Somehow I missed this thread being updated over and over, day after day. To tie up some loose ends: In the diagram, the cat is #1. In real life, it is the 1st bulge after the exhaust manifold and has the lower O2 sensor immediately downstream.
In my headerwrap installation, I did not cover the resonators because I feared that they may get hotter than the rest of the exhaust because they could slightly impede flow in order to reduce noise and resonance. I have not had any issues for 3 seasons now, so I think I can report this option is a success (in drier states at least) Not sure if I would have done this if I lived in the Rust Belt or PNW.
I do like Geeshik's heat shield replacement. I just didn't want to go through the bother of prefabbing things. Using headerwrap cost me <$25 and took 15 minutes.
In my headerwrap installation, I did not cover the resonators because I feared that they may get hotter than the rest of the exhaust because they could slightly impede flow in order to reduce noise and resonance. I have not had any issues for 3 seasons now, so I think I can report this option is a success (in drier states at least) Not sure if I would have done this if I lived in the Rust Belt or PNW.
I do like Geeshik's heat shield replacement. I just didn't want to go through the bother of prefabbing things. Using headerwrap cost me <$25 and took 15 minutes.