Disc brakes on a '57 Bird

I'm in the process of installing disc brakes on a friend's '57 Bird. He bought a kit from someplace (don't know who or where at the moment) and so far,it's going together well.
My only concern, other than the fact that he's 85 years young and I hope I get it finished
before before he expires, is the close proximity of the master cylinder to the exhaust manifold (about 3/8"). The original m/c uses a sheetmetal shield between it and the manifold, of which I'm thinking of tacking an additional 3" of metal, but that leaves very little space for heat dissipation. Has anyone done a similar conversion and had this problem? I don't want him to be driving the car if the radiant heat is going to be boiling the fluid or melting piston seals. Thanks for any replies

Lee

Originally Posted by lees6t

I'm in the process of installing disc brakes on a friend's '57 Bird. He bought a kit from someplace (don't know who or where at the moment) and so far,it's going together well.
My only concern, other than the fact that he's 85 years young and I hope I get it finished
before before he expires, is the close proximity of the master cylinder to the exhaust manifold (about 3/8"). The original m/c uses a sheetmetal shield between it and the manifold, of which I'm thinking of tacking an additional 3" of metal, but that leaves very little space for heat dissipation. Has anyone done a similar conversion and had this problem? I don't want him to be driving the car if the radiant heat is going to be boiling the fluid or melting piston seals. Thanks for any replies
Lee

Hi Lee, Guess by the date you've finished the project, but...I do understand the concern. I installed a disc front and dual zone system using a '78 mustang master Cyl. on my 1955 T'bird. I spliced a piece into the heat shield so that it would extend to the end of the new M.C. I converted to sylacone brake fluid because I think it has a higher heat tolerance. I sure did worry about cooking the brake fluid! I've had no problem in 3 years but still worry. The car is a street rod and I just installed Sanderson headers, which gives me a lot of clearance.
Regards, Steve