I was wondering if its ok to remove the heat sheild underneath the car. Its making an awful rattle noise when cold, when the cars been running for about 5 mins it goes away. but annoys the hell out of me.
Anyone know?

Otherwise ill just wait till I get some extractors.

If you mean the heat sheild over the cat ......... I can't see why not. Next service my car get it's coming off. Had enough of hearing it rattle.

Sorry to bring this post back up but i am experiencing this noise too. Is it like a loudish sound that imitates pebbles being thrown around.

What exactly is a cat and where can i find it in the engine?

DUDES!! !! I would like to point out it may not be your CAT... this rattle, is it there when you Floor it (WOT)? I can't say, but what I had was the Flex pipe rattle, nothing to do with the CAT....

Why don't you jack the car up, have it on stands and crawl under there and do this: (cold or hot) don't burn yourself though. Hit Vertically upwards at the Middle of the flex pipe, you have to hit pretty hard to know for sure, unless it was like mine, quite broke, i only had to tap it for it to rattle. As for the CAT, all you need to is shake it around, if it is shattered inside, it will rattle ALL the time, especially at open throttle or going over bumps.

If it is only a small rattle coming from your flex pipe, i don't think it's worth fixing, it doesn't matter other than annoy the crap outa you. If it's the CAT, then bad luck, get it changed.

Sorry to bring this post back up but i am experiencing this noise too. Is it like a loudish sound that imitates pebbles being thrown around.

What exactly is a cat and where can i find it in the engine?

Cat is the animal that goes "meowww" :D
Catalytic Converter goes right after the headers and it is there to burn off unburnt fuels and remove toxic gases, such as CO. it is approx under the Gear shifter, not in the engine.

i would think its the flex pipe as well.
i had the same problem, took it to an exhaust place and got them to check it out.
$170 later the problem was gone.

I had the same problem in my car aswell. I took it to a local exhaust place and had the cat replaced to no avail, :angry: i took it back and found that it was a splitter plate in the end of the stock pipes just before cat. It took 5 mins to fix and the noise was gone for good. :dancin: Now just got to wait till i get my licence back so i can drive her again :angry: :swearing:

WTF? 3 years?

At the risk of being a "me too" person.. I had the same issue with the splitter plate. Fortunately, being under warranty, I had it fixed for free by Mitsu.