Anyone have a thought, or experience, on removing the rest of the engine heat/noise shield? I removed the main one off my '93 C2 a while ago, and I left the vertical sections in place. I was planning to remove those, especially since the foam rubber style insulation on the driver's side one is a crumbly, oily mess.

However, I am wondering if it does anything to keep the heat from the muffler off the cylinder head and spark plug wires. There is very little space between them.

My '79 has no insulation on that side, and the valve cover has been cooked and discolored from the heat in that area. Any comments?

Thanks,
Steve

 

Steve,

What are you expecting to gain by removing the vertical heat shields?

I left mine in place, primarily to protect other components.

 

I removed mine and the walls weigh in at around 4 pounds. I feel they retain engine heat and are worth removing, besides it makes adjusting the valves and accessing spark plugs easier. The long stud left at the back of crankcase can be removed by double nutting it and backing it out. The catalytic converter's heat shield should be left on between the cat and left side's plug wires. I have placed my hand between the shield and plug wires when hot and heat seems not excessive. No other 911 had the belly pan and insulation walls until the 964, it's for sound deadening mostly.

 

Its really a matter of how clean your engine is. If you have an engine that leaks many times the side shield are soaked with oil and like you said, the foam just rots away. The drivers side does shield the heat that comes from the cat. If you have a cat bypass or another exhaust I'd remove them.