utahbmxer

Hey.. couple of questions

First; I have a 2001 civic 4dr/5spd with the DC Sports TCS Exhaust system on it. I know its only a few years old. I've only owned the car for 2 years. The first muffler has a crack at the weld where the main pipe connects to it at the fitting pictured below. Its on the back-side of it right behind the circled one (the picture has the second muffler circled) Has onyone seen this happen? I'm just going to unbolt it and have my brother tig weld it back.

Second; my car has about 102k miles on it. There is a wierd clicking/popping noise that is consistant in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears when accelerating or even idling around in first gear. It seems to almost be in sync with the engine RPM and speed of the car, whatever. The car also has a lot of "backlash" or play in the transmission/differential/CV Axle area or whatever you want to call it, this started about ~10k miles before i noticed the sound. (E.g. when I let off the gas to slow down for a light etc, the car is really jumpy back and forth.) Any ideas as to what this could be a sign of? (i can hear the throwout bearing making a slight rattle when the car is at idle with the clutch out)

I'm thinkin of just finding a used tranny at the wrecking yard if I can.