When building a heat shield, what is the major thing that I should take into consideration? Does the filter have to be completely covered or should I leave a side open?

You want it open to the fender side and the back of the headlight. Gotta let that air in, eh?

I got a thing of sheet metal laying around. Can I use that? This being the first time I built this, along with my new intake, I just want to get the hang of it down before I make it out of some nice stuff.

Twister, tape cardboard together for your template. Then you can use that for a pattern. Cut, tape, cut, tape. Until it looks/fits right. Then use the real material, but don't even expect that to be your final design. I have one more re-design to do, then I'm done.

Cool, I was thinking about using something for a template because I hate measuring stuff out. Eventually I want to make it out of plexiglass (?) like yours. The intake pipe I think I am going to go to a muffler shop here in a few months, maybe next and see if they can fabricate me a new smooth pipe instead of using the pvc tube which I have now. By the way, it is working fine since I put my sensor back in!