hey guys, i was on the interstate yesterday on the way home and i was in 5th for about 30 mins, i never even hit vtec and my car started getting really loud, after i got off the exit and went back to first gear at the light it seems i have no power to the wheels, when i let off the gas it rattles, and when i push over like 20% it rattles. if i rev up to 4 and push the clutch in to shift i get some backfire.
any ideas?
ill go take a vid on my camera right now
i also have no CEL

 

Backfiring usually indicates a timing issue of some sort..

Check under the distributor cap and see if the screw
is still in the rotor..

If that's not it I would then check
the timing belt to make sure it didn't jump.

 

Broken header?

 

HAHA YEP!
just pulled it out to look at it and one bolt is loose to the resonator and the other is off.
that would be the cause of the backfire as well?

 

It's technically not a back fire. It's any unburned fuel hitting the fresh air and igniting.

 

By the way, there's this old saying:
KISS- Keep It Simple, Stupid

 

and your point is?

 

Keep diagnosis simple. Start with the easy things; like a simple look over. Since we can't see the actual car obviously, think about what the person says. Exhaust got louder and engine made rattling noises. Most people don't know what a real backfire is and what it would sound like so move to the next most likely area...the exhaust.
I wasn't being offensive. It's an old saying when it comes to diagnostics. Check the easy ish first.
Don't run off looking at the distributor or timing belt. Neither one of those cause a loud exhaust. Besides, how many times has your rotor cap set-screw backed out? I have the original distributor from Japan without any issues.

 

Thank you for clearing that up because it came off that way..

Mine? never,
But it happened to my friend last weekend
and he gave the same basic description..

As soon as he pulled the cap off,the rotor screw fell out on the ground.
That is actually a common occurance from what I have read...

Edit: here is one example
http://www.cargurus.com/Cars/Discussion-t6354_ds443464