After completing the disk brake conversion on the Ranch Wagon, we pulled the seats out and the rubber floor mats and discovered that the left front and rear floor pans were pretty bad. The rear one worse that the front one. So, in cutting out the old rear pan (being VERY careful not to cut through the floor brace where 2 body mounts go) I encountered the factory heat shield above the muffler. The front flange of this heat shield is spot welded to a solid part of the front floor pan, but I couldn't get an air chisel in there to cut the spot welds so I had to cut the heat shield with a body panel saw to get the floor section out. My question is; do I really need to weld this heat shield back to the new floor pan? There seems to be about 2" clearance between the top of the muffler and bottom of the floor. The heat shield is in the last photo. Here are some pictures of the work;
Thanks
Rono

  Ron Lane,  Meridian, ID