Hmm...Well I considering that your ride is a 96, which makes your car roughly 7 years old, i would do the following
-Change coolant(Add 50/50 Water and coolant with redline water wetter)
-new NGK plugs, gap them properly
-Advance your timing a little bit
-Replace your tranny fluid with Honda MTF-short for Manuel Transmission Fluid
-New distributor cap
-Spoon/Mugen Thermostat, or any thermostat which will release 10degrees cooler than OEM
-wrap your intake with head repellant silver foil tape
-Get thinner oil and hemps oil filter
I would do a basic tune up
oh, check your timing belt also.......and $250 doesn't take you that far with HP, maybe 1-5 max
Milan