I'm in this to preserve my VX as close to factory as possible; just my way; I managed to get a new mufler and tail pipe from Isuzu earlier this year; all rotted out; before I installed, I painted them heavily; and since I was doing transmission rebuild, I had shop take off my cats, stripped them down to bare metal, primed and painted them to taking care to protect O2 sensors and wires; used new gaskets and stainless steel nuts, bolts, washers; love it!