97 Subaru Legacy GT Exhaust

[gathermewool]

I went to the shop today with axle and ball joints at the ready - BOTH CV shaft boots tore and sprayed their lovely-smelling grease all over, including the the cat. Unfortunately, during the pre-job inspection I noticed a small, pinhead-sized hole in the front cat right at the O2 bung weld. Sure enough, she leaked nice and good when I started the car and lifted'er back up. It seems like the leak is directed more forward than toward the inner CV shaft boot, but it may have accelerated the failure. Either way, I need to figure out a few things before I continue.

The cat-back is only a couple of years old, but I have no idea how old the cats are. Some of the welds in the catted section look pretty [censored] - the cats may not be original. Also, the flanges all look pretty rusted, but the bolts between the headers and catted section as well as the from the catted section to the mid-pipe aren't corroded or rusted at all. I still have the raw fuel smell at cold start up, especially when cold, and the car seems to run noticeably better when at temp than cold. I've also got the mysterious P0400 (EGR malfunction) code.

Options:

1. Replace both cats with two aftermarket OEM-equivalent replacements. ~$400

2. Replace both cats with one high-flow cat. ~$360

3. JB Weld the bung hole (no pun intended)

4. Say to [censored] with it and sell it to my kid brother for $500, including the shaft an ball joints.

I've searched around online for cats, but I can't tell a good brand from a bad; something that will last me 20k mi. vs something that will far outlive the car. I've got near 200k mi. now, but I'm hoping for at least another 40k. Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[mechtech2]

Exhaust stuff is expensive. Good stuff costs.
We tend to think of them as cheap to work on, but they are not.
A $500 car? It's totally your call.
JB Weld won't work there, BTW.

 

[gathermewool]

It's not necessarily a $500 car, but that's what I would give it to my brother for. He's been bugging me to give it to him for the past few months. I'd rather keep it for myself to keep miles off the STI.

Also, the value of the car isn't really important. The motor and tranny should be good for another 50+kmi, so the important thing is to keep everything else working properly/safely for that long as well. I want to figure out what to do about the hole in the cat before I replace the CV shaft. I guess I could always have some one weld a small bead over the hole.

 

[Buffman]

weld a bead over it and call it a day.