For a couple months I've had this horrible rattling noise coming from my exhaust. I finally got a chance to look under my car and its coming from where the header meets the cat. I took the bolts off. I'm not sure what is rattling because the bolts were really tight so i'm going to replace the bolts and see what happens. First of all, what is the point of the springs that go with the bolts? Also, can I replace them with regular bolts w/o springs?
Heres a pic.

 

this happend to my brothers gsr first do you have the stock headder? second if the dohnut gasket between the headder and cat is worn or somthing the pipes will bang. The springs help the exhaust system flex a little bit putting less pressure on the actual header where it joins the head. Back to the stock headder there is what an acura mechanic explined a b-pipe inside the actual stock headder and on my bros car it rusted away and just rattled. All he did was replace the headder and the banging went away.

 

I have an aftermarket header, and the gasket doesn't look to bad. I think I'm going to try bolting it back up with the same bolts and see what happens. It looked kinda crooked where the header and cat meet, I probably hit a big speed bump. I'm going to try and bolt it up straight and see if that fixes it. Thanks for the reply.

 

I put the bolts back in and that took tare of the problem (temporarily). If it does it again I'll try replacing the bolts and springs. Any idea on how much those run? Thanks again for the reply.

 

most honda bolts are like 3 bux a pop?