Hello all, A few questions: 1. Has anyone removed the 'heat shielding' from their stock headers? Seems that most of the header problems stem from the shielding holding in the heat from the headers and if allowed to dissipate, ie removal of the stock shielding/insulation might take care of this issue? 2. On the OBDII cars, after 95, are you able to remove the cats in favor of a straight-pipe without any check engine lights? Obviously something needs to be done to fool the post cat O2 sensors. 3. With above in mind, anyone here have stock headers, no cat and stock exhaust? If so how loud? Or no cats with Capistro III? Again, how loud? Thanks
I took the heat shielding off to check the condition of the tubes. The kind of metal used in the tubes transmitts enough heat that running without the shields places severe temperature risks to the rest of the engin bay components. Only with an O2 simulator. Note, I run (a 95) with cats because it is quieter than without cats. I only run without cats when I am heading to the race track(s).
If the headers arent already failing, removing the heat shielding is not a bad idea, but they really need to be ceramic coated. Test pipes will throw a CEL.
