To me there is no difference between ricers and the rat rodders of the day. Both groups were kids that did really stupid stuff with whatever car their parents handed down to them using whatever was laying around. Back when I was young, it was primered 70's cars with air shocks in the rear and lots of performance parts stickers.
I think that's heat shield material. Looks like the whole shebang is held up by the downpipe. That loop looks like it's the oil feed line but I see no return line.