What is the best way to fix flex pipe?

I have had a leaky flex pipe for awhile now on my 89 LXi coupe. It's not that loud yet, but its annoying and makes the car sound cheap and at anytime, it could just completely go. What is the best way to fix this, Should I have a new flex pipe section welded in or replace the whole pipe assembly. Either way, things could get hairy with stuck together parts and rusty brittle pipes. I'm not sure what to have done?

well i had the same problem a month ago... my flex pipe rotted off at the Cat Converter end...
i went to advanced auto and found that a whole new front pipe w/flexpipe is around 95 bucks... so... i went to JCWhitney.com bought a 25 dollar 8" stainless steel flexpipe and just hacked the old pipe off and pieced the new pipe in and welded it... then i used a muffler clamp to hold the flex pipe to the cat... i think my way's better personaly if you have welding experiance that is...
my front pipe isnt that bad at all... plus on the accords there is a double layer exhaust pipe.. so nomatter what the outside looks like the inside is still good... just make sure to weld that inside pipe to the outside pipe or youre gonna get a nasty ratteling noise... :).... but yeah...
basically if you want simplicity... spend 95 bucks...
if you want a stainless steel flexpipe that you need to do a little work with... spend 25 bucks and about an hour....
the choice is yours my friend :)

i'll post a pic of what i did as soon as i take one... :)

I did the same fix, I hack off the 2 ends bought universal flex pipe from "Canadian Tire" for $15.00. If you don't have welding supplies use muffler clamps with muffler cement...cheap fix and you won't need your ear plugs!

This might sound like a dumb question, but how loud was the noise coming from the flex pipe? I am not 100% sure that my flex pipe is leaking because it is not as loud as when I had a hole in the muffler.All my pipes after the cat are new now and the flex pipe section is the only old thing.You can hear the sound the most when the car first starts up and before it idles down, and then between 1500-3000 rpms when accelerating, but when the car is crusing down the road, or idling it's pretty quiet. The flex pipe I have now looks like it's bent a little in the middle and almost half of the metal mesh that is wrapped around the pipe is missing and what is left for mesh on the pipe can be moved around almost like a sleeve. I was thinking it would probably be easier to piece-in a new section, but when I looked under the car their doesn't seem to be that much space between the back end of the flex pipe and the converter and I didn't actually see the pipe itself because there is a collar type sheath running from the end of the metal weaving on the flex pipe all the way to the end connector of the pipe. I wish I had a picture to show you. Oh, is the flex pipe the same size for FI cars, Mine is an LXi so I have two pipes coming off the manifold so the whole flex pipe unit "new" would cost almost $200.00 from the parts store.

well.. here's what you do... start the car... get on the ground... look under the car and try to pinpoint where it's comming from... it could be the inside of the flex pipe and you cant see it through the braided mesh...
another thing.. if you only hear the noise durring those periods of time it's back pressure and acceleration exhaust making it.... so you probably do have a hole on the inside pipe...
if it was on the outside you'd not only see the hole but it'd be QUITE loud.. it'd sound like one of those sport mufflers... (hence why i kinda liked it when mine rotted off.. heh heh) but yeah.... just listen to it.. regardless of what noise it makes it needs changing.. so hope i helped ya

I went out today and bought a flex pipe section from the local parts store. The flex section is 10" long and there is two inches of pipe on both ends, so total, I have 14" and it's 1.75 " in diameter. I placed it up against the old pipe and it looks to be the same size in length. Now I just need my friend of the family mechanic to attach the new pipe either by welding or muffler clamps. I know that welding would probably better, but I think clamps would be easier. Which way should I have it done? Thanks in advance

weld it. it will be very cheap if he is ur friend. when i had a stock dia. exaust i jus treplaced the flex and the cat and the resonato with a peice of pipe. 20 canadian dollars later, he installed my cherry bomb, cut out the old pipe, flared the new pipe fit it and welded hangars on the exhaust and weld the seams! 20 bucks!!! thats what u get when u have friends in the auto world!
Travis

I finally had my flex pipe welded in. I guess I was expecting it to be quieter, but its still better than before, and this fix was a lot cheaper than a whole new pipe setup. I did notice that now I have a slight whistling sound between 1500 and 2500 rpm that that maybe I had always had before but just couldn't hear it, but I think I have an idea of what it is. Anyway thanks for all the helpful advice.

I seen a complete cherry exhaust at the boneyard the other day,I want the whole thing from the manifold back,it was just to dam hot that day 95 with 76% humity. I want to drop the whole system down cutting the rubber "o"ring holders and remove the bolts at manifold,bring home the whole thing. HONDA exhaust is 3 times more at any discount muffler shop.