i have a manual 97 civic hx. does anybody know if i have to remove my catylitic convertor to put on headers?

 

your cat is part of the stock exhaust manifold on your hx so you will lose the cat when you install the header.

 

I'm not sure where you're located so if you have emissions testing you may have a problem with doing what I'm suggesting. You can use a stock manifold or header from a 96-98 EX (Si CAN) and put that on your car. That will eliminate your current cat but I would suggest that you also get a cat from the EX/Si and modify your exhaust to accept the cat down under the car. Basically you're just converting your exhaust from an HX to an EX format which will help your power for sure.