Yes, I had to cut the metal part of the ebony hood.
No, I never got around to putting a collector together. I'm waiting to do that for when I get a new intake system.
I did add a nice looking screen for the ducts though.
BTW: the screen that I've used in all my mods is a swimming pool fence screen. I got a 10' x 3' roll of it from Lowes for $18. Easy to cut and work with, and looks good!
**Oh, and yes, the vinyl is removable. I even bought a spare roll of vinyl to replace it with.***