Those pesky heat shields...

[Terkins]

Local mechanic pulled off one of my heat shields and tossed it; said it was loose anyway/rattling. Said 'not to worry'.

Ford seems to have a different idea. I haven't been able yet to crawl under and see which one(s) are missing. There are generic pieces of heat shield(-ing) available at low cost from various sources; they could easily be banded in-place with clamps. My questions are: "What would would I be trying to protect with re-adding it/them?"
[Ford's suggesting to replace the TWCs is laughable!]
The worst I've read is the possibility of melting my carpeting to my floorboards.
I'm more concerned about 'frying' wiring/transmission parts/etc. next to exhaust components. Suggestions?

 

[gmanpaint]

Depending on which shield. There is a large floor shield above the muffler. Shields for the engine / transmission on the cats and cross pipe. Shields for wiring in the engine bay.

Transmission heat protection is pretty important.

Stock shields are welded and that's how the engineer's preferred them. Clamped versions can move with heat/vibrations.
They say to replace the Cats, because the shields are welded to them. Being welded keeps them stationary (until they break off) and not hitting any surrounding parts.

My suggestion is to spot weld the replacement shields, or replace the cat's as suggested. You could always talk to the shop that removed it, and share your concerns about heat transfer.

 

[974X4BLACKSPORT]

DOnt forget the one that is on the side of the transmission held on by clips, this one probably gets lost/removed/thrown out most frequently because it can be a pain in the but to reattach (not much working room)

 

[Terkins]

Depending on which shield. There is a large floor shield above the muffler. Shields for the engine / transmission on the cats and cross pipe. Shields for wiring in the engine bay.
Transmission heat protection is pretty important.

Went to the local Tuffy Muffler for a free check. At 144.4K/20 yrs. the original exhaust is "OK" except for the tailpipe hanger. Tuffy's offered to weld back a hangar/$65.? I said "No thanks!" Went to AutoZone and found a clamp-on hangar for <$8. I couldn't see any missing heat shields/Tuffy's couldn't find any (missing) either?

 

[J_C]

They changed the exhaust between '98 and '00 so this may not apply, but the heat shields that came loose on mine were welded directly to the bottom of the two pipes (in your case would be only one pipe) going into the muffler. I mean these pipes were part of the stock muffler. I just secured the loose ends where the welds broke, with bare (no insulation) 12 ga copper electrical wire about a decade(?) ago... still there.

I have a poor picture of them.

lol, I mistyped shield but am too lazy to change it.

 

[donalds]

They changed the exhaust between '98 and '00 so this may not apply, but the heat shields that came loose on mine were welded directly to the two pipes (in your case would be only one pipe) going into the muffler. I mean these pipes were part of the stock muffler. I just secured the loose ends with 12 ga electrical wire about a decade(?) ago... still there.

I have a poor picture of them.
View attachment 175281
lol, I mistyped shield but am too lazy to change it.

Lol one of one of mine is missing and the other has a hose clamp on it

 

[Terkins]

They changed the exhaust between '98 and '00 so this may not apply, but the heat shields that came loose on mine were welded directly to the two pipes (in your case would be only one pipe) going into the muffler. I mean these pipes were part of the stock muffler. I just secured the loose ends with 12 ga electrical wire about a decade(?) ago... still there.
View attachment 175281

I didn't see any of these (single intermediate pipe on my OHV/2000 XLS) shields so you're probably spot-on. Thanks.
[I rarely do any off-road 'trail-blazing' so I'll be careful to 'cut the tall grass' (before before starting any forest fires...!)]

 

[J_C]

I should mention that the Walker direct-fit (or whatever they call it) replacement muffler I have sitting in my garage (waiting for me to get around to it) doesn't have these heat shields. I suppose I might as well pull them off and put them on the new muffler since i have them, but they wouldn't be hard at all to make out of sheet stainless or aluminum. Plain steel would rust way too fast. Aluminum might too, considering the winter salted roads here. They put salt out even when it might snow. !@#$!!!!!

 

[Terkins]

I should mention that the Walker direct-fit (or whatever they call it) replacement muffler I have sitting in my garage (waiting for me to get around to it) doesn't have these heat shields.

cf. Walker Exhaust Heat Shield 35567 18" ~https://www.amazon.com/Walker-35567-Hardware-Heat-Shield/dp/B001AX9VJ2