Rebuild/Upgrade Advise

I remove mine once a year in the spring, put it in a bucket with the K&N brand cleaner and then re-oil with their spray oil, looks like new when done.

IMO, the shorter the pipe run from the K&N to the VAM the better. Putting the filter behind the bumper will result in a significantly longer pipe run. The flow thru any pipe falls under the turbulent flow regime (nearly every fluid flow regime is turbulent unless designed specifically to be close to laminar flow, which is VERY difficult to do). In turbulent flow the fluid loses velocity due to internal friction, and is proportional to the length of the pipe (longer pipe = more velocity loss).

I ran my PVC pipe thru the circular opening in the pass side inner fender. Dont remember for sure, but I think I had to enlarge the existing opening in the inner fender somewhat to get the pipe thru to the fender well.

Jeff,
I can roll with that, just as long as the filter is outside of the engine bay to get cooler air. My thought is anytime a "Cold Air Intake" kit has the filter still in the engine bay is a big no-no.

^^^ Agree 100% I have seen plenty of alleged CAIs on cars that suck 120+ degree F air from inside the engine compartment. I usually laugh when I see stupid things like that

^^^ Agree 100%  I have seen plenty of alleged CAIs on cars that suck 120+ degree F air from inside the engine compartment. I usually laugh when I see stupid things like that

If you want a nice short tube off the VAM and lots of cold air, just go straight up through the hood with a K&N 38-2050S and you will never look back! 
   

And fabricate a forward facing 3 foot long cone on the opening to make a ram air system!!

Oh yeah mandatory

Damn, with a 3 foot cone and this outside the hood, we wouldn't even need all of this silly turbo stuff. Ram air should get you at least 15psi with that setup!

How do you like those Photoshop skills? I'm available for hire haha
I think that Hood piece looks a bit like a stove pipe, gives the old Thunderbird that locomotive look it was missing
When I said you'd never look back, I should have mentioned you might not look forward in certain directions either!

Sorry for late reply, got a little busy. Jeff, thanks for the info. I like the idea of adding a fan. I will look into this.

Block is out and about to head to the machine shop. A head bolt broke off. center exhaust side. Hopefully they can get it out, its got about 1/4" sticking out of block. Bore looks to be good, so I am planning on having them tank it, hone it, and deck it. Sounds like going back with sealed power rings and mahle rod and main bearings is the way to go, assuming nothing is too far out of spec.

ARP rod bolts a must?

I'm planning to replace the aux bearings, the shaft looks to be in good shape and the gear looks good too. I've read on here to replace the shaft, but I don't really see a good source for a new shaft, so I am curious if this really needs to be replaced.

I just read to stay away from the high pressure/volume oil pump. I already purchased the melling high volume pump from rockauto. I noticed on boport page, that he sells the standard and high volume version and says in the description that both are ok for the aux shaft. Is the pump from rockauto the same? Should I return and get the one that is listed as standard?

Thanks,
Adam