348 Exhaust heat shield? Yes or No. After market exhaust? which type??

Guys,
I have just had a major completed on my 348. It has some sort of aftermarket exhaust fitted (with 2 massive tail pipes instead of 4, it's a little bit "Need for speedish" but sounds ok so will keep it until I can afford an upgrade). Anyway my 1st question is easy. What type of exhaust would you guys advise upon?
2nd question is a bit more complicated. My car was orig from Dubai and came with the above mentioned exhaust and no heat sheilds fitted. I managed to aquire a pair from UK and got them shipped over to Australia to be installed at the service. When I picked my car up my mechanic (7yrs Ferrari experience and worked on 348 challenge race cars in Germany) had not fitted them. He advised that the sheilds are only required with the old exhaust system (the one with 2 silencers) and as mine only had 1 didn't require the heat sheilds fitting. He also said that fitting the sheilds would actually increase the temperature within the engine bay as they blocked the heat from rising and leaving the engine bay. This would explain why my car came without them fitted. I can understand what he is saying, but am still dubious as to weather he is just saving time by not fitting them!
I just wanted to know if any of you have experience regarding this? Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

 

Personally I wouldn't be so worried about the engine bay getting hot as the plastic bodies for the rear lights melting.

FWIW I have a '94 GTS which has a single box system as standard like the spider and it was fitted with heatshields from the factory.

Concerning the heat block, the heat shield is a two part design with an opening at the top for heat to leave in a controlled way up through the louvres. Has your mechanic got 7 years experience or 1 month's experience repeated 84 times?

 

I have a '94 348 challenge. They came with a larger heat shield. Definitely single can exhaust. I think I would put it on as above to keep you rear tail lights from melting.

 

I have a '94 spider that came with the single can exhaust. Even with the heat shield my taillamp housings are out of round a bit so I'd say fit it.

Cheers
Kevin

 

I have a Capristo 2, no heat shields and the rear lights don't even get warm.
I love the sound of the Capristo.

 

I have a Tubi sport and prefer that over the sound of a Stebro which is the only other exhaust I know I've heard.

I have the heat shield on.

Hagen
#14
348 TS ss

 

No heat shield here, nothing melted, even with track use. No cats, Tubi.

 

Thanks for the feedback guy's. The mechanic did an excellent job of the service overall and the car runs great now. A great deal better than it did before. I owned a 348 in the UK (a LHD 1992 tb with battery in front). I found lots of very helpfull and knowledgeable people. Unfortunately this is not the case in Perth, or Australia for that matter! This forum and the348.com are my only aid. I am ok mechanically and have performed quite a few mods myself including earthing the oil temp sensor (to get the temp guage to actually work!) and replaced the small (melted) AC fuse with a goldplated 30A stereo type. Have also fitted the electric window acceleration modules and fixed the damaged window mounts (2 out of 3 were broken in each window!).

As for the exhaust system I think I will fit the one sheild. Will wait and see what comes up for decent money and go from there.
Thanks again guy's.