What's under this plate?

[justinp61]

I never gave it much thought, but I figure it's a heat shield for the oil! The exhaust crossover is suppose to heat the carb for drivability, emissions, etc. Any oil that works its way above the shield gets cooked. But at least it gets trapped. If the shield wasn't there, oil splashed onto the underside of the intake at the exhaust crossover would get cooked on a regular basis and get recirculated into the engine.

^^This^^

For the guys that think it's a heat shield for the carb, think about it for a moment. The exhaust crossover is on the carb side of the shield so it would be useless to help keep the carb cool. As Myron mentioned it's there along with the other reasons to help keep the oil cooler and to keep oil from cooking and sticking to the bottom of the intake, although some oil does make it's way in there and cooked to a hard black carbon like junk.