I have a VS ecotec and I am looking at spending around $500 hopefully. Currently the modification I have at the moment is a 2.5" lukey exhaust with no rear muffler and a pod filter. Does this modification reduce power?

A pod filter exposed to the engine bay (unshielded/boxed) will end up reducing power compared with the factory setup. More importantly though, if you’re running a MAF to Pod adapter and haven’t located your temp sensor properly then the computer won’t be able to accurately measure air flow or air temp which is bad.