Steve, your very observant. The intake for the supercharger is at it's rear, also to make room for the SC bypass valve (the thing thats makes this SC liveable), the air intake plenum must be positioned this way.

The "steel" box around my air filter is a cold air box. It helps shield the filter from sucking up the hot under hood air. This is especially important when you live someplace that is almost as hot as HELL in the summer! And it's not made out steel, but a corrugated plastic sheet. I've got a post about it on the Vmag board, I think you can search for "air box" or "cold air box".

I was going to wait to post to this message, until I talked with Featherfoot at Alpine, but since I never got to calling him this week, I thought I'd respond to your questions. I will post a followup after I talk to the John.

Kirk