Thanks a bunch for the replies. The info on the header was really helpful, I usually don't push my car too hard just once in a while.
The $300 was just what I can push now since I won't be getting my next pay check til end of october[>:], I'd say i'd be willing to put up to $1,000 into the engine aside from general maintenace. I think I'm going to go with the intake for now becuase I can't decide if I'm just going save up for a few months to swap out the f21A1 engine for an h22 or just upgrade the stock engine, I need to do a lot more research into that.

I found AEM/Injen SRIs for $100~170 and CRI AEM/Injen for $230-250 that are 50 state legal depending on sites i've looked at . There's some car parts place my friends like to go to, not too sure about it since I didn't pay much attention when they would mention it since i didn't have a car then but I'll wait on prices to see if i can find something there to save on S/H fees or maybe even cheaper than online.

From what I've researched the CRI would be better option for HP gain since weather isn't too extreme in cali. Aside from the ~$100 is there a reason you are mostly recommending an SRI?

Thanks again for all the info and help

Edit: I've only price legit intakes since I'm not sure which others are good to get. Also is the whole intake that gets the CARB sticker or just the filter?

 

On my AEM SRI there is no sticker, it's a stamp thats on the tubing.

And if you want to do the h22 swap, here is a site that has some good info on how to do a legal engine swap in california.

http://www.jagsthatrun.com/Pages/Che..._V-8_Smog.html

 

you generally lose mileage with colder air. a lil more power, a little fewer mpg.
personally, im all for putting on performance parts... but dont like losing mileage while im doing it.

 

SRI is much easier maintenance. Also, you don't have the risk of hydrolock. I have a CAI and have not had any problems, but I have to crawl under the car and unclip the shield near the bumper to take the filter out to clean and oil it. SRI is good if you want to use the ZEX filtercharger for a dry nitrous setup.