First off...Greetings all. I'm on my second Protege...my first one was a 92' which I put 180,000+ miles on. My new one is a new 2002 ES which I want to "spice up" a bit. My question is...If you put a air intake system or other enhancing parts on...is there a risk of tearing up the engine?

 

not the intake that i know off. all that would do is increase air flow into the engine.

 

I really don't know anything about engines or all that... the shopI was talking to said that it would boost the "hp" or 40+...since I really am dumb to this I don't know if that's true or not.

 

I'd luv to see what those shops are selling that'll boost the power by 40+ (hp or %...no matter)



they are definately shitting you man...no intake can boost 40+ hp or generate a 40% gain in power

unless he's taking about "40%" increase in air flow (compared to stock box) that increases the "hp" by a few ponies

new to modding? no prob!
you can probably find all the modding info you need here

some of these guys go pretty extreme (turbo kit...etc)

 

Thanks NTG...I've already ordered new taillights, and am thinking about a new spoiler, although the stock one is fine I think...I'm just afriad to mess too much with the engine since I don't know jack about it.. Any suggestions?

 

I don't know about the taillights, I think the stock taillights look better than those APC 'altezza' taillights, but that's just me...

It's normal to be a little intimidated if it's the first time you're tinkering in the engine bay. There are couple easy (relatively speaking) mods/upgrades you can do regarding the intake. The simplest and cheapest thing you can do is to replace your air filter with a K&N drop-in filter. If you want to go a bit further you can look into installing one of them cold air intakes. Do a search in this forum on 'cold air intakes' and you should find tons of stuff on them. Popular brands for cold air intake (CAI) for the 3rd gen Protege are Injen and AEM.

I think that's the simplest thing to start off in upgrading your engine stuff...

and no, a simple air intake/filter upgrade will NOT get you 40 horsepowers

 

There is no way you can expect 40 horsepower easily unless you decide to go nitrous. But then that's not tinkering with your engine. You would have to do it correctly so you won't destroy your engine. I would say the easiest go with the air filter. It is cheap and the easiest thing you can do under the hood. And then possibly an exhuast. these things are all fairly bolt ons where you just unscrew a few screws and bolts and put the new thing on. I'm not too fond of the clear tailights either but then that's me.

 

You're nowhere near as "dumb" as the guy in the shop you were talking to . . . .

Don