Ok, I tried bolting up that huge heat shield that goes under the car but it needed a ton of banging/bending ect to make it fit. First it was hitting the tranny crossmember, then the yoke on the driveshaft was hitting it. (my custom driveshaft is of 3 inch diamater but I guess it wouldn't matter because the yoke would have to be this size for the t2 tranny anyways).

So the question is, how many of you turbo fbers put that large heatshield back under the car? I got mine on there at the moment but since I had to bend it down slightly in the middle away from the driveshaft, now I'm scared that my racing beat turbo presilenser will hit the heatshield.

Did you guys have any clearance problems with this heatshield and how did you correct them?

 

I took mine off and havent really noticed a difference frm before!!!

 

I did both.....
Removing the entire heat sheild didnt seem like a wise idea seeing as how I was probably going to be introducing more heat under the car than it saw when stock.But I couldnt justify keeping all that mess under there,especially under the tranny.

Since I needed to make a new exhaust system anyways,I chopped off about half of the sheilding that was near the center of the car.This way I can drop the tranny or service the U-joints without dropping the exhaust system or sheilding.Then I had the new 3" exhaust ran straight down the side of the car,below the remaining sheild.This also served to straighten out and shorten the exhaust system,which is a double positive.....

 

Are you talking about the skid pan, that's there to protect your sump from rock damage, not for heat protection.

If you mean the exhaust shields which are in several parts along the whole length of the car, I get them off for several reasons.

They obstruct the transmission access, they hold crap and rust badly, they can rattle against the exhaust, they weigh extra, I even get the heat shield panels off the fuel tank, I have heard other opinions, but my road, race and old RX3 13B BP race car all had them removed without any problems beyond heat through the floor.

Note my RX3 used to melt my shoes, (Australia is RHD)

 

Thanks for the reply's and votes thus far guys!
I'm talking about the exhaust heat shields, not the pan that goes under the engine. So far I'm really leaning towards leaving that first large heat shield off (the one under the tranny). I'll deffinately leave the ones around the fuel tank on and probably the back half of the car as I don't think they will get in the way.

 

I have mine on, from the back-half of the car.

 

I took the front section off but left the back section on...

 

my car came with no sections......

 

I kept it on '84 SE, the rest is gone except the one over the muffler. It doesn't make sense to the remove the main sheild that keeps heat away from the tranny and your butt, then remove the rest where heat is not an issue the farther back down the exhaust system. Mazda engineers are the ones who did the homework building these cars and they made the heat sheild damn big and thick for a reason.

When I had my '81 streetport I used to roast sitting in traffic without the sheilding. If you are roasting inside the car then so is your transmission soaking up the exhaust heat directly. When driving, especially on the freeway naturally heat is not a problem; same thing with a racecar.

My car isn't turbo'ed.

 

I agree they were put their for a reason but they seem like at this point, they might be more trouble than their worth. I won't be running catalitic converters either so hopefully that area won't see half the heat it used to. My Racing Beat turbo2 presilenser will be sitting where the cats used to be. I might wait until I get the exaust underway and make the final decision.