"cold air intake"
 

so i went to attempt to stick what everyone calls a cold air intake on my 7 today and came across a problem. turns out after taking the air box off i discovered i would need an adapter plate to make any sort of cai work with the sensor below the air box. also i noticed that by removing all the air box i wouldnt be opening up and let more into the engine at all. so my real question is is it worth trying to install a cai? the only upside i seen was maybe cleaning up the engine bay a bit by losing the box and maybe some weight. any input would bt great

Most "cold air intakes" = hot air intakes. Unless you take the time to make a box to seal the filter off from the rest of the engine bay. You can see an example of the box I made here: https://www.rx7club.com/2nd-generation-specific-1986-1992-17/diy-cold-air-box-830116/

Also, the AFM adapters can be purchased on ebay.

The point is, unless you seal the filter off, you're only going to increase intake air temps, which will make you LOSE horsepower. NAs in particular do not need to replace the stock inlet duct, and will be just fine with a good drop-in filter.

so basically just deal with the stock air box unless i feel like making a custom air box to keep out the hot air?

Yes. The stock air box is more than adequate on an NA.