I had initially intended to grab something like this from ebay, but the N1-type muffler worried me. Though a complete exhaust, including new radiator and fan for $190 and another $90 for shipping looked pretty cheap.
But during my research, one name kept popping up everytime sound was a consideration, the Yonaka catback.
All reviewers report great, but low sound, high quality stainless steel and welds and good fitment, while maintaining improved performance.
The exhaust can be eyeballed here:
http://www.yonaka.com/Yonaka_92_00_Civi ... mcb001.htm
Or
http://www.streetimports.com/product_details.asp?id=570
Latter link got soundclip (though plenty on youtube) and some more info about fitment for hatches and such.
Don't mind the 'official' pricetag, I could get it for about $190 shipped. Mind you, this is for catback only, compared to $190 shipped for 4-2-1, test pipe and catback from Kospeed on ebay (same ebay-exhaust above but price w/o radiator+fan).
Any opinions, or better yet, experience with this (Yonaka) catback? Looking at its specs, do any major flaws jump at you? Like bad performance, bad fitment, too big/too small diameter? Would the 60mm OD (2.36") bite me in the ass when it comes to low end?
And while we are at it, they do also have high flow cats for sale, either 2.5" or 3". These ain't bolt-on, as its universal fitment, iow no flanges, so I reckon you'd need to do some welding.
Their high-flow cat.
Price would be about $65 shipped.
As-is, its 14" long or aprox 38cm. Think the 3"-version is another 1.5 inch longer. From what I read in another thread here, our stock cat is 42cm long.
But the length difference could be compensated when welding the flanges.
What do you think about that option? Would the flanges of the stock cat be useable for a chop-and-weld on the free-flow cat, or is the size of the stock flanges too small for the 2.5"? If the flanges have enough meat, could they be 'ported' to the inlet of the cat, to avoid restricting the exhaust?
I'm having some trouble keeping all the denotians for the different US/EU/JDM models in their right place, especially since some of the same ones seem to be used on different models from market to market. The Yonaka catback claim to fit the 96-00 2/4 door civic (wich I assume so far covers my EJ9 sedan), but not the 'CX, DX, LX coupes'. Does the CX/DX/LX (d16y7) have a differently sized or placed cat then the EX (d16y8-engine), wich might explain this differential in the compatiblity-chart?
While I could be tempted to buy the free-flow cat even if it require some welding, I'd like to know if the catback would bolt on to stock cat w/o welding or not.
As(s)uming everything looks good on the Yonaka catback, would the 4-2-1 header from mentioned ebay-shop, kospeed, be good enough for the $70 shipped price-tag ($60 w/o the test-pipe)? The specs say 1.75" inlet, 2" outlet, not sure which parts that refer to, or if it would be a nerf compared to the 60mm Yonaka after the cat.
Alternavely their 4-2-1 header+test-pipe+radiator+fan package for $155 shipped? No idea if the engine got any issues with stock cooling, really. Or if it could be needed if the car ever recieved a boost.
Lots of questions, hopefully you guys can fill in some of the gaps
