I'm lookin to replace the mufflers on my 88 SE and I found a nice stainless steel set of mufflers for mad cheap on ebay. The problem is the body of them is 8" wide, exactly the width of the heat shields that surround the mufflers. Is it safe to ditch the heat shields in order to make room for the muffler or is that not a bright idea because of the gas tank? Probably a stupid question but I'd rather check first than screw sumthin up.

 

It's safe to ditch them. I had to ditch them because my wider rear tires rubbed them.

 

Eliminating the only thing keeping the muffler heat away from a tank of stuff that doesn't do real well with excessive heat (ie BOOM). Aside from the coating on the outside of the fuel tank, the tank itself has no additional heat insulation.

Not a good idea to remove them.

 

u will be alright if there is atleast 3 inchs between the muffler and tank, many ppl take the sheilds out, including me and i havent exploded. but if its actually touching or very very close i would go with some other mufflers.

 

ya u schould be fine i dont have any heat sheild except those and i havent broke any thing lol. plus in my truck i had no heat sheild and the tank was fine

 

i had a 302 mustang with straight pipes shooting right onto the gas tank... i didnt know it until my mechanic told me because i had just bought the car, but he put small pipes on it to shoot it onto the ground

 

the muffler is exactly the width of the shield (8") so it wouldn't be any closer to the tank than the shield is. maybe i should just make a custom shield that goes between the tank and the mufflers but only wraps around the top of the muffler not around the other side of it? then i could shift the muffler over a 1/4 inch or so

 

Keep the stock heat shields, and dont waste your money on the cheap E-bay mufflers.

 

I have cheap ebay mufflers and they work great! I didn't have to take the heat shield off though...

 

Yea I would recommend getting some mufflers that actually fit in the heatshields. I only removed my heatshields because they were rubbing my tires.

 

i took off mine over a year ago just because, and i never had any problems

 

Considering the shields are only soft metal, perhaps you can simply bend them to create sufficient clearance. Just need to make sure they don't touch anything, or you'll end up with some annoying vibration rattles.

Noted that many have taken theirs off with no problem (ie gone BOOM). But, somehow I don't think you'll hear comments from anyone that did have their gas tank go BOOM except they come to you in a dream from the spirit world!!.

Seriously, if you can avoid taking the risk, I highly recommend you keep 'em on. And, one observation, remind that Rotaries put out much more heat than Piston engines. Are you sure these "mad cheap" mufflers will handle that extra heat? If you're in need of mufflers, and need to go "mad cheap" since you are one of the many "poor college students" in our community, I suggest you go the wrecking yard route. I personally like the sound note of TII mufflers on my NA.