Last night the exhaust fell apart on our GP. It rusted/fell apart at the Y-pipe. So now there is no exhaust past the last hanger just before the Y-pipe. With no mufflers the exhaust is so loud and annoying.

Its my understanding that the cat-back exhaust flows good. I like the sound of the stock exhaust, sure it could be a little louder but oh well.

I need to fix this asap and money is a factor. I can get the exhaust from a junkyard for about $50-$70. That's the exhaust from the res flange all of the way back. Most of the exhaust looks good aside from the Y-pipe that rusted off.

So Im looking for opinions:

Do I replace the system from the res flange all of the back?

or

Do I just replace it just in front of the Y-pipe? If I go this route I would use a slightly large pipe and some clamp to sleeve the exhaust together. Would this hurt anything as far as flow/restrictions?

Could I use the "sleeve" method to delete the U bend? Can I do anything to make the exhaust a little louder than stock but still sound good?

If you have any suggestions/ideas, please share.

Thanks in advance