1997 Factory Exhaust - Coated?

[mobius]

Hi guys,
This is a question for anyone that knows. I have a factory exhaust for my 1997 Ti. Unfortunately the po did some rather stupid things to it. Instead of replacing the rubber hangers he welded directly to the body and transmission housing flat bar to keep the exhaust up. This is stupid though because of the vibration that the exhaust system encounters which eventually results in what I have two tear holes in the exhaust pipe. I have one on the section with the cat and then another on the muffler section. It's otherwise in good condition exhaust with little corrosion. My plan is to weld shut the holes and weld on new rods for the rubber hangers. In preparation I've ground down and throughly cleaned the metal. I'm curious though if anyone knows if the factory exhaust is galvanised or has some kind of coating I should take precautions for when welding such as being outside needing a respirator etc. Thank you.

[jimmyfloyd]

From what i recall of the stock exhaust, it does not look coated or galvanized to me.