I just finished up switching my automatic transmission for a 5 speed, and it seems like not all the exhaust heat shields will bolt up now (there must be over 5 of them) . My question is how important are those heat shields with a manual transmission, and what are they preventing the heat from getting too?

 

The shields protect the passenger floorboards, and your car's ECU from excessive exhaust heat. Because of this you need some kind of insulation between those first sections of exhaust and your floorboards (either those shields or Thermo-TEC exhaust insulation). If you remove those shields without inslulating the pipes, the passenger side floorboards will get real hot when you are stuck in traffic. It can kill your ECU, and could pose a fire hazard.

If you are keeping your precat, the heat shield by it needs to be there. If you have a downpipe, just wrap it, and the section of pipe leading up to the main cat, with Thermo-Tec, and you can remove those shields. If you are keeping the main cat, then you need that shield in place. If you are replacing it with a mid-pipe, then you can again wrap the pipe with Thermo-Tec and remove those shields.

To wrap all those sections with Thermo-TEC is going to cost you between $55 and $75 depending on how many shields you want to remove. Its much cheaper to keep those shields in place. Get a set of shields off a manual from a salvage yard if you can't bend yours to fit.

Later,
Salguod

88 Turbo II

 

Most critical is to have protection on the exhaust manifold ---if you don't the wiring harness fries over time.

 

I have a NA, the shield that is on top of the exhaust manifold is like really loose. Should I keep it on there?

 

when you install a header...do you wrap it in that stuff your talking about.?..cause the stock heat shield fits onto the stock exhaust manifold and it wouldn't go onto the header