BustedLX - those are good suggestions... I have most of that stuff already, but neglected to mention it.. I have an AEM short air intake, the battery had to be moved to the trunk, I have a 2.5" pipe, no Cat (I live in Alberta.. lol. No pollution test.), a resonator and a high flow universal muffler with tips that I picked out.. they look pretty close to the stock EX-R muffler tips..
Don't have headers yet.. ran out of money. Thanks for the good luck... I was thinking of nitrous, but if I'm going to do something for power, I might as well rebuild for turbo and go that way..

ZigenBallz - I realize that I dropped a stock motor in, and only added simple bolt on shit for a slight increase in hp. It's not that I'm unaccustomed to lengthy projects that require more resources than expected - I've done some home renovations.
I was initially just expressing that my overly high expectations were not met, because I had hyped myself up over the last six months of this project. The engine isn't bad, or the car really, just that I expected so much. Even since I've started this thread and gotten... friendly reminders... I've chilled out quite a bit. It is a good car...

I can't ignore the respect I've gotten from people who expect me to be in a shitty old 125hp Accord when I go WOT and my car starts pulling past them.. That's a good feeling by itself... The look on their faces.. :fawk:

When it comes to me quoting $$$... Money is tight with me right now.. 75% of my full time paycheque is going towards this car... I'm paying for clothes, food, rent, school, etc with that tiny 25%.. It is a choice I'm making because I want a hot car, so I'm not really complaining, but I am perhaps over-concious about how much something costs. When the speed shop says that struts will cost X dollars, I compare how many weeks of food they're worth before I buy them.

Anyway, thanks for the reminders and the support, guys. :driving: