Originally Posted by
Schwa
On the contrary Dave, I just made a thread about this and there seems to be no harm in removing the heat shield. Since it is from under the car, I am assuming this is the heat shield around the catalytic converter. If that is indeed the case, then the heat shield is there to keep the cat hot so that the reactions taking place inside it take place more efficiently. Removing it at worst would harm your emissions.
Tack welding it would only be a temporary fix, when you consider that the heat shield is rattling because it is corroding. It can (and eventually will) just corrode more in spite of the welds and just start rattling again.
I would suggest taking it off and just be careful if you need to park in tall grass that it doesn't light the grass on fire.
I try to keep debates out of this... but I only suggested tack welding assuming that the original weld had failed.
Obviously, if the heat shield is rotting away and you can't find a viable surface to weld, replacing or removing the heat shield would be an optimal solution.
As you noted, heat is a critical part of maintaining catalyst efficiency. So, I would not remove the heat shield on a pollution-controlled car, particularly in the Soviet Republic of California.. :run:
Who knows what kind of tech you'll encounter at your next smog check? IMO, it would be a waste to fail the visual inspection simply because your heat shield is missing.
Moving on... :crazyr: