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n8finn
05-26-2016, 02:28 PM
Hi everyone, I'm Nathan
First off, I have to say that this forum has been an incredible resource for me as I've been learning more about my Taffy White 2004 Civic Si. I've lived in Philadelphia for almost 7 years now and got back in to car ownership this past November. My hometown of Orlando, FL was where my love for Honda started; first with a 1989 CRX, next with a 2000 Civic EK hatch (which was stolen / recovered 3 times down there!).

Working on a car up here in Philly is tough especially with street parking the only reasonable option $-wise, but my EP is primarily a daily driver for the times I need to get out of the 'burbs for work or for pleasure. I bought the car from a Subaru dealer (1-owner, bone stock, super clean CARFAX, etc etc....had to have it) and it's been phenomenal despite the recent P0420 code that I'm working to get rid of....

I'm looking forward to utilizing and contributing to this awesome forum. If you happen to be in the Philly area hit me up! I miss all my car-enthusiast buddies back in Orlando.

Here's a pic from the day I brought her home.

7048

tommy
05-27-2016, 06:43 AM
Welcome to the forum! Looks like a nice, clean example. Congrats.

Good luck with the code; I had that and just decided to get a Magnaflow cat to replace the OEM; picked up a little sound, butt dyno was impressed, and no code. All around good investment for pretty cheap.

I grew up in Doylestown, and visit fairly often. I'll be down in a couple of weeks to install my foggies in my parents' driveway. You're never too old to use them for your own purposes. :)

n8finn
05-28-2016, 11:16 AM
Thanks Tommy! Yeah, the family I have up here is all in the city, so it's tough to find a driveway to do work (after this winter I'm close to needing a brake job). Luckily an engine light reset enabled me to pass inspection when it didn't come back after driving 60 miles....of course it came back but at least I don't have to rush to fix it all.

With that, I ended up having a little extra $ so I got a Magnaflow cat as well, a direct fit. The P0420 code came back even after 1 or 2 resets, so next I'm gonna try the downstream o2 sensor AND a in a Tanabe Touring cat-back since I saw that the mid-pipe and muffler are super rusted, the flanges are as thin as paper.....

I wonder if the extra sound you picked up is the same (louder and hissy when you get in to 2nd / 3rd in low RPMs)? It sounds like an exhaust leak but the mechanic and I checked with the car lifted and don't feel anything....he had to put new bolts and some extra washers on the mid-pipe flanges so maybe some new piping down there will help or at least not make the noise sound so raspy and hiss'y. I'd love to know if that particular sound is normal, because I hate it but could learn to live with it I suppose....it just makes the car sound like it's older than it actually is....

Good luck with fogs install! Fogs are on my roadmap too. I got some DEPO projectors to replace the hideously yellow stock headlights....surprised with the quality / fitment.

tommy
05-31-2016, 07:05 AM
I had the MF cat installed at the same time as the MF catback exhaust on my car, so I don't think we could do an apples to apples comparison, unfortunately, on the sound.

I had to replace one headlight as well. Given their age, I guess it should be no surprise. I did keep one, though, and used Griot's Garage headlight restoration kit, and it worked great.

n8finn
05-31-2016, 11:58 AM
Gotcha, I'm ordering a Tanabe Touring Medallion cat-back exhaust and hopefully that will improve things....after I saw how rusted the stock exhaust looked underneath I figured it'd be a good time to upgrade. Yeah, I was really impressed with the DEPO lights, $160 Amazon Prime shipped.....couldn't pass it up in the short term, and if they last long it'll be a bonus! I might try restoring the stock lights one day, I kept em.