[swoody]

Hello, world!

So it's been some time since I've been around these parts. I have been cycling the past 5 years, and am just now starting to use a car again. I currently have a 2000 Honda Civic, that will become my daily driver (former best in this same car was 50mpg).

So I noticed my exhaust has a pretty bad leak, just in front of the muffler where it attaches to the exhaust pipe. I was going to look into getting this fixed, but wanted to weigh my options first to see if there may be any difference to be gained here in terms of mileage. I basically have three paths to go here, and was hoping to gain some insight or discussion from the community.

My first thought was to purchase a cheap, aftermarket cat-back exhaust system. This may be lighter and sound ok, but I was concerned the free-flow design may (if it does anything at all) actually lead to less mileage and higher power.

My next thought was simply replacing the muffler with an OEM original cat-back exhaust. This would provide stock power and mileage, and would be nice and quiet.

Going further down this path, I thought about purchasing an OEM style muffler, with a smaller exhaust port than the car came with from the factory. I figure this in addition to a reduced intake port may lead to a leaner burning car, and higher mileage.


I am still really open to ideas at this point, and am hoping someone here may be able to provide some insightful discussion or some personal experiences with exhaust modifications.


Thanks!
Woody