The story:

This picture below is my new exhaust I was about to put on. The problem,,,, the flange I am pointing to on my new exhaust no longer exists on the old exhaust, someone prior to me cut it off and welded a short straight piece in some previous repair between the resonator and cat. So, this is not going to be a straight bolt in job now.

I have been kicking around several ideas anywhere from buying a cheap mig welder from HF and trying to do what they did, but since I have not welded in 30 years this may not be so straight forward. And the shops around me are booked up, plus they might be funny about using my own parts.

I am pretty well settling on just replacing the cat to get things back to regular. My go to place at rock auto has a few options all the way from the cheapest solution $167 shipped to well over $200. I have spent a butt load of cash on this car and the wife is starting to take notice. Th $167 option is doable and in the budget barely BUT, I do NOT want to buy something that I will have to replace again in the next year or two. It is some brand called original performance. The other more expensive options are Eastern and Walker. (Walker is what my new exhaust brand is). If I absolutely must, I will drive with a loud exhaust until I can save up more.

If it helps, I do not care as much as the actual performance of it as I do just getting something to fit and fix this issue.

I have been warned to absolutely avoid the ebay junk, so I ruled that out

 

Check these guys out, mandrel bent tube, good quality, I’ve installed a few of these, one in my 2007 LS it was cheaper then replacing the flex pipe.


https://mufflerexpress.ca/products/c...rter-2005-2007

 

Are they Canadian only?

 

The link shows delivery to the USA, 🇺🇸

 

Yes my bad. Ended up I had to find a drop down menu which gave me the USA site

 

Good you found, I’m in Canada so I don’t get that .

 

If your OE cat is good, really, try to save it. A replacement will either be expen$ive, or die early. You can get nice little stainless replacement flanges. Any good welder should be able to handle that; need not be a muffler shop.

 

Good point!

Here is the actual pipe. I finally pulled it back into the garage today to count my eggs