348 Removing exhaust heat shield permanently?

I've got a friend who has been running their 348 for years without the fiberglass heat shielding that goes over the exhaust and allegedly without problems. They have a custom exhaust as do I and it looks extremely nice without the bulky silver fiberglass in the way. Does the brotherhood think it would be a bad idea to remove it permanently? Surely there's a very good reason for it being there from the factory. If removed, I would have to make some brackets to hold up the air intake lines.