Hello again my friends.
Once again I come to you in search of knowledge.
Turns out that my exhaust manifold was cracked and after looking everywhere, I was able to find one in San Diego. (100 miles from home) but after removing the old mani we found out that the original heat shield that seals the connection from Mani to engine was disintegrating.
The problem now is that the shield is not sealing correctly and is allowing air to escape making a really annoying sound.
can I?
-Take it off and connect the mani to the block with just the gaskets?.
-find a compatible shield (different model or year maybe)
and how do you search for the original? the local yards don't have these trucks.

if you guys have one Heat Shield for a 1978 20R pick up. or if you know of somebody who does I will really like to buy it.
Thanks,
Bayunco

 

When you say heat shield, do you mean the thin sheet metal piece that has another that bolts on the outside?

If that's what you mean then yes you can just get rid of it. I did it on both my previous '80 pickup and my current '77 with no affect at all. It also makes it a lot quicker to unbolt the manifold and kind of cleans up the engine bay.

The picture is my current setup. The blue plates on the manifold are my EGR block off plates, and I don't use the heat shield..

 

Thanks Bro,
That was exactly what I was talking about.
Since you didn't have any issues I think I will just follow you.
Thanks again

 

Just make sure your plug wires stay off of it. That's the only problem I've had but its easy to prevent.

 

Look how many people run headers with no shield. It'll be fine without. Looks better too. Get some high temp engine paint (1200* kind for exhaust) and paint it black. It'll look much better. The cast iron soaks up the paint really nicely.

It'll be perfectly okay without the shield though. As for plug wires use the looms from the valve cover an secure it really well. Good luck

 

I second that. Here is a close up of my stock manifold painted flat black along with the rest of my new exhaust system all from LCE about 2 years ago. I rarely drive the truck, but still have never had any problems.

 

Thanks guys,
I knew you would have the answers...
flat black looks really cool...
I appreciate it.
Bayunco