Obviously the heat shield between the exhaust manifold and the brake's Master Cylinder is there to keep the heat down, but how long could you go without the heat shield? I don't spend a lot of time sitting in traffic, so I figure there's always air going by to keep the temperature down.

thx

I've never driven the Z without the shield but the 810 doesn't have one. There is more room between the exhaust manifold and the brake master in the 810 than in the Z, however, so I guess Nissan didn't feel that it needed one. Why, is yours missing?

My 73 never had one that I'm aware of, never had any problems, 280's must be different.

Mine has a rust spot on the engine side, where the bend is. I took it off to de-rust and coat it (white zinc?), so it will be off for a while, and it looks cleaner without, so I might leave it off.

Come to think of it, I did have mine off for a couple of days. I was changing the a/c evaporator and I needed to remove the heat shield to remove one of the high side lines. I drove it that way until I was satified that the a/c was working correctly. It didn't seem to cause any problems.

It should be no problem as long as the brake fluid doesn't boil. Contemporary brake fluid has a much higher temp., so there is less worry of boiling.