2001 Acura EL.

I'm assuming that this is a part of the heat shield. I don't understand why it's there to begin with. You have to get rid of the heat somehow. Better down towards the pavement then up, right?

Anyway, assuming I am correct, what would be the consequence of doing nothing more than tearing it off?

 

you run the small chance of starting a fire if you park on tall dry grass after driving all day. small chance but it could happen.

other than that there's nothing that could result from taking it off.

 

Thanks for the reply.

How about the remainder? It seems to me that there is a tremendous amount of rust going on.

 

I'm pretty sure the top half is bolted onto the cat itself.

 

I would just take some (metal) screw clamps and clamp it down.

The heat shield is there because you want to keep as much heat inside the exhaust as possible.

 

Like one of these?

http://www.sfproducts.com/hoseclamps.jpg

 

yup exactly....I too would rec. what qtiger said about just clamping it back up.

 

If you don't want to clamp it back up, just rip it off and toss it. Or you can buy a new one from Acura.

 

i dont think my civic had a shield when i bought it a few months ago LOL fire

 

I'm going to clamp it back up.

I'm just concerned about the rest of the exhaust system. It looks like a lot of rust. Is this something I'm going to have to replace sometime soon?

Is rust-protection going to help me at all at this point? I bought the car second hand approximately two years ago. I have no idea if rust protection was ever used.