[leegreen]

Maybe try a heat shield with one of those high tech aluminum/insulation pads. Or the type of blanket they wrap turbos in. Or space shuttle tiles....

Find out what the heat range for the ujoints is - it must be up there as they are intended for under hood next to engine.
Themocouple and gauge for the first few drives

You could also do something with the inner fenders so most of the steering is outside the engine bay, or even integrate the heat shield and inner fender so all of the column is in a separate air space than engine