Heat Shielding

[Wicked 3800 V6]

So I get this horrible rrrrrrr rattle when I let off the throttle. Under the car the other day I removed the big (2-3 ft) heat shield from over the Cat, and one small heat shield that had only one screw, that was just toward the engine from this other big piece. But, low and behold, I still have the same rattle, and now there's even a "tinkling" high-pitched rattle from somewhere, sounds directly through the console.

I want to know what other shielding I can / should remove to stop this darn rattle. I saw that there is some stuff over brake lines, not sure if that should come off or not. Thoughts? What about the shields from the manifolds? C'mon pacesetter, relase those headers.

-Rob

[prdcp97v6]

I had an exhaust rattle that sounded like tinnie items conecting or inside the cat or inside muffler. I finnaly found the offendig item under the drive shaft crossover at the junction of the output pipe of the cat and the beggining of the cat-back connection. I drove me crazy, I hope you find your easier.

[Guardiannknight]

My rattling noise comes from my manifolds heat shields. I can't wait until I get headers.

[r&ksport]

Could be the CAT itself or the shielding around it. I had a rattle from the shield around the CAT. It had small rocks and dirt debris in it. The holes on the bottom were not big enough to let them fall through.

[ December 26, 2002: Message edited by: r&ksport ]</p>

[firebirdrumble00]

You guys are removing the heat shields!!! Those things are there for a reason..... dont u think that the constant heat pushing up against ur car will eventually burn a hole.... picture it one day your in a department store while ur carpet suddenly lights on fire and ur car goes up in smokes, all because your worried about some little rattle.....

:: [img]redface.gif[/img] uch:::

anyways hope u find that rattling sound [img]smile.gif[/img]

[12secondv6]

Rattles are the MOST annoying things out there.
I've had to jack the car up and safely put jack stands underneath it and start the car and just crawl under for rattles and go from there.
As for removing heat shields and burning through the floor.
Well, I yanked many off my 91 mercury topaz and never had problems.
I also removed the heat shields on the cat too
Ran like that for several more years

[BillyCobin]

I questioned an old mechanic I was friends with about removing heat shields. He said it was fine, he pulls them off cars to stop rattling all the time, no problems.

I had a friend that worked at a GM dealership. My friend could use the lifts, so we brought my car in one day to find a rattle. A GM mechanic came over to see what we where doing, I mentioned something was rattling. He went and grabbed a hammer and just ripped a few heat shields off. Fixed the problem.

They are there for a reason, but it is common place to remove them. A better thing to do is to secure them better, or secure whatever is bouncing agianst them. But, for the sake of time, money, and headaches, a lot of people just remove them.