exhaust question

[95nismo240]

well i looked under my car and saw that the owner before me had taken the middle cat off and relaced it with a ****ty pipe. the pipe is welded directly to the cat that is connected to the exhaust manifold. i want to get a set of headers but how can i bolt on the exhaust system to the headers if there isnt a place to bolt them up. i dont want to weld the pipe directly onto the headers.

[benemorius]

I didn't quite follow that.... is the downpipe not connected to the header with the usual bolts...?

[95nismo240]

the downpipe is connected to the exhaust manifold with the usual bolts but the down pipe is directly welded to the rest of the exhaust system. the down pipe is really a cat so the cat is welded directly to the rest of the exhaust system.

[1991S13]

From what I am understanding, the converter is welded to the midpipe, and bolted to the header. It would probably be easiest to cut the pipe behind the converter (so it comes off with the header.) Get a flange that will fit the new converter, and weld it to the exhaust midpipe, so that pipe will bolt up to your new converter. If you want to salvage the old converter, I don't know what you would do.