[s-cars] Emissions

[bob.rossato at att.net]

The heat shield in question from the original post is
the one around the Y-pipe/downpipe, not the catalytic
converters.  This is there primarily to get quicker heat
up of the catalytics as it is upstream of the cats.

Shields up Mr. Sulu.

bob
> I may be wrong, but I always uinderstood that the
> shields were there to protect flammable material like
> leaves, etc. from catching fire, not to keep the cats
> hot. Therefore removing the shields only causes a
> problem if you park over an area of dry grass,
> leaves,neighbor's cat, etc.
>
> Chris
>
>
> > 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.
> >