Cat to flex exhaust pipe, best way to reconnect?

It seems the gasket and one side of the flange between the cat and the flex pipe has deteriorated to the noisy point! I put it up on the ramps and had a look see, I am wondering if a person would be able to use and angle grinder and cut off the flange that is on the end of the flex pipe? The bolts connecting the flanges together are completely rusted to the point of not even looking like a bolt, so will have to cut them off too. Then use one of the bolt on flanges from Canadian Tire to reassemble.

Would it be possible to drill out the remnants of the bolts from the cat side flange and use bolts instead or slip a bolt in and tack weld them in place...?

Money is really tight so trying to avoid simply replacing the entire flex connector section (it is eroding at the the flex sections but still good for a bit yet), but I guess I would still be in the same pickle of how to connect even a new flex pipe to the cat flange.

Of course I think up new words to enter into the search after posting this question and found Windstartled's troubles...which answered all my questions!

Tried unsuccessfully to find a delete post button. :frown:

Well, to be honest it's my bad not to have posted a link to the thread I had started a few months back regarding this very issue when you first brought it up last week.

Incidentally my fix of last January involving the use of an ad hoc "clamp" in the form of an old vise-grip is still in place. I have since found out that the best solution is to hack off the flange neck from the rear cat and weld a new one in. Flange w. neck costs about $30, if you don't have a welder add $50 labor. And since you will be billed a full hour even if it takes 5 minutes you may as well purchase a new flex pipe ($50) and bring it in to have it installed at no additional cost.

I should have posted a follow up, went to a shop recommended by a buddy, who cut out the flex connection completely, and welded in a new generic flex pipe for 30 bucks plus tax. Took him about 10 min. Apparently, he does this all the time.

I should have posted a follow up, went to a shop recommended by a buddy, who cut out the flex connection completely, and welded in a new generic flex pipe for 30 bucks plus tax. Took him about 10 min. Apparently, he does this all the time.

When you think about it, that is not a bad idea. The reason for the presence of the flange is not clear. Initially I had assumed that it's supposed to allow for easier replacement of the flex without having to use a welder but if that were the case they would have put a flange at the other end of the flex as well, but there is none. Instead they used a friction-fitted fitting but no human can remove that without going nuts.