Against the advice of some members here, I purchased a header and a cat back from ebay(2 1/2 inch pipe), for grand total of $172. Here's how it went. (My buddy who is an ASE certified Honda/Acura mechanic helped me out)

We pulled the stock manifold off and found that the far right bottom post was broken off. We tried to pull (reverse bit) out the plug, but ended up having to re-thread it. No biggie really.

Here's where it got fun. After putting on the header, we bolted on the A pipe, and found it to be off center of the converter by almost an inch to the left and half and inch down.
We half expected something like this due to the number of ppl fabricating exhaust parts out there. Some of them don't make them with a model of the car in the fab shop. Heathens!
So with some heat, a 4 foot pry bar, and a post jack, we bent that ****** f'er to fit! lol (Note the scorch marks in pic 2)

From there, it went pretty smooth. Bolted on the B pipe, and elbow(which was missing a hanger).

Putting on the muffler(which was missing the front hanger as well), we found the whole system to be pretty tight and rigid. At this point we were a little worried about vibration, cause there isn't even a flex anywhere on the darn thing. PLUS!, the bend in the muffler pipe that goes under the lower control arm of the rear tire were almost touching each other. Luckily , we dropped the lift, and the space between them was satisfactory. With a couple heavy bounces of the suspension, found that they don't touch or bang with the car on the ground.

Overall, I'm happy with it. It's got a nice low tone to the idle, and by no means a "fart can" when gettin on the accelerator while driving. No buzzing or rattling could be found from the stiffness of the entire system either. There's a little more responsiveness in the performance, and I'm curious to see what happens when I get a cold intake (I'll post when that gets done).

Finally, I couldn't be driving around with a big shinny muffler, with my crappy paint job. So I got some cheap flat black paint, and murdered that thing out!


If anyone is gonna hate, remember, haters have the God given, unassailable right to hate. Haters gonna hate!

Thanks for checking out my thread, and feel free to comment what you think. Drive safe!

 

rigid**

 

Thanks for posting your exhaust work.

 

I'm not going to hate too much, just looks like the exhaust tubing running under the control arms looks a bit on the low side. Other than that, it looks OK. How does it sound?

$172 for a complete header back exhaust. You are definitely have to post updates after a few months of daily use. Or better yet. After the winter you have to let us know how it's holding up.

Not quite sure why an ASE certified mechanic would try too pull out an exhaust stud though. They are screwed in!

 

Not bad. I remember my Tsudo catback I installed the first time. Man, I was in love with it. It doesn't come just straight out but also angle'd out for nice view. But I got tired of it and went different route.

 

Looks decent, but I can already tell that header flange isn't very good quality and will most likely warp later on down the road.

 

Heres a couple pictures of ebay exhaust on mine..

 

You really should have a muffler shop weld in a flex section somewhere. Otherwise it's only a matter of time before the welds rip from the twisting of the motor front to back.

It was there from the factory for a reason...

 

I must admit I put ebay headers on my accord and they worked nicely!!! Lasted to.

 

I had an Egay SS Header on my H22A and it didn't leak at all. Worked pretty well but sucks in performance if you ask me.

 

I will definitely update as time goes on. And by pull out, I meant reverse bits to try and, unscrew the thread part of the post. which failed, hence the re threading.

 

Very Cool lookin Accord man. How did you like the exhaust?

 

Love it....had it for 3 months now.starting to break in n sound better. 2.25 piping and a 4.5 exhaust tip. Just need to lower my car.

 

nice fart cans bros

 

i concur with this post... either that or the exhaust manifold bolts will break off

on the other hand, i also purchased an eBay cat-back system( for $65) & had decent results similar to the OP. flex section did rust out after 6 years & a replacement was welded in

the Stainless Steel still looks good under the vehicle after all those years & it's doing it's job of evacuating the byproducts of combustion out the rear of the vehicle. welds are holding & the metal-type crush gaskets provided still there & no leaks. I didn't buy a manifold because the original isn't warped & i don't really care for the bling-bling factor

the only con with the SS cat back that i got was that cumbersome angle out to the rear bumper (it was JDM-tyte back then ) i thought i was shipped the wrong part, but seller said it was made that way <ugh>

 

Right on. Yeah, I really like the sound. By no means a fart can, (.)(.).

I'm not all about lowering my car, all the roads I drive are not conducive to that.

 

No bro. Full cat. Dc headers. Hi flo cat. Aem cold air. It dont sounds like fart canon. Might be cheap exhaust...but its not shytty at all.

 

i a, using a similar kit. the best thing about it is you can upgrade the muffler, resignator, and cat at different times and still pay less they having custom piping built.

heres mine with a magnaflow muffler





i also have the ebay headers. once i replace the cat, resignator and muffler i will paint it all flat black.

 

I would recommend BBQ grille paint. It will not burn off and lasts much longer, and does not off gas like regular paint.

As for flex connectors, Honda didn't use this type...


They used two spring loaded bolts, and a coupler in between the down pipe and catalyst to allow the engine to rotate freely without binding up the exhaust.
Part #7 in the diagram.

 

I had a ebay exhaust, and i guess you can say i still sorta do in a way..lol

Sounded awsome for the first 2-3 months, then it started braking in and it still sounded good just a bit louder, fast foward to a year later, it was loud as s#*t but i still liked it in a way. Year and a half later all the packing in the muffler and resignator was completely burn out and it sounded like i was running a straight pipe, so i chopped off the muffler and welded on a magnaflow muffler and a few hangers (since my ebay exhaust also didnt have all the hangers), 3 weeks later i was driving and bottomed out on a driveway and broke the ebay resignator in half so i got that chopped off and welded on a 22" inch resignator

as of now my exhaust sounds better than it ever did with that ebay junk even when it was new

 

i have 2 cans of the bbq grill paint. do you think it will handle enough heat to paint the headers.

luckily my ebay exhaust had a braided flex section already in it.