OK, welcome to the turbo club
I have had a look at your other post and as you have stated money is tight so, in my opinion i would thread very carefully along the performance path, with your car being 96 and a jap import, i would be almost inclined to put more bhp to back of my mind, and maybe look at the safety of engine and getting your engine to last.
Anyone that has experience with scoobies will all advise to map the car due to the difference in jap and irish fuel, but this in your case would involve buying a mappable ecu..
All performance upgrades have same basic starting points
1. walbro fuel pump
2. uprated spark plugs like ngk pfr7b etc etc
These 2 things dont need a map and are more of a safety ting, pump more so than plugs
3. Drop in panel filter, i.e Green stuff etc etc, more to performnce gain end of things, and wouldnt think need a map
4.inducion kit.. performance, sound mod, about as many bad ones out there as good ones, bad one can cause maf trouble and worse again engine trouble.. i wouldnt put one of these on without getting mapped for it
5. Cat back exhaust, performance and sound mod, prob be ok without a map as you still have you cat in place, get some bhp gain but not full potential performance gain without a map
6. Decat, vry good performance gain and probly cheapest most improving mod, but imo you have to map to get full gain but more impotantly so you wont fook up engine.
never mind the stories of lads running them without a map and no probs, consider them the lucky ones, you might not be as lucky, and the fact that your car is 96 means you might be more liable to be unlucky, and with limited funds you dont want that.
I have a decat for sale but would still advice you to not buy one unless your gonna map for it
My advice, fuel pump, plugs, good service, pick up a 2nd hand cat back exhaust, or back box and enjoy the turbo and the sound untill funds improve
Oh and another bit of advice, and sure guys will agree with me, when getn so called performance advice either in person or on a forum, be extremely carefull who you listen too, ive leared that myself lately on another forum where about 80 % that replied to my question hadnt a fookn clue
but all were experts