That flat metal brace that goes from one side of the driveshaft tunnel to the other is contacting my y-pipe pretty bad. Is this piece really needed? It just seems too thin and flimsy to provide much structural support.

 

I had to remove the brace to install my truduals. It seems ok without it. Not sure if its really needed.

 

Im interested in this too. I have the same problem.

 

Mines gone, made no change in anything I can see. It's not hooked in to the sub-frames so it shouldn't matter to much if you remove it.

 

Mines been off for about 3 years.No problems to worry about.

 

I had a problem with the Y hittin the brace a while back. I took it off and clearanced it a bit with a bench grinder. Got a DSL now with tons more room.

 

I wouldnt call it a brace. It is very thing and can be bent to shape by hand fairly easy. It serves no purpose other than to safegaurd against the exhaust fauling down and maybe the driveshaft depending on how it breaks. If GM designed it to be a brace then they failed miserably.

 

That's what I figured. I took it off today and had to wedge a piece of radiator hose b/w the y-pipe and the floorboard under the driver and now there's no banging at all. Maybe I'll go with a poly mount in the future and then I wouldn't have to worry about it.