Exhaust question
 

Well my 88 GT is getting old, it looks like a heat shield fel off. My question is is this heat shield needed? It looks like this car has 2 catyltic converters and the heat shield fell off the passenger side rear converter, can I throw it out? Will I be risking a fire? What is the purpose of this shield? Thanks in advance.

Chuck 88GT

It depends. Do you ever park off of a paved surface? Ever park in an oil stained parking space? I have seen fires started by not having that shield in place, but they were usually because some idiot parked on the lawn instead of the driveway. There was one that caught on fire because he parked in the corner parking space on the roof of a parking structure, and debris (ie: McDonalds bag, napkins, etc.) was under the car, and ignited.

Take care,
-Chris

Naked converters
 

For what it's worth, my converter heat shields rusted away and fell off about five years ago (one decided to leave the car while I was traveling down the interstate at about 75 mph...luckily, it didn't hit another car).

Never a problem since but as PKRWUD mentioned, I watch where I park and avoid grassy spots. So should you.

thanks for your help. I got some mech. wire, drilled holes in the pices and put them hat shield back on. all seems ok.

Chuck 88GT

You might find that they rattle a bit with that fix. If you don't have access to torch to braze them back on a large hose clamp (or two+ clamps joined together) around the cat is a good fix and they wont rattle.