Performance altering things like that cannot be done, per Pyro many years ago. We'd need new versions added to accomplish it.(Pyro's information came in reference to making Spitfire wing tips a hangar option)
You started this thread and it was obviously about your want and desire in spite of your use of 'we' and Google.
Yes, but only in the same way that a bomb, or any other form of rockets do. They add drag and weight only, they don't actually change the flight model.
Drag and weight affects performance the filters add drag and weight in the same manner. Other than that they do not affect flight characteristics any more than a bazooka tube.Their function was to keep sand out of the engine nothing more.
But wouldn't the filter reduce airflow to some degree?
If we had a dessert map (which others and myself have ask for) the filter would make since. Also we could use the dessert skins.