Awful lot of 4A-FE's on the road and I doubt most people are removing the heat shield to change the oil. I had 396,000 miles on mine with many, many oil changes over its lifetime and never once removed the heat shield to get the filter off.
It was a tight fit, I will say that. Between the exhaust manifold, alternator, and the radiator right in front, skinned knuckles after the oil change was a normal thing. But once I got the correct extension and filter cap to use, it got a lot easier to do.
I would not remove the heat shield and wrap the manifold, the manifolds on these engines are very prone to cracking to begin with and wrapping it will make that much worse. Mine cracked, and while searching through the many 4A-FE's in Corollas in my local junkyards for a replacement, almost every one I found was cracked and finding one that wasnt ended up being a bigger search than I ever thought it would be.
Use a thin pair of mechanic's gloves, a 3/8" socket wrench, a 6-inch extension, and the correct filter cap wrench and you're life will be much easier than trying to mess with that heat shield and those fragile, rusty bolts.