Hi everyone,

I'm new to these forums in need of some help.

Vehicle type:
2000 Mitsubishi Mirage DE sedan
1.8L engine SOHC
55,000 miles
Bosche Platinum 4+ plugs
last service @ 45,000 miles

I just installed new OBX stainless steel headers, stainless steel high flow catalytic converter as well as a ram air intake. I tourqued the bolts on the engine block to 13 ft/lbs and 22 ft/lbs(according to the service manual) and I tightened the bolts to the catalytic converter but noticed that when I rev up the engine the mount between the lower manifold and cat was leaking so I tightened the bolts to the cat @ 22 ft/lbs (the service manual didn't give a tourque spec for those bolts) and it seemed to have stopped. The O2 sensor went on the new headers without any problems. Additionally, the mounting supports for the upper exhaust manifold to the lower exhaust manifold did not fit the new OBX headers so I removed them, so the mounting on the new headers are from the engine block, with the next support being between the lower exhaust manifold to the high flow cat.

Now I installed the headers and cat before I installed the ram air intake and took it out for a ride, and everything seemed to run fine (more power). And a couple of days later when I installed the ram air the Check Engine light came on.

I talked to a few of my coworkers at the bike shop i work at and they told me several things: 1)It could be that the computer cannot properly adjust for the large amount of air flowing through the engine now, so I might have to reset my ECU so it will dump all the codes and start fresh. Because of the large amount of air and the inability of the computer to adjust, the engine is running lean. 2) The High flow cat could be the cause. 3) The ram air intake could be messing with the MAF sensor. 4) Might need a reprogramming of the computer.

You all have come highly recommended by my friends so I have not taken the car out to get a diag yet, because I wanted to check you guys to see what you think about this situation first and what steps I should take.

Currently the engine seems to be running fine when idling and when I rev it up it now has a more throaty sound to it and is a bit louder but I think thats because of the high flow cat and ram air. Like I said before, there is noticeably more power at the wheels which I wanted in the first place before I started doing all this, but I didn't expect the engine light to come on like this (should have known better).

So please let me know what you all think, thanks ahead of time for all your help!!!

jsaculles