chuson

Long story short, after 2 years ownage of the DC Header, the flexpipe has served its duty well, or does it not? Anyways, according to my 08 mod plan, one of the most important FIX is the flexpipe, I have no idea when it started to hiss but for sure it's more noticable since the beginning of 08.

With a bunch of reading and research from (Thx), AZ, CRSX, and even Civic forum, I figured what I need, and where to fix my flexpipe.

I've ordered a double-braid flexpipe as recommended, I swear it looks nice and sharp, until the shop told me the size is wrong and it's not up to their standard.

** My research told me the DC flexpipe has a 2.25" opening; but Scott told me it's 2" by just looking @ it. He's right. I measured the DC flexpipe @ home and it has a 2" opening, not 2.25".

HotRodScott - The name of the store, and obviously the owner is Scott. It sounds like a domestic garage to me, but w/ 30+ experiences on exhaust, I have confident in them. Scott became a technical consultant now and his son did all the work.

Indeed, they took my flexpipe, and swap in theirs. The quality and finish of their flexpipe is expectional well. So nice that they said it worth $120 alone. (I phoned them 2 weeks ago and they said $120+$40 labor, so it's not a lie). I walked out w/ their professional and time efficient service for $80, WELL WORTH IT.

Some pictures before conclusion...

Waiting to get fix...


Ugly DC Flexpipe.


Quote from Scott's son ... "Your DC flexpipe is too garbage, can't believe they use this shxt on their header... let me chop it off for you :lol: "


This guy do it in a professional and time efficient way...


More..


More welding...


O snap, see that shinny thing...


Done...


HotRodScott, a store w/ 20+ experiences on exhaust system, they do custom stuff too...


DC garbage 1


DC garbage 2


Conclusion.

After the flexpipe swapped, I swear my car is strange. Strange in a way that I'm so unfamiliar with. The deep deep rumble noise, super quiet cruise, and responsive low-end torque was just so NOT my car~! I always thought my low-end torque sucks because of my CAI, but I guess not. Did I complain cruising @ 120km/h gave me that drooling noise? I can't hear it anymore... I don't need to downshift as much as before to get go, and hey, I was expecting a slight hissy sound from my High-flow cat but I was wrong. QUIET. PERIOD.

I love this and it's the BEST $80 I have spent.

One note: My car "seems" slower on high-rpm range now, the rpm climb slower in 6K+ and not as dramatic as before. My thought was the flexpipe crack (leak) might have better exhaust flow than no crack??? Or it's a placebo effect that I'm experiencing??? Anyways, I'm happy.

speedlimitz

cool pics. gotta get mine changed out one of these days

afici0nad0

have you asked scott whether he's had inquiries into a custom header and exhaust for a tsx application?

fyi, for those who want to know this shop's location:

http://www.hotrodscotts.com/

TSXual

urs 6spd or auto...? my DC on my 6spd didnt last worth shit and then got a stronger one and broke that too... they said its a poor design and any flex pipe would break cause the design or somethin

xenonhid

Nice work! That guy looks like he knows his stuff

Simba91102

May be, but he's crazy (or stupid) to be working with that sawsall overhead and no safety glasses. A little advice to you young guns out there. Two things we take for granted and don't take proper care of are our eyes and our feet. I'm paying the price for that neglect now (remember, I'm old). Don't mean to sound like your mother, but please think about it.

CGTSX07

^^actually, that is exactly what i was thinking when i saw him without a any sort of mask or saftey glasses.

Audioserf

I have to get this done, my Topspeed flexpipe hiss is so aggravating. I'm going to try take care of it this weekend. I'll probably bring a printout of this thread to the garages with me, lol.

Thanks for the post.

bhavin3623

damn..looks tight

tsx1982

So what were the dimensions of the flex pipe you ended up installing? 2" opening and 4" flex pipe?

chuson

That surprise me too when I see they don't wear safety glasses; but it's funny when Scott (the old man) came over to inspect if his son did a good job, he didn't bother to wear his safety glasses either, and his son was torching or welding @ the same time. I guess they got used to it...

They end up using a 6" flexpipe w/ 2" opening + he weld a small piece of extension to joint the whole thing. I've also confirmed w/ JTso recently, and he said the "regular" DC flexpipe opening is 2"; the reason why he use 2.25" is he replaced the whole Y-pipe.

chuson

Not sure if they will do a custom header or exhaust for TSX, but if you have cash up-front, I'm sure they can manage to make us a race-header, now where's the K-Pro???

It's a $80 fix + 1/2 hr wait, really worth it. However, I want to see how long the new flexpipe last. I wouldn't want to shield out more for Comptech because with ALOT of back to back drive on my friend's TSX w/ (all Comptech setup + similar mod w/ mine); it doesn't worth that extra $300 in terms of performance. Race header is a one of my consideration but without K-Pro it won't take any advantage over shorty.

Tsx536

Yeah, now that I think about it Jason. I used a 2.25" ID flex pipe but then again, I have a modified A-pipe from JTso that was enlarged for my SC setup. I forgot to mention that when I told you the size of my flex pipe. Sorry if that confused you.

Anyway, very nice man! I noticed the same thing after getting the a-pipe fixed. It seems like you get some low end torque and throttle response. I think that having the hole in the a-pipe actually made the system less restrictive and led to less backpressure. It sounded like crap, but actually probably produces a little more power on the top end. I'm sure you're enjoying the new setup more though. It's nice when the header is quiet, mine started to get really raspy before fixing it.

925tsx

yea i think my car got faster top end with the hole in the flex pipe.

chuson

Not a problem, everything has solved for now. Thanks for your help Kennnnny.

But yes, I disconnect my battery today to clear the CEL; and pour in some 94Ultra from Sunoco then head to some backroad to test drive. The low-end seems VERY responsive consider I have CAI (or compare to what I experienced before); but high-end is NOT as fast as it should (or before the crack was fixed).

Either way, I love how it is right now. Follow my 08 mod plan, my low-end and high-end should be MORE responsive by the end of May.

xenonhid

What happened to your eyes?

moda_way

All I want to know is, where the fk do you drive. Paint off the Type II and ceramic coating off the DC... guess which is going to rust out first.

Audioserf

Yeah you've gotta be beyond slammed to have roughed up your Type 2 bar as much as you have man. I have a Type 1 that's a year old and only has a few scuffs on it, and I'm at a finger gap all around...

chuson

** I have 1 finger gap left on ALL 4 corner.

Cusco Lower Arm Brace II - 2 Yrs old.

Location - Toronto, the past winter is terrible w/ numerous of snow-storm, + I drove on snow that's 5inch+ high too. (W/ Mugen lip on, front clearance is about 2.5" - 3.5"); so bottom of the car should have 4"+ for clearance.

Reason - It does looks like shit and that's why I've taken it off today. I don't see ANY bent on it except the original slight bend, BUT, it's somehow contact w/ my HFC or header and making a noise. I'm SO regret that I have NOT raised my car for the past winter. After the city plow all the snow, there's ocassional BIG ROCK ASS ICE on the ground that you CAN't safety avoid it (due to traffic, or ground condition, or car speed); and the only way is to run over it. Sometimes they are SO hard that even I ran over it, I can still see it rolling down the street.

Result - Most of the paint were chipped off; my front foglight cover is hack; front Mugen lip is broken (just got a new one and repaint); exhaust leak (gasket) and accelerate this flexpipe crack too.