Hi,

You might want to look into the governing smog tests rules.
There is a age limit on smog requirements by arbitration, if need be.
One rule is, If the part can not be obtained through normal manufacturing supply routes, as in no longer offered it can be appealed to be dismissed.

If the car passes emissions during operation without a heat shield apparatus it becomes a mute issue.
The heat shield is only on there to bring more heat over to the air cleaner during the first start warming up period.
The valve in the filter box will close off that feature anyway!
The actually tailpipe test is the governing factor in closed loop operation.

It can also be an argument made that the excessive heat causes a failed thermostat in the air cleaner. This failure causes of the AMM to fail. This that affects the mixture to be improper of which are for worse for emissions for a time between certification test.

Volvo customer service departments have tons of documentation of the phenomenon.
It was a high money making gimmick for them.
During the hay days, the ticket back then was to block it permanently closed inside.
That is, if a smog technician was not lazy or excessively stupid to follow the book to the letter, you could find someone else that new it didn’t affect his license ultimately.

The machines always report the results to Sacramento! It doesn’t have any eyes, just the nose that counts!
So does common sense in reality!

Phil