What would make sense to do.

1. Wait and buy new aftermarket header when available. If it ever does become available. Price $300

2. Extrude and Hone current exhaust manifold and throw on some Swain Technology Thermo Barrier Coating. Price $450 plus

Plus I'm very close to installing a NOS system as well.
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IMHO there is no point even considering Option #2. The main problem with the Protege's exhaust system from a horsepower standpoint is the close-coupled cat design, which makes the exhaust manifold's primaries way too short. In simpler terms, the shape of the manifold sucks, so polishing it up isn't going to do a whole lot. The power gains from this mod will probably be minimal to nonexistent. Racing Beat did some R&D on a similar idea for the MP3 (actually a short-tube welded header) and discovered that the power gains were very close to zero.

FWIW this idea works well on cars in which the stock exhaust manifold is basically a cast-iron 4-2-1 long-tube header (the 94-97 Integra GS-R, 90-98 Miata and Porsche 944 spring to mind). In these cases, polishing the tubes helps because the basic shape of the manifold is already good. We are not so lucky.

 

Hey, thanks for that info.
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