One of the studs on the exhaust flange (between the cat and muffler) completely rusted through and fell off and I now have an exhaust leak. I don't want to buy a new cat back exhaust just because one stud broke off. Should I/Can I just drill out the studs and use nuts & bolts? For the moment, I'm using vise grips on the side of the flange with the broken stud and it's doing the trick pretty well. This got me thinking of possibly just getting a small C-clamp and using that since the vice grips seem to be doing it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

If you can get at it to drill the stud out. You should be able to bolt it together. You would be replacing the exhaust manifold anyway, not the y-pipe or anything back further.