Can this "Air Tube" be removed?

[illapino]

There is something covering my radiator cap i think.
it's a long black rectangular tube, has an opening at the very front of the hood that reminds me of a soapdish for some reason.
it leads to my air filter box.
i'm sure my car is stock, but it seems strange that it's covering the radiator cap to begin with
can i just screw this tube off and remove it from my engine?
k8s with cold air filters don't seem to have this black tube
its presence over the cap is making me twitch.

[Si1verBullet]

Think about the moulding and production costs for that black piece of plastic.

Would Mazda have bothered if they did not need it ?

If you are running the stock airbox it does a valuable job of getting fresh air in.

Dont remove it.

[state_red]

Cold air intakes don't need the tube because they normally take their air from the wheel well or bumper of the car... if you're going to remove the airbox routing tube without adding new routing, you're going to be sucking the air from right beside your engine, which if you've ever lifted up your hood after driving, gets quite hot. Hot air, means less air into the combustion chamber and less efficiency/performance.

If it bugs you so much not being able to reach your rad cap, do the CAI mod.

[jschrauwen]

its presence over the cap is making me twitch.

Well then, stop your dang twitchin'..... LOL. Nothing to be concerned or worried about. Looking for problems that aren't there. Coolant levels are maintained through the reservoir. One can also add coolant directly to the filler neck just above the timing belt. Routinely, there should never be a need to get at or perform any sort of maintenance to the rad cap. You said, "I'm sure my car is stock". That being the case, then you best retain it as per the reason mentioned in previous post. Exactly what makes you twitch about it?
Is this something you should be sharing with your Doctor or Mental Health Advisor? j/k

[illapino]

okay thanks guys. i just wanted to verify that the tube was part of the air filter box. my point of removing it was, yes, to have the rad cap available to my eyes, but at the same time i do acknowledge that the best and only time i should remove the tube is when i replace that system completely with a new cold air filter. which brings me to my next prognosis:

Injen?
Weapon R?
HKS?

I typically prefer brands that aren't made up of acronyms so I'm leaning toward Injen at the moment... Please specify a particular model name of intake while you're at it and where (on the internet) would be best to order the device for shipping to westcoast Canada. Thanks

[Hoodzy]

theres a sticky on the very top of this forum....

[illapino]

called Hoodzy's How To

[JoshVK]

doesn't the stock air box have another little tube (its blosked off) but i belive there is one on the fender side.