Joined: Mar 2018

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Hi everyone.

I'm looking into upgrading the exhaust on my 2003 Civic LX. I know it won't give me much in the way of performance, but it will give me something to do with my time that I'll actually enjoy, so there's that. I'm also pretty sure I've got a small hole in the current stock exhaust manifold, so it'll need to be replaced regardless...I figure if I'm going to be wrenching, I may as well have some fun doing it.

So here's my question...I got in contact with ProCivic, and I THINK that there was a bit of miscommunication. I told them I was looking at going with the 4-1 header and the DC Sports exhaust.

Here's the header:
https://www.procivic.com/p/ym/2003/c...s.html?ctid=31

Here's the exhaust:
https://www.procivic.com/p/ym/2003/c...m.html?ctid=31

I asked them if there was anything else I'd need to have a "complete" exhaust system from the head all the way to the exhaust tip if I went with these two products. They responded that the header eliminates the first cat, but doesn't eliminate the second cat so that section with the second cat would remain.

However...when I get under the car I don't see anything at all that looks like a second cat. Am I missing something, or was there some kind of confusion in what they were telling me?? It looks to me like if I went with that header and that exhaust I'd have new exhaust going from the head all the way to the muffler tip...but I guess I could be really missing something?

I know that this system will eliminate the cat, and I'll look into having that addressed by a local shop as I have no ability (or tools) to weld anything myself anyway.

Finally, if I'm planning on eliminating the cat from the system and having that addressed locally, will the 4-2-1 header from DC Sports for the EX fit on the LX? I can't really tell if the fit is the same with the only real difference being the location of the cat, or if the actual head is different which means that they can't be swapped at all.

Thanks in advance everyone.
Jeff

Joined: Mar 2018

Posts: 5

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Okay, after doing a TON of reading last night, I think I figured it out.

There is no second cat on the LX (or any from what I can tell) so that is some kind of miscommunication.

The EX parts will fit just fine, but there's a catch in that they won't work when mixed with LX parts...an EX header won't match the rest of the LX exhaust, and the LX header won't match an EX exhaust. So if I want to get an EX header, I'll need to also get the EX down pipe.

I'm still a bit confused on the 4-2-1 race header and if it directly mounts up with the DC exhaust.

However, after reading everything I think I'll try to get a setup that I can do myself that retains the cat. So I'll be looking at swapping over to a complete EX setup, using a DC Sports EX header, a Magnaflow bolt in high flow cat, and then the DC cat-back exhaust. OR I'll be looking into the Magnaflow LX header/cat combo and then the DC cat-back.

From what I understand neither of these will provide much of an increase in power, but they do sound pretty good. They should also give me options for retaining the O2 sensors and not throwing a CEL.

Joined: Apr 2005

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From: ALL BLUE

Joined: Mar 2018

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