Hello,
This will be for my fellow salt belt fit owners, as the rest of you probably never deal with an issue like this, but feel free to throw your ideas in anyway.
So it appears before I got this 2013 fit, someone did something to the flanges between the rear cat and center muffler. I'm assuming the studs and nuts rusted away, and they decided to poorly weld the flanges together.
So now my fit is fairly loud, which this being the highway vehicle, is annoying.
I don't think replacing the stud and nut is an option anymore as too much of the flange metal is missing. I can't weld, so that takes out a few options for myself.
Like cut the flange off and replace with aftermarket, just weld the flanges together, properly, and not worry about it.
I was able to get a pair of vice grips on there and that works but I can't leave them on when I'm driving around.
Alternatively I can cut the flanges off and connect the pipes with a connector.

Of course I am looking for a cheap fix as I have no reason to replace the catalytic converter at this time, but it is original, so I'm sure there will be a time that I will replace it, which will just mean I replace everything properly, but I don't expect that to be any time soon.
Let me know what you guys think would be a good fix.





Sorry for not having better photos, its not the easiest car to get under when you have a wet stone driveway and no garage to work in.

 

Since you don't weld and you also want to repair this inexpensively, you're going to have make a compromise somewhere. I'd suggest taking your car to a muffler shop and getting their opinion on how to fix the mess. They're the experts and can offer options for cutting those flanges out and replacing them. I'm sure muffler shops in New Jersey have experience dealing with a lot of seriously rusted muffler systems like yours before. Maybe not so much with the welding repair someone attempted though...lol.