I hate to tell you guys this, but the benefit of that added air volume and therefore flow of a large open element conical filter still far outweighs the negative drawbacks of sucking in the slightly warmer under hood air temperature. Especially with a blower car!!! And let you in on another little secret....Kenne Bell doesn’t recommended the use of an aftermarket open element filter not because it’s harmful to the engine, or that it won’t gain any additional horsepower. It’s because they want you to spend the money on “their” cold air kit, instead of rigging up your own.
I had this same worry as a lot of you when I went from the stock airbox with a K&N drop in to a large volume open element filter on my car. The tuner at the shop that did the dyno work to my car told me that they'd tested on several occasions the differences between each and the result was a whopping 7-deg C rise in the air inlet temperature. Not to mention the conical filter provided literally double the flow potential!
The end result....I picked up 21RWHP going from the restrictive flat panel filter in my modified stock air box which I had also previously upgraded to a K&N (and was also completely shielded from heat BTW) to a 9” conical open element K&N unit. I did later rig up a shield around it, but it was mostly to keep the filter clean and because it added a little “Bling” under the hood.
Either way....added airflow, even if it is a little warmer than ambient is going to be more of a benefit, than a hindrance!