HELP!! I desperately need help/advice with upgrading my Infiniti I30

[extreme4life]

Background (on my car) So I recently lucky and got a Infiniti I30 2001 passed down to me because my dad thinks the car is about to breakdown because it has 170k miles on it; however, I believe it will easily last to 250k because it has been taken well care of. So my plan is to upgrade it with high performance parts that not only improve the hp but also the engine reliability & efficiency.

The only thing I been able to put in is the basic K&N box air filter. But now im planning on putting in an air intake and gradually install an exhaust system. However, I have a few questions on how i should go by doing this..

Questions 1) I was thinking about either Stillen High Flow Air Intake or the K&N universal cold air intake which one would probably be better? Or is there a better one out there for 250 or under?

2) Do cold air intakes work the engine harder than warm air intakes?

3) Since I have to work with a low budget I'll need to buy and install the exhaust kit gradually, so I was thinking about starting with the muffler and working back to the headers. That being said what are the best high performance muffler with more of a smooth/subtle sound rather than the grumble/poppy sound out there?

4) Are catback exhaust systems truly more high performance? And a carbon fiber tip exhausts better too?

[Kompresshun]

Honestly from what i've seen and read cold air intakes and exhaust systems really don't give you that great of an improvement on these cars. You usually lose power/torque from a cold air intake and the exhaust system doesn't make much improvement either. It was odd to me at first because that was my first 2 mods on my past vehicles but these seems to improve better with other modifications and staying with a stock intake box. I would recommend some good oil, maybe some headers, hi-flow cat. converter, and watch out for that K&N... if you don't oil it properly it will clog up your Mass Air Flow sensor and cause it to fail. Good luck

[tigersharkdude]

I agree with the man above, sort of.

intakes do nothing for our cars but sound

exhaust do help them breath better, i would recommend taking it to a muffler shop getting custom catback and buying a y pipe