Exactly! When you have an air box your metal MAF housing is attached to it. Without the airbox (unless you make a support) your MAF housing isn’t securely mounted and is free to jiggle around (how free it is to move I don’t know because I haven’t done it yet). Seems like the roads I drive tend to make things that can move move. In my mind that can be a bad thing. I think I am going to add a cone filter once I come up with a way to secure it to my liking in order to protect the filter, the MAF and housing, and the intake hose they connect to from constant movement greater than what they would see stock.