Honda Civic DIYs and Civic Tech ChatHonda Civic DIYs and Civic Tech Chat - for the true gearheads! Bring your wrench, it's time for some Honda Civic DIY projects! Questions about problems with your car do NOT go here.
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I was also wondering if you had any opinion on whether ceramic or stainless is better? I heard that ceramic will run a lot cooler, but which one will last the longest?
I prefer ceramic coated because it not only as the benefits of a "heat shield" painted over the entire thing, but it just looks cleaner the more and more its used. KEEP in mind, I live in Oregon where we dont have crazy winters that require us to salt the roads, which is what 99% of the rust on cars is caused by. Here we do get rain about 80% of the year though- stainless will change colors when it heats up and when it gets wet, which is permanent. I've seen some nasty looking ceramic headers that have been used to shit- I have to admit. But I've also seen some really nasty looking stainless ones.
I know there are others that like stainless, like foos. It really comes down to preference. If they salt the roads around you then you'll prob have a different opinion.
Also, driving style is a factor. If your car is slammed and your driving over shit and scraping your header up (mainly just a problem with race headers due to the secondary collector meeting up after where the cat is on a stock EX) then you'll probably want stainless because the coating wont get scratched, which will cause it to rust and eventually fall apart.
Thats my take anyways.
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My car isn't slammed, and I don't plan on lowering it, mostly because of the Michigan winters. But I just like the stock height too. But I probably will go with ceramic for the lower running temps , plus it's quite a bit cheaper. The ceramic race header goes for 375 on summit, not sure about the stainless, but the stainless one piece is over 450. My main problem I'm trying to solve with this is I have a huge crack in my stock LX mani, and it's cheaper to replace it with a good exhaust system than with the stock repl., which I've seen a lot of people on complaint sites say that these crack pretty commonly. Thanks for your input guys.
I have a DC sports race header, I just pulled it off the car on saturday because I got emissions coming back up. Its in fine condition, no cracks or anything. Get at me if your trying to get a race header. Keep in mind, you'll need an EX catback to run an EX race header.
Has anyone swapped the 2001 dx/lx front sway bar for the ex one? I"m wondering if it mounts in the same place. I'm tired of my resonator rubbing on the one I have now.
I just looked up the sway bar on majestic, they are the same for the LX and EX sedans, but the LX coupe's is diff., and the EX coupe's is even a different part number from that, so there are like two different part #'s for each one, which makes 5 or 6 different sway bars. Is it the one for the EX coupe that is supposed to fit an EX exhaust better. Or since I have an LX sedan and the EX sedan's bar is the same, I shouldn't have any problem right? But the EX coupe's is bigger, 25.4mm, mine is 22.2 so that may be a reason to upgrade.
Just wanted to give props to TRIZ for hooking me up with the DCRH. Just arrived today, which was pretty quick for shipping from OR to MI. Was packaged nicely, and is in great shape for a used header, just as he said it was. Thanks man.
Here's a picture of the header, and the DC exhaust I got to hook it up to.
What I want to know is why I should buy a more expensive cat like the random tech high flow cat as opposed to some new $100 one on ebay. Does high flow mean less back pressure or is it gain on both low and high end because it eliminates traditional cat limitations?
I'm also confused about why you say it's a stupid idea to do the below. Because the DX/LX downpipe has 1 pipe instead of 2 like the EX?
If you want an EX header and stock DX/LX exhaust with a cat, buy a cat and take it to a muffler shop and they will connect the header to the rest of the exhaust and weld the cat in line. This is kind of stupid- see backpressure. You'll also run a check engine light. To avoid this- see O2 extenders / defoulers.
And also, everyone talks about welding the cat into place. Is there a way the mufler shop can make it so that the cat can be bolted and unbolted on both sides? Or is one side of the cat going to have to be welded to the mid pipe no matter what?
What I want to know is why I should buy a more expensive cat like the random tech high flow cat as opposed to some new $100 one on ebay. Does high flow mean less back pressure or is it gain on both low and high end because it eliminates traditional cat limitations?
I'm also confused about why you say it's a stupid idea to do the below. Because the DX/LX downpipe has 1 pipe instead of 2 like the EX?
If you want an EX header and stock DX/LX exhaust with a cat, buy a cat and take it to a muffler shop and they will connect the header to the rest of the exhaust and weld the cat in line. This is kind of stupid- see backpressure. You'll also run a check engine light. To avoid this- see O2 extenders / defoulers.
And also, everyone talks about welding the cat into place. Is there a way the mufler shop can make it so that the cat can be bolted and unbolted on both sides? Or is one side of the cat going to have to be welded to the mid pipe no matter what?
Cheap cats tend to fail sooner then higher quality cats- which is due to the materials they use to filter the "bad" out of your exhaust. So when you step up to a higher quality cat, your doing yourself a favor because not only will your cat last longer, but your emissions will be cleaner- helping everyone on this planet enjoy it a little longer (my green pitch). The whole back pressure thing has been argued as a myth in the past. I'm not sure if I completely agree with it or not, but I've provided the info in the FAQ for just representing that the idea exists. I also must add this: the "high flow" cats are great because they give you the benefits of being able to quickly get your exhaust gasses out of your system as quickly as they are created (just as fast as not having a cat altogether), but you also have the added fact that your exhaust is filtered of the harmful shit thats killing the planet, which is a huge draw back to not having a cat and the reason why they are legally required.
What I was saying about that is this... Buy an EX header, stock or aftermarket, it doesnt matter- just buy it, bolt it on. You'll see you lose your stock header of course, but the stock header includes a built in cat, so that goes with it. You could just have a muffler shop connect a pipe between the EX header and your DX/LX exhaust, but its pointless for two reasons. 1) you just lost your cat, and 2) why did you upgrade your header but leave a pea shooter exhaust- that did no good.
If you want to upgrade your header and keep the stock exhaust, for whatever reason, and you want to keep a cat on your exhaust, then do this. Buy an EX header, bolt it on, and have a pipe made to connect between your header and exhaust. Somewhere in there you want to have a cat welded in the exhaust path, and you'll also want to extend the wires to get accurate O2 sensors readings so you can pass emissions, have your ECU correctly determine your AFR and all that.
Now you can have a cat "welded in" wherever you want. Instead of welding it in, you could have them weld flanges on either side of the cat and your exhaust pipes where its going to connect, so you can bolt and unbolt it. This would be cool if you want to remove your cat for track use, or if you think its going to be something you need to replace frequently, or whatever the reason, yes its doable and probably a better idea then straight up having it welded in.
An inexpensive Magnaflow cat from Summit costs $70 and flows just as well as that over-priced Random one...
When I had my Civic I welded flanges on both sides of my cat, and also had a same-length pipe with flanges on it. This way if I needed a cat for emissions purposes it was a 30-minute job to drop my test pipe out and pop the cat back into place. V-bands make it really easy to do this.
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Originally Posted by LogicWavelength
This thread (T.E.A.R.S.) was inspired by speedfoos. We all know about his very public and very obscene battle against his car's engine.
There's a good chance that I'm not going to answer your PM.
If you want to upgrade your header and keep the stock exhaust, for whatever reason, and you want to keep a cat on your exhaust, then do this. Buy an EX header, bolt it on, and have a pipe made to connect between your header and exhaust. Somewhere in there you want to have a cat welded in the exhaust path, and you'll also want to extend the wires to get accurate O2 sensors readings so you can pass emissions, have your ECU correctly determine your AFR and all that.
Okay, I understand most of it now, thanks. But I'm wondering about the DX/LX exhaust past the down pipe. Is the pipe ID different from the EX? Is that what you mean by "keeping the stock exhaust for whatever reason," because ideally I would want an EX mid pipe and muffler? Or is the mid pipe and muffler on the EX the same ID and same specs as the DX/LX?
There's a guy selling a 1-piece 4-2-1 DC header for 120 in town. Is that a good deal? I wonder if it will line up on the 6th gens unlike the 7th gens. Then all I would need to do is shorten the mid pipe for the cat. I also found a stock EX setup on ebay starting at 20 dollars, so I may just go with that.
Oh and I also wanted to ask, can a cat be installed both ways, or is there a front and back?
maturity is overrated
