Well, After reading around on the forums, asking some questions and doing some shopping I bought everything I THOUGHT was needed to swap my exhaust from a DX to EX. Here's my story: 02 Civic DX

Bought a used EX Magnaflow cat-back from a gent who had it on his wifes 01 LX. Apparently there is a small peice that you can remove on the kit if you are installing it on the LX/DX models to make it fit because of the length of the header/cat on the DX/LX. So, without this piece it made it easy to install on my DX with stock header, no problems what-so-ever.

Purchased a 4-1 DC Sports 1-piece Ceramic Coated header used. Looked at the box when it got to me and was extremely surprised at the tiny size.. and was even more amazed when I opened the box, but figured I was just uninformed and thought they were bigger. Worried me there is no O2 sensor bung, but remembered that the DC sports don't have them.

Some dude on 7thgen told me to buy the '03 EX front sway (stabilizer) bar -- item #5 -- to help with the clearance issue I was having with the 2.25" pipe hitting the '02 DX larger sway bar.

Because the DX header has the cat built in, unless I wanted to run catless I would have to buy a cat. Went for the universal magnaflow cat (9400 series) that I assumed they could weld right into the exhaust pipe. Also, because of the position of the O2 sensor being farther back, purchased an O2 sensor extension wire (24" to be safe).

Set up an appointment with my local shop that has a good rep with doing good work, and brought it in today. Get a voicemail 2 1/2 hrs later with the bad news! Apparently that can't install ANYTHING I bought. [:@] here's the reasons:

Sway Bar: Apparently the bushings/brackets are not the same size from the DX to an EX.. they will do research on this to make sure of this and check to see how the EX is installed, etc.

Header/Cat: Apparently there is also a difference in the EX/DX size of the pipe and flange and something to do with the way the pipe is bent. I am going to go ahead and assume I am an idiot and that's what buying an EX downpipe eleviates? Also, I am pretty sure I made it clear to them that this may be a problem when I asked for a quote.. because obviously the bend and length of the pipe is different...

Man, this day just SUCKS hardcore for me! Any and all help is appreciated... what am I missing/doing wrong?

 

wtf?!? from what i've heard, to upgrade from dx/lx to ex, all you had to do is buy a hi-flow cat, a ex header, and a ex exhaust exaust and it'd bolt right on... is this not correct???

 

^ its should be. It goes that way for 6th gens.

 

And 7th gens as well! I am getting my EX header and Magnaflow Universal cat anyday now to complete my exhaust on my 04 LX sedan!

 

Well, after doing some more research and asking the guy who told me to buy the 03 sway bar, the bushings are also different - he assumed I knew?! Bought thouse, on their way so I should be good to go with that. I've heard people say that they didn't need to switch to the 03/EX sway, but knowing how my pipe is hitting my sway I can see where this is probably going to help as it is definately smaller (solid bar instead of bigger hollow tube)- doesn't hurt it will help my cornering a little as well.

Talking to people about the header, I never bought a downpipe which I guess should fix the problem with the header/flange as well. However I can't figure out how the flange is different from the DX/LX to the EX??!! He said that the diameter of the pipe and the bolt pattern on the flange on the new header don't match up to the ones on the pipe/exhaust which makes no sense to me. I measured the output of the header and it is 2.25" - the same as my pipe on my cat-back. I'm looking at buying a downpipe and having them weld the cat into that and then installing that to the cat-back.. Anyone know about this?