I have a '93 Pro DX with 146,000 miles and the original catalytic converter. The heat shield that goes around the cat has rusted apart at the welds and makes a terrible rattling sound at 2000 RPM.

On my other '93 Pro, I just took the sucker off when it started doing this, but this car is my wife's, and she'd like to retain the heat shield.

For now, I have clamped it on with a huge hose clamp, but that's kind of ghetto, and I don't think it will live through the winter. Anybody got a good suggestion?

I'd like to replace the heat shield without replacing the entire pipe that contains the cat, but I doubt Mazda sells that part. And I have never seen a third-party "universal" heat shield that you could clamp on somehow.

What's the usual solution for this problem?

 

mine disappeared when the catco went on