I've been thinking about putting a K&N filter on my 90 16v 745 (140k miles).
Yes I realize that is one of the most lame car in existance. I had a 3" K&N filter offered to me a few weeks ago, free. This riceboy tried to install it on his siter's civic and it fell off and rolled around on top of the inner CV. I decided it was a bad idea and left it.

questions;
1 Are they worth your time / money for power gain?
2 are they hard on your engine? I realize AMMs are delicate and expensive devices. They're about $220 for the 16v. My guess would be that if it only filters out the larger particles the smaller particles would damage your engine long term. The AMM is the primary concern and it is the notoriously expensive 16v engine.

I'm not wanting to race it every friday, it handles like a water balloon duct taped to a rollerskate. The acceleration just feals lazy. I never drive it very hard, but I would like it to feel a little more responsive. I don't know how I feel about putting a K&N filter on my 16v. Are there any other mods I should consider? I consider my car fairly well tuned. I use a bottle of injector cleaner every month, clean TB, etc.

BTW what is the deal with that thing you see in infomercials on late night TV. I can't think of what it's called but it spins the air in your air intake. It's like $80 or something and it looks like it utilizes the materials and manufacturing processes of a beer can. They make some bold statments about its effect on mileage and power.