Jake,
I used some old pieces of pipe that I had at the shop. I previously used the pipe for an intake on some old turbo kit that I made several years back..
It was a bracket to hold the inlet to the head. It looked cool.. and was already welded on.. so I left it.
I have a "classic oldie" 300 amp Hobart Tig welder that my buddy gave me! It has variable ramp and pulse options too. It welds aluminum with ease.
I traded him engine mounts installed on his Lexus for the welder. It is HUGE 3 feet across by 4 feet tall by 5 feet deep! (or close too it)
I'll snap a picture of it.. it'll make you laugh.
I worked on the downpipe after work tonight. I have to weld on the flex section tomorrow night and it'll be finished.
Here is a picture of me welding a Mitsubishi Evolution exhaust with it 2 weeks ago.

with my new fancy Ultra Tig welding gloves

I like my old thick ones better... the heat transfer on the new thin ones
will make you burn the $hit out of your hands when you accidently grab what you just welded.
Here is a link to my last exhaust project. My Buisness Manager has
an 03 EVO with the Vishnu v390 excede and misc stuff like that on the car. We Dyno'd the car at 360 WHP on 104.
I cut the flange off the Greddy exhaust where it mated to the catalyst because it was 2 3/4 inches.. the high flow catalyst was 3"
so I welded on a new 3" flange to match. Then we welded a new 3" center resonater on the car.. The one that was on the Greddy necked down to 2 1/4 inside.
The car picked up some decent top end from the mods.
Clicky ClickyThe guy with the glasses is Jorge.. not me! LOL
you can see my Rabbit in the background.