Header, Intake, & Exhaust - 91 Si Exhaust

I have an exhaust question for you. I need to replace the exhaust on my 91 Civic Si Hatchback that I just purchased. Here's some background...

This 91 is my first Civic of this generation, I have had 5 first generation ('74-'79) Civics over the years. I did some minor stuff with my old Civic's, mostly maintenance, so I am pretty new to the game.

This car is currently entirely stock, but I plan on tuning it as things break or money becomes available. With the exhaust, I want to improve performance, but a quiet sound is very important to me. I love tuned Civics but really don't like loud exhausts. So what I am looking for is something quiet but power improving.

I've been to a couple local (Chicago area) muffler shops and their suggestions seem weak or like they don't understand what I want. The most recent suggestion was a 2" pipe from the cat back, going into a stock muffler with twin tips (the 91 Si's came stock with the twin tips and I like the look - I don't really like the cantalope launcher look). Any comments on this set up?

Any ideas/suggestions?

Thanks.
-t
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'91 Civic Si Hatchback
Stock... so far.
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i dont know if they make it for your car, but check into a greddy evolution cat-back system. its a very mellow sounding exhaust, though it does have the melon-shooter tip.

I'll look into the gReddy system. Thanks.

What do you think of the setup I described above - the 2" pipe from the cat-back with a stock exhaust? Will I see any performance gains with it?

Thanks,
-t

the only chance you have for power out of that is if they use mandrel bent piping (same inside diameter even through the bends), not the crush bends (inside diameter is smaller in the bends) that most muffler shops use. make sure this is what they are planning to use, even though it will cost more to buy. it really wont be worth it if you use crush bends.

a 2 inch setup will give you some power. But if you want to turbo it down the line I have heard that 2.5 is the best setup. Anyone else heard this?

definetly, 2 inch mandrel bent would be good for a nicely modified sohc NA motor, but, if you are planning on going turbo, SC, or Nitrous, hell, even all- out all-motor, then you will want at least 2.5, turbo, I would even go up to 3.0 in.

currently im running a 2.25" custom cat back. i am running a resonator in the system along with a dynomax muffler. now the exh system looks stock as well as sounds stock with a slight low end growl.

Thanks. I think I'll go with the 2" mandrel bent piping for now. I'll wait until I do some body work and some engine upgrades before I go big.

Thanks everybody.
-t
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'91 Civic Si Hatchback
Stock... so far.
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