2004 Mitsubishi Galant GTS Exhaust Issues

[Brendan]

So I've been having some Exhaust issues on my 2004 GTS for a little while now. Basically the flex section blew out a couple years back and had that replaced quick and dirty at Midas, they just welded in a new part. So that was ok, has been working decently well but always made a weird wooshing/turbo sound. About a year after that I finally try to have my out o2 sensor replaced, and it has seized to the exhaust, if I remember correctly its on the exhaust pipes coming out of the headers so that doesn't get replaced. Now I've been noticing a really bad rattle that is only apparent after the car is warmed up or when putting a lot of torque down so I'm assuming its the flex section going out again. Also every time I am under the car doing an oil change or working on the wheels/brakes I take a gander at what they hacked in and it doesn't look too good, not a specific hole anywhere but the welds are definitely not clean. I first thought it was mounts but you can almost not even hear the rattle from the front of the car with the hood open, as soon as you walk past the engine bay though you can hear it really well and even more so near the back of the car. I've already had my heat shield removed so I know thats not what is rattling.

My question is where do I start with replacing exhaust? I'm about ready to just save up and drop the cash on fixing all of it, converting it to a straight pipe without a catalytic or whatever is the best budget with the best performance. I'm not super familiar with doing this kind of work so I'm just looking for suggestions on where to begin, if anyone has any information that could help I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Neil_Down__]

Well i wouldnt suggest doing a straight pipe on a v6. But mostly because it wouldnt pass inspection and that could lead to other issues but. Id drop the pipe all together and put custom headers with cats and a aftermarket muffler if you really want aggressive sound.

[Brendan]

Well i wouldnt suggest doing a straight pipe on a v6. But mostly because it wouldnt pass inspection and that could lead to other issues but. Id drop the pipe all together and put custom headers with cats and a aftermarket muffler if you really want aggressive sound.

I'm not so worried about the inspection since Ohio doesn't do e-Check at all but I was a little concerned on if a cop pulled me over and inspected my setup since it would be in non-compliance federally. Other people in Team Mitsu GLR have put RRE headers on the 6G75 Engine and they sound really awesome so I was considering that. I know that will get me easily into the 1000-1500 range really quickly.

Oddly enough the rattle isn't really happening at all during idle anymore and its turned into a squeaking/squealing sound, so I'm wondering if its still completely an exhaust issue. I can hear the metal vibrating while accelerating still so idk. Hoping to meet up with my friend who's a mechanic tonight to diagnose it, he's done all of my major maintenance.