Exhaust & cat trouble (oh @#!&$!**)

[Chris Newbold <cnewbold@transarc.com>]

Well, it had to happen. My '93 90CS is beckoning the Gods in the
direction of my wallet...

First, I've now got a badly-rattling cat. Sounds like a coffee
can full of 1" ball-bearings on a paint mixer... Does this
signal impending death or is it just a irritating (to the driver)?

Perhaps it'll just disintigrate and get blown out the pipe?
(More likely it'll just plug and strangle the engine, eh?)
I haven't bothered to check the price of one of these suckers,
but I have a feeling that I really don't want to know...

Second, looks like there's some trouble brewing at the
joints at the rear of the cats and the rest of the exhaust.

The cats and pipes each have a triangular flang, which
bolt together (perhaps with a gasket in between?). It
looks like these joints are starting to seperate: there's
carbon all over them and the underside of the body
in the general area. It also has that unmistakable sound
of a hole in the system...

One thing I've noticed is that it does not look like the
flanges on the cats and the pipes are parallel... I'm wondering
if I can just try to tighten the bolts...

Has anyone else had any trouble in this area with a V6-engined
car?

Thanks,
-Chris