best first mods?
 

I have a 2003 Protege ES. Turbo seems to be out of the question now at 3K, but it will be an option eventually. From everyone I've spoken to, the first best lower priced mod is a an exhaust system for an increase of a few hp. I read on the FAQs that you can pick up the Mazdaspeed camshafts for under 200 - but does anyone know how much power you can gain from new intake/exhaust cams? I'm not skilled enough to put them in, so how much time in the shop would installation take? Thanks..

Head unit, speakers

or

CAI

Exhaust systems and CAI are the first things most people put on.
You can also get aftermarket strut bars and tie bars to tighten the suspension just a bit. What $$$ are you willing to invest?

Identity_X,
Honestly,
I've got about 1000 to spend - my tax return.
So, I could do:
Exhaust - $300-$500 (or just use the Mazdaspeed exhaust for $200)
Injun CAI - $250

No one mentioned switching to better intake/exhaust camshafts - are they too hard to switch, or are the power gains not enough?

I couldn't agree more. If you have any extra to spring on a wheel/tire combo that would be even better...

Basically you need to figure what your future plans are. If you eventually want to go turbo, try to stick to upgrades that will be turbo productive. You could go with the Racing Beat cat back (I think it has a bigger pipe than stock from the cat bac, not just the axle like the dealer exhaust) and talk to a shop about a custom downpipe. That is the best place to free up a little horsepower initially.

Personally, I wouldn't even touch the engine until the suspesnion is more than equipped to handle more power + speed. Like said by Jesse, get some better tires and maybe spend the extra cash on swaybars, springs, and struts (the entire series will be a little over your budget it seems, but not much depending on your tire choice). I think of anything that will suck much more than slapping on your expensive turbo and plowing (literally) right into a tree...

As Installshield mentioned, it will be your best bet to invest in improving your suspension before you get into the engine. Suspension mods alone can really help you go faster.

don't ever regret going with tires and suspension first... both of them help you not only go around corners faster, it helps you maintain control of the car better if you're just a drag racer type of guy... do that first before slapping on real power upgrades....

FSZE Intake Cam
 

Your best bang for your buch, is the Jspec intake cam that comes on the sport20 in JP, you can go to your dealers, most mazdaspeed certified dealers will sell them to you, about 10whp no bull shit for $190-230 depending on where you get them, you will maybe see the exhaust cam, not worth it, the lift only i think about 2 degrees higher in stock, not really going to get much out of it. Then you could get a custom exhaust 350, eliminate whatever, if that kind of thing floats your boat, tri-point header eliminates your cat, kinda expensive about 740 i think, nitrous, wet kit nitrous express, 30 shot. If you live were thier is a lot of rain or snow, dont bother with CAI, because you can by a bypass valve, but then the whole point of the CAI is ruined, so if your in a wet climate go with short ram.

Personally, I would go to the grippy side of things, because if your not ready to spend 3k on a turbo now, but possibilitys later, then build up your bottom end and you need to have great suspension and brakes. That was my mistake, we put my turbo on right when we got it, put boost to high bent 4 valve springs, and just now am i starting to get my suspension set up.

Peace and have fun tuning your Mazda, and enjoy your car. Hope i was some assistance.

thanks to everyone - the advice is greatly appreciated.

For around $800 I got the intake/exhaust cams, headers, and CAI. My labor costs were practically non-existent because we are 'do-it-yourselfers'.

But a good set of wheels and tires is always a good thing too.

You should really sit down and analyze what your future plans for the car are before you start to invest your hard-earned $$.

Karen

About the intake cam...I do think it might be worth while to install one if you are looking for a few extra hp now, and still planning on going turbo. Read through all of Ed's posts in this thread. He used the J-spec engine parts to build a "low compression" (Didn't install the high compression pistons of the FS-ZE, he is going turbo too) FS-ZE. The power gains were not incredible, but noticable plus it pushed the power up the rev band a bit. He goes on state the significance of this after the turbo install. The cam and intake manifold will help to prevent too much initial power after the turbo spools up. I may be missing stuff, havn't read it in a while so check it out...

http://www.protegeclub.com/forum/sho...threadid=18995

The Man did the intake & exhaust cams plus the intake manifold. He produced 112fwhp. I did the cams plus headers and kept the stock manifold and got 120fwhp, but my plans are not to do any sort of FI. The other major difference is that I had already slapped on my Magnaflow muffler and The Man is running stock exhaust.

It's still a learning process, isn't it? :bt:

do what you want, its your car its just like building a computer, what are you going to use this car for, racing, daily driver, weekend warrior or what, do you like hitting corners or do you like massive amount of acceleration, now maybe you budget cant probably support both, so go with one and then later work on the rest, or you could go and get coilovers or whatever one week then get cams the next and just off and on again, it seems to work for me, but i dont really know what your working with?

Peace and have fun tuning!