Removing protective mounting from cassette deck

Just got this great piece of equipment in the mail, a Tascam CD-A500. It has a "protective housing" piece on the sides for rack mounting which I don't have any use for.

The manual says "DO NOT REMOVE PROTECTIVE HOUSING USING A SCREWDRIVER".

Anyone have experience with removing one of these things ? Should I just keep it on to stay safe?

 

The "protective housing" phrase means don't remove part of the panel or cover because of radio emissions. It doesn't mean that you won't violate FCC rules if you instead use a jigsaw to remove the panel.

It seems that the rack ears are part of the length of the side panel, and under that is a normal wrap-around cover like most components have. It should be safe to remove the rack ears with the side screw, then replace the screws in the holes. I would additionally open the top of the case by removing the rest of the screws, and verify that there are no loose nuts that have fallen off and examine how the side screws are received before operating.