[TxGreaseMonkey]

Be careful buying Bosal "direct fit" mufflers and exhaust pipes. I just installed a Bosal center silencer and exhaust pipe (287-221), plus a rear muffler (VFM1337), on my 1993 Civic DX, 4 Dr. Sedan, VIN EG8. Major cutting and fabrication was involved. Don't believe that only simple hand tools are required. The center silencer's middle hangers missed going into the rubber insulators by 3 inches. I had to cut them off with a 3" high speed air cut-off tool and fabricate a replacement from the original Honda exhaust pipe. This was not easy. Additionally, the rear hanger was 3 inches short of the rear insulator. This required cutting the exhaust pipe (behind the silencer), buying a 1.75" I.D. x 1.75" I.D. exhaust connector, and buying two 1.875" muffler clamps to finally solve the problem. Afterwards, I was told by an Advance Auto Parts employee, who is a professional mechanic by day, that this is par for the course with Bosal products. He said, "They may be an OEM manufacturer (out of the Netherlands), but their aftermarket products are not made to OEM specifications." Caveat emptor.

[TxGreaseMonkey]

I called Bosal's customer service department this morning. Several hours after checking out my complaint, they told me they put the wrong Bosal Part No. Sticker on a production run of these exhaust pipes. The exhaust I received was really a Bosal 287-529 (for an automatic transmission), with a Bosal 287-221 sticker on it. The 287-221 is for a manual transmission. They are going to send me a new exhaust free of charge. Sometimes, complaints save companies beaucoup bucks. They "manned up" to the situation and I'm impressed.