I say extend the upper rad hose a bit so it has a bump up to it, and put a nice big foam filter from Uni and keep it safe:
http://www.unifilter.com/onlinecatalog.html
The guy I sold my 35r to off of my 2g ran it filterless w/ a maf-t setup (he put some nice mesh stuff over it). I saw the setup about 3000 miles later and the compressor wheel was absolutely fuct.