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Finally did this install today. Thanks to Mike for a great, easy-to-follow DIY. The hardest part by far was removing the rubber bushing from the left side exhaust hanger - man, what a bitch that was. I ended up having to cut the damn thing a little in order to release the stock exhaust. The second hardest part was getting the new exhaust to fully seat in the same bushing. Lots of grunting and cursing today.
The problem, I think, was that since I don't have the M-Sport body kit, there was no rear diffuser to remove, so I was working behind the bumper. I should have probably just removed the whole bumper cover - it would have given me room to work and made the whole process much easier. As it was, I ended up really contorting my hands to try to free the stock exhaust and it took a while. There just wasn't much room to work.
Oh well, the job is done and it sounds great. Love the burbling on downshifts and of course the grunt on cold starts. And give it some gas and it sounds really racy, especially with the windows down and a wall or something close by to bounce the sound back at you.
If you haven't heard it before, it sounds pretty close to stock, just "more." It like they turned the volume up but also tweaked things to sound just slightly more serious without sounding like some ridiculous riced-out Civic. And I hear it only gets better with time. Definitely looking forward to it.
One question for Ulrich - what is that piece you have circled in red in the upper left corner? Looks like a black rubber cylinder or something. My stock exhaust had no such piece.
The only thing I would add to the DIY is that if you want to use the "proper" socket to remove the right-side exhaust hanger, it's an E10. Maybe a lot of people don't have external torx sockets, and apparently an 8mm works fine, but in the interest of thoroughness I thought I'd contribute some small piece of info.
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