Zack, yes in my opinion the weld wouldn't cause any heat damage at that distance and after all it is an item designed to get blooooody hot! you could replace the coupling with a stainless version as well. It seems most of the cats are in the 200 class. Check Dave Wellings out , he had a new cat fabricated in the 300 range as he always from new has had difficulty getting under the emissions threshold .
