Air Filter & cat convertor
 

I've been doing a lot of reading lately on some mods and i've been thinking about trying these 2 to my '94 protege dx.

I saw a RamFx air filter on eBay for $27, supposedly it's a 'performance' air filter and tops the K&N model. Has anybody heard of this company, does anyone have the K&N filter with stock intake and if so, does it really make any worthwhile difference? Cheapest I can find the K&N model I need is $40.

Also, I was looking at replacing the catalytic convertor with a free flow catalytic convertor. This is a more expensive mod (like $150-$200) and I was wondering if anyone had done this yet either? Worthwhile to replace or should I do a whole cat-back mod or would it not be too noticable?

I'm looking for simple fun things to play around with, with my car. I'm not going to be dropping in another engine, and seeing as how this is only a SOHC, I know that I am going to have quite a few limitations. Thanks for the input guys.

~jeff~

Well, I can't say for sure about the air filter. I'm sure it would be fine, just remember to get the adapter so it fits right onto your MAF. I doubt you'll notice a difference in power, but it will 'sound' better, you'll really be able to hear the engine sucking in the air.

You'd probably be better off doing a slightly larger than stock cat-back instead of a high flow cat, I think you'd get better gains with the catback. Or you could do both, and have the best of both worlds. :D

The RamFx is a drop-in filter that goes inside your existing airbox like a replacement oem filter. I don't know much about it. They claim it's better than K&N; who knows. What Dan meant about the adapter is if you were going to use a cone filter and remove the airbox altogether, which a lot of folks here do. The airbox is restrictive and putting on a cone will help give your intake more flow, though I doubt you'll get much hp increase. The thing you'll probably notice most is that the car revs better.

You can do this real cheap or it can get kinda pricey. Since you're seaching on eBay, you've probably already seen something like this . These will bolt onto the right side of your air flow meter (aka VAF). They're OK I suppose, but rather cheap quality. I've heard the chrome trim on the filter and the adapter tends to rust. But it's $13, you get what you pay for. I originally had a K&N cone and adapter replacing my airbox. I bought it on eBay for $45. Better quality, same basic setup. Recently, I installed a PRM intake on that side of my VAF. It wasn't cheap ($179), but so far the only intake shown to offer real gains for first gen Protege's. It's more like a true cold air intake as it's filter goes down into the fender well, plus it has a velocity stack filter design. Hope that helps ....