I have yet to find a shop in so cal that will mess with it.
I even went to a shop that modified a friend of mines cougar with msds headers and a custom y/high flow cat countless times.

He said it was a pain because every week the guy would bring his car back with problems (cats blowin) and said the labor would be a lot to do it.

My question is, how hard to remove the stock heat shield?
I dont have the equipment, yet im guessing a shop would do the job if I removed the stock shield, then attached it later.