exhaust question
 

I was thinking of getting a header for my car. What I was wondering is if it would be worth it since I still have the stock converter and muffler. Would I see any gains? Just wondering.

When used together, a header, mandrel-bent piped exhaust, high-flow cat and removing the intake restrictions will free up lost horsepower. The better question is who makes an off-the-shelf header for a 1.8 SOHC? No one to my knowledge. Looks like it would be a custom header, which requires exhaust tuning and designing one that actually makes power...below 6k rpm? IMHO, buy the 1.8 BPD, rebuild it on the weekends and swap that puppy in if you have the time. Besides, the BP has a smooth sound to it, spins up to 7k and is rock solid. Perhaps if I get adventurous I can make a custom downpipe for the 323, Vaughn made some good gains with it. But that's with the 323 header which is supposedly better than the 1.8's

Ok, this is going to sound stupid, but what's the BPD? Is that the DOHC?

BPD is the DOHC 1.8 engine. B6E is the SOHC 1.6 engine (8, 12 or 16-valve variants). 91 Protege DX's has a BPD block but a SOHC head. Do a search and read the FAQ's to understand engine histories. Also search "ProtegeTech" egroups forum, lots of valuable information there and member "GroHarlem" website has engine info.