After much research to try to cheapily increase the horsepower of my 2002 protoge es and gas consumption without hurting too much of the engine I came to these conclusions

1)Turbo or supercharger. Not worth it because first it can damage your engine faster even though it can boost your car up to 40 horses. As well if you want to add one of these babies you will need to beef up the suspension and brakes and whats the point of that. Just buy a mazdaspeed protoge from mazda at least you know its done properly as it can get and you get warranty

2) SRI(short ram intake) is stated to give you 4 horsepower max increase , cost about 320 bucks to buy and install and i guess the only real benefit is the nice sound it gives your car(though its just a tease)

3) CAI(cold air intake) is stated to give you 5-7 horsepower increase as stated on some manufacturer websites as well riding in one before feels about that. No offense to anyone who already has this done, but i find it too risky to get it done since hydrolock is always a risk(unless u live in a city that hardly rains). I know , because my friend one day drove it when it was raining and his engine got screwed(CAI procedure done super well also)

4) exhaust , cat back are mostly good for sound with little performance increase(1 or 2 horses), but i don't think most protoge owners can argue that the protoge for what it is, has a real nice enough growl naturally. So no point in my opnion to waste 500-1000 bucks.

5) headers and other stuff ordinary drivers have no clue about: unless you are a performance fanactic, these other things to boost your car will give you a headache to learn in what they actually can do and my cause damage to your engines

So the only real way to get huge horses increase without hurting the engine is to just buy a car already made that way, honestly no point in like getting a SRI for about 320 which is not worth it, i mean we are protoge owners(every penny helps)

However to boost your engine safely and notice this change only 2 major things are needed 1) change to a K&N air filter for 50 bucks and it will last the life of your car(2-3 horses increasem, increase fuel by 2 or 3 mpg) and also put in a full synthetic Mobil 1 5w30 oil cost is 30 dollars (close to 1 horsepower increase and smoothens your engine, 1 mpg fueal consumption increase) i swear by these two products(any other filters and oil just don't match the quality in all seriousness) AND just to do these changes cost a 100 bucks max including shop time with hardly any operation needed to your engine. So in total you get a boost of about 3 horses(puting your 2.0L protoge smack about 130 horses from 127 naturally) and mpg increase(not too bad at all).Your engine will be so much smoother in operation and much willing to rev after(it revs so much sweeter you have to try) which are uncharacteristic of this engine naturally(rough operation, scared to rev), safe some gas money and all of this knowing your engine is as safe as it was before the changes. Maintenance is needed every 15-18 km to change the oil and clean the filter and tahts about it, i mean its so much economical than wasting 30 bucks every 3-5 km for ordinary oil and filter you do the math. I hope this helps anyone who loves their protoge(awsome handling, chassis, brakes) and just wanted their engine(naturally unsatisfying) to gain some much needed real boost cheaply.

 

Well I have a friend that turned me onto MAzdas who ,come the end of summer, will have all those mods. They already have a racingbeat catback and the stock protege sounds NOTHING like that sweet thing, it's not too loud, but moreso smoother and less raspy. They also have a cold air intake and it only takes some enginuity and plastic to make a splash sheild for the filter it works well. Georgia rarely gets rain, but when we do get thunderstorms it's bad enough to flood lowlands and driving in 3 to 4 inch deep water hasn't hurth his 2002 Protege LX at all. He had a special header made of stainless steel production #1 of #1500. It replaced the cat with piping and didn't hurt the engine at all either, it was a huge horsepower gain, the only problem was, he put heat wrap on it and increased the stress on the expanding metal then with stock motor mounts, the vibration cracked it. He welded it and it's one of the hottest items on his for sales list, he's waiting to see how high the offers go for him to get money for a turbo kit.

 

1. Well K&N didn't increase my mazda 3s any mpg only lowered it, RPMs became sensetive, not much power noticed.
2. Mobil 1 oil should work little, top rated

Used to own a Corolla, installed
1. Cold intake with K&N filter
2. Racing Headers
3.Brembo Rotors
4. 2.25in piping with Racing Muffler
5. Removed Catalyter Converted
6. Speed chip

Results:
1. Loud
2. Expensive
3. Illegal
4. Not much power gain
5. Polution
6. Can cause sooner engine break down.

My opinion:
Do not waste your money, or just do an Engine swap and thats it.

 

my friend who owns a mp5 has sri, header, and cat-back. dont know how much hp he got, not much i would guess, but i could def. feel an upgrade in power from stock. not to mention his racing beat exhaust sounds sick! so deep tone. another friend of mine has a racing beat exhaust on his miata and has the same deep tone to it. must say im jelious.....[&:]

 

you will get alot of noticeable power when you slap in a cai or sri, new header setup, and an exhaust setup.... for my 6, i have to go a step more and swap out my y-pipe and my cats to high flow cats to get alot of power.

 

I guess the author of this post is never to be heard from again...OH WELL!