Im new to the site and very new to Honda's as well !

My name is Joey and Im from Northern NJ. Im 16 going to be 17 in Feb.I am currently going to Votech for autobody.I just bought my first car today ! It's a 97 Honda Civic Hatchback DX. The previous owner put Skunk 2 one piece coilovers and a straight pipe with Vibrant exhaust. But the car wont pass inspection because of the exhaust, it failed for not having a catalytic converter. It also has BWRS control arms. Im very new to these cars so i dont really know if Skunk 2 is a good brand or BWRS is either thats why im here i wanna learn about Honda's more.

Thanks for reading and hope to hear some feedback back !

 

Nice looking car. Can you get a photo of where the cat would go on your setup?

 

For the stock DX, the header and cat are a single unit.

The OP hasn't mentioned the engine in his car.

 

You appear to have aftermarket headers on it.
It's probably connected straight to the piping without a catalytic converter.



edit: I just reread your post and noticed you have a straight pipe and Vibrant exhaust
So, that's your answer right there. It's got a straight pipe, no catalytic.
Simply get an aftermarket highflow catalytic converter that matches the diameter of your exhaust piping, and bolt it on (if you can).
Then make sure the O2 sensors can fit and are threaded into their proper bungs


As Ron posted above, that's the proper stock exhaust for a 96-00 CX/DX/LX Civic
(in red, I circled the catalytic converter if you didn't notice in the picture posted by Ron)





This is the rest of the exhaust piping for a stock non-vtec

 

Do you know a good cat off hand to buy after I find out the size of my pipe ?

 

I bought one off eBay when I first got my car. It has the D16Y7 but the "Y" on the exhaust manifold was leaking. The new catalytic converter / exhaust manifold cost me $170-$180 shipped, and so far it hasn't given me any issues. It's been a year and a few months so far, and 35,000 miles. Hope that helps!

 

Had this same issue with my last civic (before it burned down) the "y" in the exhaust mani had been previously split and PO had it "welded" shut to cut corners and costs. In the long run a replacement would have been better but i never got time to do that much

 

Why dont you just buy a stock mani. Swap it on real quick and go pass then put it back... much cheaper... go to a junk yard

 

Federal law made it illegal to sell some parts from wreaking yards to the public.
Catalytic converters are one of them.

Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using IB AutoGroup

 

I had a 96 hatch with a B series swap in it. Used a Random Technologies cat (was after the manifold, like most normal setups). Not sure why it would be any different for this application. It's obviously not OE, but may let you keep your manifold and just put one inline somewhere past it.