Hell it must be stupid question day for me so I'll ask
one here, the '77 and '78 both have / had thin heat shields molded
around the manifolds coming off the head.  On the '78 one
was already gone, the second mostly gone and buzzing badly
so I removed it.  On the relatively cherry '77 one is OK the
other mostly gone so I removed it.  Now I ask, do these things
do anything such that I should be worried, frankly I don't
recall the '76 ever having them but they may have oxidized to
nothing long before I started working on em.  Only thing I can
see they do is isolate a little heat from the push rod tubes
and thermostat, and as they seem non replaceable (IE welded
onto the manifold section origionally) I guess I'm going to to
without.  Just wondering what ill effects might befall me.

John
ja@coe.wvu.edu