A friend of mine recommended a simple but practical solution - remove the tube and install an o2 sensor. Plugs the hole and gives you something to monitor your engine tune. I had an EGO meter in another project and nothing gives you a more accurate indicator of how your mixtures are looking in real time. I would leave the heat shielding as the factory manifold isn't a work of art and you really need to do everything you can to keep engine bay temps down.