Hello fellow Protege enthusiasts.
I find myself in a position to solicit your wisdom.

My goal as a new tuner is to squeeze at a minimum, 150 real horses from our 130 HP engine without going nitrous. I diligently saved up short of a grand for this. I already have an AEM short ram. Any tips on how I can make this happen?

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Respectfully,
Allen

 

it would be possible for you to get a turbo with about 5psi,wich would increase the performance way up more than 150hp,with stock internals.
if you want all motor,then go for cai,muffler,flywheel,intake and exhaust camsahfts,computer remapping ,ignition system etc..

 

dynamho, that's a pretty broad question. Personally, I would search this site to get more specific ideas and then ask any additional questions you might have. Many good ideas for improving power have been discussed already, so is no shortage of information in that area.

 

Oop. My apologies. I'm not only new to tuning but new to message boards. I'll keep the subject more specific and will do my research before soliciting info.

BTW, thank you Traffic for the list of engine performance mod options for the Protege. It was helpful to see a comprehensive list. Now if only they were sorted by price to performance ratio for the 3rd gen. That would probably be really useful.

 

To gain the 30hp more than you are looking for your going to need more than $1,000 save up about $2,500 or so and you will have that 30hp. HP doesn't come cheap on these cars.

 

You are welcome
I dont personnaly care about research, since I love talking about cars

in my opinion,a good improvement can be seen right after putting a cone filter on your protege.It helps the air get to the engine more easily.I see stock intakes& air filters as breathing through a pillow.
By adding a high flow air filter youll ease the engine's ''breathing''.Same with performance mufflers.
Those are basics mods,very affordable,you can do it yourself..

change your tires too,it helps reduce friction and improves acceleration and handling.

then if you have a few gran to spend,think about a lightweight flywheel.
The stock flywheels weight about 18lbs on your car.
You would get a 2.5hp gain per pound lost on your flywheel.
so if you get one that weight about 10 lbs that represents around 20 more hp TO THE WHEELS....corksport sells it for 172$
get one its worth it.
intake and exhaust camshafts will give you about 10hp together.For about 350$ for both+ installation.

you would have about 160hp after all these mods are done.

if you dont plan on putting a turbo on your car,a high compression piston set would give you about 20 hp too.
at that point some internals like rods and valve springs may be changed also,to reinforce your engine.
I would also recommend adding some big brakes on the car,as well as good sports coil springs.

 

I'd ditch the AEM in favor of an Injen CAI or something similar. That intake is going to be a bottleneck for sure.

There is one sure-fire way to get about 20 more HP out of the FS-DE; air. More air = more power. Simply put, a good intake, and if you want to get serious, a completely reworked exhaust. That means kill at least the primary cat, and go with a new header, piping, high-flow secondary cat (you don't legally need the primary unless you live in California) and a good muffler. It will be loud, and may not be street legal in your area, but it will help to make about 20HP. Intake and exhaust cams should work even farther on the upper RPM range, and still kee you just under $1000. The stock intake / exhaust system on this car is fairly restrictive. I haven't got any actual numbers, but the butt dyno says that after my Injen CAI and Mazdaspeed axle-back, I did manage to pick up a little bit on the top-end.

Just some of my thoughts.

 

Speaking as someone that's put a couple trips to the dyno in, the first mod these cars need is a better intake. It will make 3HP everywhere with 4.5 at peak. Then the exhaust needs to be opened up. A cat back in the 2.25 to 2.5" range will bump it another 4HP or so. The cams are worth about 10 but they need the intake and exhaust together to really get that. My car is up to 113HP at the wheels with the cams, the exhaust and the intake. That's about 17 more than it put down stock.

I'm building an equal length header right now that will bolt up to the cat and not require removing anything except that stupid snorkel for the air inlet. Primary length is going to be around 22 inches so it should run pretty well. I'll know next week when I get it on the dyno. Hope to have the header on and running by this weekend. My goal is to have 120HP to the wheels without screwing with the computer at all. We'll see if I make it.

 

My friend, just listen to what Traveler said up ^^^^^ there......

He's done a lot of research on this. It's easy to say to get a turbo, but he's only got a grand to spend, and turbos are pricey when they eventually come out. So to sum it up, get a good intake (not sure which one's the best), exhaust AND intake cams and a better flowing exhaust. Traveler knows better where the really bottleneck is when it comes to exhaust gases, so he could elaborate on that . With all those things together, it should cost you right around 900-1000$ with installation and will get you to about 155hp at the crank (what you're looking for).

Welcome on board by the way

 

Hey it's your car and your descision and all, but why do you think you even need 150hp? Why not just get a nice aftermarket exhaust and leave that and the intake as your only only engine mods. Then make your car more fun to drive. Try some MP3 struts/springs and a strut tower bar.

If getting HP is your only goal, you're gonna end up spending a lot of money and not being too thrilled with the results. If you wanna drag race or something, either get a turbo / nitrous, or get another car.

 

Actually the only thing that I need right now is a bit more power, and that's it. I'm very happy with the handling, and except for a strut bar from an MP3 won't be messing around with it at all.

 

i think you are wrong on this point there big guy. how can a flywheel make MORE power than the egine already has? what a flywheel will do is reduce the losses that occur between the engine and the wheels. so if your 18lb stock flywheel sucks up 8hp from the engine on its way to the wheels, your 12lb flywheel might only suck up 3hp. so the gain is at the wheels, not at the engine.

 

Fez,
Your logic is very sound and I can subscribe to improving the handling first.

Personally however, I'm quite satisfied with the handling (I think, PRO stock handles better than a many of the more expensive cars). What I feel lacking is a little more highway passing power, not acceleration off of the streetlight. I'm sure you agree that 150 HP would hardly turn our PRO's into racers.

I arrived at the figure 150 because I used published curb weight to published horsepower ratio of 18.0. On the average, it seems that luxury performance sedans with good marks for highway passing power seem to dwell around this 18.0 ratio. I'm not certain if that's valid logic, but that's how I got the 150 HP figure.

 

Thanks for the great tip Traveler

 

Saying that the stock primary cat is only required in Cali is too broad of a statement IMHO. I've written an extensive essay on this topic in the FAQ and I'm not going to rehash it all here, but the basic point is that enforcement of emissions rules varies on a state-by-state basis. The legality of ditching this cat depends on the rules governing your local emissions system inspectors. Check the law first before you do anything.