d3adrock wrote: "
One question i have would be, is it really necessary to get more airflow?" and "
however since im doing a bunch of performance mods (exhaust, cams, hi-comp piston, vm carb) is it really necesarry to mod the airbox?"
Please think about those questions and what you are planning to do.
The performance of your engine is tied directly to how much air it can move through the combustion chamber. You add fuel in proportion to the air. More air means you can add more fuel. Less air means you have to take away fuel. It's very easy to add fuel. It's much harder to add air. You only have atmospheric pressure driving the air into the engine, about 14.7 psi.
Your plans to change the camshaft, carburetor, and exhaust are intended to move more air through your engine, and the Wiseco piston is intended to compress the air more than the stock piston. It really would be counterproductive to improve airflow downstream of the air filter but not improve airflow through the filter. It's as if you are trying to suffocate the thing by placing a pillow over it's mouth and nose.
Generally, you pick the low hanging fruit first. Improve the easy stuff. That would be air box and exhaust system. They don't require any engine surgery.
You can amp up airflow through the airbox with a few simple mods that are free. Pull out the snorkel and remove the plastic cover on the right side of the airbox. Even with the stock air filter element, those changes will yield big flow improvements. Installing a K&N flat panel filter will amp things up even more. But you already have the UNI filter, and it flows real good.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1523302904You absolutely want your airbox/filter setup to complement the other enhancements you intend to implement. You really want a airbox/filter setup that will flow more air than the engine can use, not less.
This other old post might also be useful.
http://suzukisavage.com/cgi-bin/YaBB.pl?num=1543600189Keep in mind, power is all about air. Most of the high performance upgrades commonly used are intended to get more fresh air into the cylinder. Larger carburetors, trick intake manifolds, ported heads, exhaust headers, free flowing mufflers, etc. They all improve the flow of fresh air into the engine's cylinder.
SUPERCHARGER! Think about that word. Does a supercharger force more fuel into a cylinder, or does it force more air into a cylinder? TURBOCHARGER! Same question. Nitrous OXIDE injection. Oxygen rich cryogenic liquid sprayed directly into the intake manifold. All these power adders try to accomplish the same thing. Get more air/oxygen into the cylinder. It's all about the air. More air = more power potential. Once you have the air it's easy to add the fuel in correct proportion.