High Temp Exhaust Sealer

[Brian S]

Guys,
I'm in engineering, so when I found that the flanges of my new Invidia 370Z exhaust system were distorted from the CNC welding operation, I stared to look for a solution. I can fix the first flanges that mount up to the Nissan cats, because they are removable, but the rest have to seal with the gaskets that they provide. I measured the cat running temperature with my OBDII Torque program, about 1350 F. The rest of the flanges will not seal over time, the distortion is too great, as the exhaust system expands & retracts with heat cycles, they will leak. So I researched very high temp. sealers. Enter Deacon 8875 THIN. It's rated at 1800 F, plenty of range over the running temps. The sealer is available from the Deacon web site.

Now my question:
I'll never be able to unbolt the two very rusted nuts on each of the OEM Nissan cats. It appears that the bolts are headed studs. If I cut off the nuts with my die cut off wheel, can I tap out the cut off studs to replace them with SS bolts? I'm not replacing the Nissan cats. I have not been able to really tell if the studs are welded in or not.

Any Idea's?

Brian S