What muffler for my 96 civic HX?

[Cobb]

I vote for the straight pipe or no muffler. I did it to the insight I own and it has a nice sound, not too loud and gives it a bit more pep from the seat of pants dyno.

I had a super fart can on my scion xa and I couldnt hear the turn signal at idle.

[chefdave]

Hi
Understand most exhausts fitted on production line start wide then narrow towards the rear. to keep exhaust note quiet the idea is to have your tail pipe a next size pipe down from the cat pipe as exhaust gases by then have lost speed and sound waves change. narrower pipe helps keep up velocity so gases exit quicker. big fart cans serve no function other than noise to hey look at me. have been on internet and exhaustpartsuk have a speical resonater to fit tail pipes to control noise. basically can size with a perforated tube that fit inside it. idea is to break up any sound waves with no loss of performance.

[Frank Lee]

Custom made exhaust system from a shop? Are you made of money?

Straight pipes? Newsflash: NOBODY wants to hear a P.O.S. sounding car blatting around. Do you know what your unmuffled car sounds like from the OUTSIDE? I always thought that since these open-exhaust guys seem to love exhaust noise so much, they should quit playing around and route that open pipe up to within about 3" from their ears. Enjoy.

I vote for the stock style replacement muffler. No, it seems there really hasn't been any huge advances in muffler tech; fooling with mufflers accomplishes nothing for the eco-minded driver anyway. If you are racing and live in the near-redline rpm range, then.

Check local or shop Rock Auto or Summit, they are pretty tough to beat.

[chefdave]

Hi frank lee
several years ago i had a full custom exhaust fitted. from manifol to tail pipe worked out cheaper then other places. when i went in asked about replacement i was offered options on the cat pipe size silencers and noise level. i decided to go with the mid range noise which is close to standard. smallest tailpipe. they did i fantastic job and a test drive around the block to if i was happy. no i wasnt becase i could hear every cynlinder explosion. told about it. car put up on ramps and silencers swap and one moved in system. end reasult a very quiet 8% improvement in mpg. all im saying is talk to custom exhaust places if they wont do what you want then walk away. my stepson is still driving it and exhaust still looks brand new after servral harsh winters with salt on the roads.

[Superfuelgero]

Try the dealer or Majestic Honda. The OEM is surprisingly cheap, will work the best, and has a warranty.

[poomanchu]

Originally Posted by chefdave

end reasult a very quiet 8% improvement in mpg

A custom exhaust shop will not net you near 10% mpg increase.

[chefdave]

Hi
my system was from manifold to tail with a new free flow cat. when i use to drive 500 miles to scotland i had to fill up before glasgow after system was fitted could drive to stirling before filling. did this trip 3 times a year for 4 years. i have always kept mpg figures for all my cars apart from v6 shogun which i did not want to know how bad mpg was. certainly no where near book figures. might be as low as single digits but needed a 4wd for driving over scottish mountains to get to work. many a time a white blizzard made driving interesting and 6"+ of snow on road.

[arcosine]

What is music to the driver is noise to the bystander.

[chefdave]

Hi
custom system was quieter than factory fit. yes sound is different in car compared to outside.

[LeanBurn]

Originally Posted by poomanchu

From my understanding as long as it is the axleback portion (part that has the muffler) and not the entire exahust system, it should bolt right up whether it's an EX/DX/HX/LX. Might look into the 99-00 Civic Si exhaust, same body style (couple) but those got a 160hp 1.6 dohc instead of the 115hp sohc. I don't know if the axleback would bolt on.

Another option is to find another stock honda/acura taxleback made for a higher performing stock car. Like a RSX type s or integra Gsr. I see those on Craigslist all the time for around 100, I am sure a muffler shop could take care of the rest for not a lot of scratch. It should 'breathe' better as it was made for a higher performing larger motor car, yet still sound nice since it is stock and has Db and nvh taken into consideration.

Best of luck!

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