I have bought and received a cold air intake to suit a VZ v6. One problem though, the lid for the mounting frame that came is an ugly light brown color and really stands out and looks bad under the hood. My understanding was that it came with a black lid?

That is odd, I suspect that you have been sent out a lid that still has the original protective paper/plastic cover on it as we don't actually sell any brown covers. Can you please double check to see if it is a protective layer (it should peel straight off).. If it is still the incorrect cover we will be happy to send out the correct item.