i drive a 94 accord ex and i was cleaning my engine today and apparently the previous owner hit a bucket of tar and it got all over the header sheild. do i really have tohave it?

 

well its main purpose is to sheild the HOT header. but most people take them off. especially if they put in a new header. personally i think the engine looks better with the sheild off..i took mine off.

 

The primary function is to save the radiator and fan(s) from excess radiant heating from the hot manifold. Can you run without it? Yes, if you are willing to put up with possible side effects, if any.

 

If you're wanting to remove it because it's ugly..... don't.

If you're wanting to upgrade to a better header and there are no mounts for it.... go ahead and ditch it.

Personally, I wish my aftermarket header had mounting points for the shield to be re-installed.

 

I say keep the heatshield, just clean it really good with a solvent to remove the tar. If its really bad you can always sand/grind/buff the tar off and then finish up with a coat of high temp. paint. It does serve a purpose as mentioned before so I would leave it. The stock header underneath will be much uglier than a heatshield with tar on it.