This is what I did to my exhaust many years ago... Drove it daily for many many years. I stopped driving it daily about 2012, then periodically until 2019, and now I am dragging it out of storage and getting it back on the road again...
I built the exhaust system out of scrap pieces when I worked at the exhaust shop in Poway. Back then my $$$ was limited. Since it's still not leaking today, I live with the fuglyness... LOL But someday I may redo it, and make it look pretty...