So today I found a nice exhaust leak where the cat connects to the front exhaust pipe. The same place where the exhaust support is. The bolts are rusted to hell and I probably won't be able to get them out. I'd rather not replace the pipe or cat since they are still good, but I also don't know if I could just replace the bolts and the gasket. Any opinions? I'm on a tight budget so any cheap fixes will make me happy for the time being. I have to get it fixed before february or I won't pass inspection. I'm not even sure if my exhaust will last till february to be honest. It might just break off before the cat. I priced out a new cat and pipe to be $120 at the cheapest

 

I'm sure you could just replace the bolts and gasket. Worst case just replace the front pipe with a piece from the local junk yard and keep the cat.

 

Yeah, I'm gonna try to do that. Hopefully I don't screw up things in the process.