That's what I love to hear! Awesome! And these motors are definitely really robust and receptive to bolt ons. Prior and current maintenance is a BIG thing though, especially in my case with the 4 spd auto. But, I'll eventually get to dealing with the transmission.
So in this situation, I will have it on all the time, as there are a few reasons it is on. But, if you didn't have any other issues with the system, or got it tuned, you wouldn't have a CEL. And yes, it technically is a GS, but SE package. Hope this helps!
Oh yeah, pretty serious difference! Especially low end before mivec, it actually pulls and you can tell it makes torque fairly quick too. On the intake reflash, it was really nice. Then once I was able to get it etuned for the intake, header, & 91octane, it was a world of difference and feel. Pulls hard the whole time, sounds crazy, and it hauls ass for what it is. The transmission is getting very very tired, so I need to build that pretty soon, especially before boosting it. But all in all, it's a quick little car for what it is. As far as times, using a buddy's draggy, I hit 0-60 in 6.6 seconds consistently, and touched 6.2ish a few times. I unfortunately have the 4spd auto, and it is a sad little gearbox at this point😂 but thankfully still works when it needs to.
Straight from RRE (RoadRaceEngineering) I put the link in the description directly to the 4cylinder header, they have headers for the V6 eclipse as well.
Awesome stuff, and absolutely! I'd hit up RRE for their headers, I don't think you can find anyone else anymore really, and they're the best. roadraceengineering.com/blog/category/rre_4g_eclipse_parts/ But for intakes, you can hunt around pretty easily and find some cheaper ones on sale and what not. And I'd go with a true cold air setup. I've seen a lot of people like to run throttle body spacers on the v6, so check around to see if anyone still has them listed. Definitely look into tuning in your area too. If you plan on doing just one or the other mod, I wouldn't worry too much, the 4g platform (4g69 & 6g75) are pretty adaptive and responsive to mods. But if you're going full bolt on, you'll want a good tune. Hope this gives you some direction for your build!