so I am building this car for track and occasional weekend/rain

driving
the dash is out, and the previous owner deleted a lot of the a/c stuff. my question is: the black box between the heater core and the blower... I assume that is for the a/c. i have consulted the fsm, and would also like to ask you guys:
1) can I just hollow this out to use it as ducting considering there will be no cold air flowing through it?
2) can I delete all associated wiring?
thanks
