duct back on. The grill block gives better control over conditions than the duct removal.
With any of those it is advisable to keep monitoring air intake temps.

As with grill blocks there is the added danger of raising the general under hood temperature high enough to cook the battery. Maybe not literally, but it does not like getting much hotter than 40°C / 104°F.