Civic exhaust - fuel economy???
 

I have a '95 Civic DX (sedan).

Well nailed a pot hole this weekend and combine that with a rusted exhaust and I now have an extremely loud and annoying exhaust leak. Exhaust shop quoted my $518 after taxes, parts, etc. What are my options? This is a daily driver that I want to be quiet, but also want it to be cheap. For ~$500 I can get just about any aftermarket exhaust but figure most of those might be loud.

Also, if I am going to replace it, might as well try and find something that might help fuel economy a bit. Any ideas on were I might find out which exhuast(s) might actually help FE on my car? If not, will a slightly larger than stock exhaust help or hinder fuel economy? Any thoughts on the direction I should go?

With Honda, OEM is the best for mileage. Not usually the cheapest though.

I'd go with a stock replacement, OEM if possible. If not, try to get stainless. Mild steel will be shot in 2 years from my experience.

OEM is probably going to work out the best for you, but you might want to shop around to see if you can get a better deal on the overall install.

So something like an aftermarket OEM replacement/"stock style" exhaust should be fine?

If so, I found one that I can order the full catback with all hangers and everything shipped to my door for $170. Bosal is the brand. bosalna.com

Install is not a problem I can do all of the bolt on stuff.

Lots of you mention OEM but then mention if I do not go stainless that it will be "shot in 2 years"... OEM was/is not stainless, so why spend the OEM price then?

Thinking I might go for the Bosal since you all recommend OEM size/style and then possibly use some of my high temp rattle cans I have left over from past projects and at least "try" to keep the rust away that way. For $170 compared to dealership prices of probably more than my quote, it is worth a try. The paint/rattle cans are just sitting and collecting dust anyway... lol

Sounds good. Like I said, just make sure its stainless unless you want to replace it again in 2 years.

just the muffler? just go to pepboys pick up a cheap stainless 30 dollar one and local muffler shops usually weld a muffler on for around 40

My last muffler from the Honda dealer was around $160 and has a life time warranty for as long as I own it, it was a smaller pipe then the after market muffler that came off but much larger muffler.

Nope... All the piping is rusted out too. Muffler was actually replaced by the person who owned the car before me and has a lifetime warranty (but does not apply to the piping) but would not matter anyway because it is not transferrable and only covers the owner of the car when it was installed.

I tried looking up the Honda part but could not find it. Seems that when I cannot find it, it has been discontinued. Starting to find a lot of the parts I need if I try and get them new, are marked "discontinued". But the car/body style is going on 15 yrs.