[s-cars] Re: Rattling heat shields

[Dave Forgie]

Mike: I presume the reason that no one answered you is no one has
actually tried to fix the heat shields - other than to pull the rusty
bits OFF the "Y" pipe.  As I remember the story, the reason for the
shields is to retain heat upon initial start-up so the catalytic
converters "light" sooner rather than later (probably a matter of a few
minutes earlier than without the shield).  I believe that once the car
is warmed up, and the cat's are at operating temperature, there is no
real benefit to the shielding (maybe some less heat in the floor of the
car), if you aren't acutally driving.  If your local "Air Care"  exhaust
emissions testing facility is like ours in Vancouver BC, they want you
to have run the car for a least ten minutes before you go for the test
(by the way, this is now on a 4 wheel dyno for the 4WD (including
quattro) cars).  As a result, if the air quality don't really care about
those initial few minutes, then the shields have no real purpose.  Maybe
it vas different in der Fatherland under strict TUV or DIN-type testing,
yes?

Dave F.

Mike Bess wrote:

Anyone have a fix for the infamous rotting exhaust heat shield
situation.
Going over rough pavement makes my '95 S6 sound like its ready to fall
apart
(like my '88 Chevy PU with terminal rot).  I know that the only real fix
is
to replace the $$$pipes.  Any ideas about Home Depot fixes such as worm
clamps, insulation, steel shims, etc.

TIA,

Mike Bess