Well, it was really just a lot of smoke, but it was what I was waiting for... the day the fabric heat barrier underneath the driver side would catch fire.

The first deal is this -- I got the truck and it did not have any modifications to it. I was doing the regular maintenance on it and got to looking around and found the wheel speed sensor wires were disconnected and the heat barrier underneath was hanging down/missing the plastic nuts.

So, I got some new nuts and tightened it up, because it seemed like the fabric had stretched... I noticed that it was laying on top of the transmission and had a couple burn marks but all was fine and dandy -- now fast forward 2 months.

I put this exhaust system on and had to cut some of the fabric in order to keep it from laying on top of the pipe. Apparently this was to no avail. Fast forward 3 weeks and it is pouring down rain, which apparently soaked the fabric, pulling it back down onto the exhuast pipe and, on my 45 mile drive up to Plainview, caught on fire -- and burned almost the entire piece of fabric around the pipe, about a 3' by 2' section.

So... Can I remove the entire heat shield thing, or should i actually try and replace it? I don't think I can repair my ego by pulling up to work and having smoke billowing out from underneath the truck.

I was kind of hoping that it would catch that gas line, though...

 

Anyone have any ideas if it is ok to remove the heat shield thingy?

 

yeah you can remove it, but it's there to keep your floor pan cool
You'll likely het up your interior floor if you remove it. it may get a little hot.

 

Well it's the first i heard of this problem. I would replace with aluminum heat shield (you have too mold it ) but once installed will not break loose like fabric will. imo.