This reminds me of an old story about how Henry Ford's heart was broke when in the 1934 or 1935 Indianapolis 500 several stock block Ford V8s were entered and were doing really well for about 300 miles or so until the heat from the exhaust manifold seized up the steering box and none of the Fords finished the race. As I recall (just from reading racing history) the mechanics on those cars were the Granatelli brothers! Moral: what looks clear when cold may be too close together when the engine gets up to operating temperature! Maybe an aluminum plate between the headers and the MC will abosorb some of that heat; make sure it is BLACK for best heat absorption! I have the same problem with the starter solenoid on my SBC 350 but so far it has been a problem to find a shield that will fit in that tight space as well as fit the bolt holes. The usual situation is that what you buy may or may not fit!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder