The difference in size between the K&N and OEM is striking
my 96 80 came with a K&N, no junk in the air tube on this one as it was never taken off road but my neighbor used a K&N on a Tacoma that saw a lot of off-road duty and it let a bunch of crap through, he went back to paper, this one will see some dusty environments so I got the OEM filter
I would think about it for a wile before I messed with the plastic tube in the fender, the air box on the 80 is a very effective centrifugal pre-cleaner. The air coming in swirls in the box, centrifugal force and gravity move the heavier bits out and down where they meet the hole for the catch can, I cleaned mine out and just a week later there was quite a bit of junk in there, really nice feature should allow the filter longer life in dusty conditions the restriction may be there to increase intake air velocity increasing the swirling effect
