Recently, I found a nifty illustrated PDF online about removing the rat's nest from 1st gen RX-7's. I'm having mine restored and I figured I would get this done before the ol' girl went in for the body work. However, the illustrations in the PDF do not match what I'm seeing in my car.

Is this my Air control valve? This one differs from the one pictured in the tutorial slightly.

https://i.imgur.com/gXJ6m.jpg

And is this where it goes?

https://i.imgur.com/Y3aG1.jpg

Lastly, I have a pretty severe backfire that I believe is the result of an exhaust leak. So I have ordered a brand new exhaust, headers back. I assume with headers, I couldn't have this control valve anyway, as it hooks into the exhaust manifold. Am I seeing everything correctly? Please, if I'm doing something wrong here, someone please correct me. Thanks!

 

Yes that is the ACV pictured and yes it goes onto the intake. make sure to use a good gasket for the blockoff plate to prevent airleaks. if you order it from RB they give you the block off plates.

As far as the backfiring start by seeing if you're running real rich. My cars got everything working, but it still backfires a bit. These cars seem to just backfire.

 

It only backfires after the car has been shut off, maybe 2 or 3 seconds afterward. Unless I misunderstand the concept, if I were running rich, wouldn't it backfire while I was driving with some smaller pops? What I have right now is one HUGE backfire when I shut the engine off. I've had people mistake it for a gun shot before.