Some questions from a new guy (gen 1.5)

[Jhonas]

I've had this car for a year and now I finally want to do some stuff with it, but nothing too expensive.

Thing is, I don't want to waste my money on parts that don't deliver. I've lurked here for a couple days and now I know better than to buy a replacement for my intake. The cheap ($30) ones aren't worth it, and most aren't worth it at all; I might as well keep the stock one. I've heard the Injen one works with the extension, but I don't have all kinds of money for that (yet).

By the way, my car is a 2003 SLE V6.

Here are my questions:

On lots of parts sites and ebay auctions, it says 98 - 02 Solara, but I'm really sure the 02 and the 03 are the same. Are they just retarded, or can I really not replace my corner lights with the listed 98 - 02 ones?

I want to debadge my car. Is difficult to do on the Solara? I would assume all it takes is bondo and touch-up paint and possibly some buffing. I've never done this before. Any howtos?

Are there any performance modifications under $100 that I could look into? I don't want any crap, so if there aren't any worth my time, then so be it. But if there's something I could do for cheap that I don't know about yet, then why not?

How much do grille replacements run and where can I find them?

Any suggestions for stuff I should do? What have you done to your Solara that you absolutely love(aside from S/C, headers, etc, that's obviously going to be awesome, but I'm looking for cheaper/easier stuff at the moment)?

[Jon11582]

to the 98-02..yea their idiots...its 98-01 and 02-03

to debadging, its cake, no bondo. Hairdrier and floss, and some googone to get rid of residue. Its jsut glued on.

And I dont think theres any performance increasing for under 100. Cheapest and effective would maybe be rear sway bar at 150.

[Jhonas]

to the 98-02..yea their idiots...its 98-01 and 02-03

But doesn't 98 - 02 stuff fit on the 02 - 03 cars? Gen 1 and gen 1.5 are compatible, if I'm not mistaken?

Also, should I bother to replace my spark plugs or anything like that?

[Jon11582]

Yea but most of the sellers have no clue when one gen ends and the other one starts. They just try to make sure you buy them.

Actually I just realized there was no 98 Solara either. If it says 98-02, it probably means 99-01, or 99-03. Generally, the insides of both are compatable (excepting dash trim, which they changed colors of from 1 to 1.5), but the outsides arent (body kits, clear corners, bulbs, etc)

FYI, clear corners have never been made for Gen 1.5 for sale as far as I know. The 1.5 corners are slightly thinner and the old corners wont fit in the space.

[cruze105]

98-01 corners are different from 02-03 corners. the ones on ebay will NOT fit ur car.

The only way to make clear corners on ur car is customizing, takin the orange part out and then resealing but u MUST very careful cuz u can crack it. Also there might be condensation .

[Hsakuragi]

front bumper, fog lights, corners, girlle, headlights are different from the 1 gen....the rest should be the same....like the charger, rsb, brake lines, rotors and stuff....

oh and also differnt from the aftermaker header..jpp....egr tube won't fit

[sunrise_solara]

As for plugs, how many miles do you have on your car? If less than 50,000, I say run with what you got. The main reason being that the back bank of plugs will be a bitch if you're doing it yourself. If you still want to change plugs, I would recommend Bosch +2 or +4, available at AutoZone.

David

[CASTRO]

^
agreed. I am runnning the Platinum +4 bosch plugs on mine and after 60,000 miles of usage, they are still running strong. Its not really about performance but more about reliability and smoothness. If you plan to force feed, i suggest the more expensive iridium as they run cooler to prevent detonation. I have read that the +4 plugs dont like forced induction cars.

[sunrise_solara]

i suggest the more expensive iridium

Not to get off topic too far, but I purchaced the Denso Iridiums and they only lasted around 25,000 on my Maxima. (since the back plugs were so easy to change, I pulled them often to keep an eye on them). The electrode was completely fouled and worn, like a 80,000 mile old plug. Was this normal? Especially for plugs that cost $15 apiece!?

David

[SolaraT]

Performance = $$
Cheap/lowquality = Rice
ur gona spend a few hundred benjamins
Just keeping it real.

Real KN Filters cost twice as much as those entire intake kits.

[Jhonas]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. I almost bought some clear corner lights. You guys saved me.

And re-enforced what I thought; the good stuff is really pricy. Anything else sucks and isn't worth time, effort, or money.

[Ford_Fixorrepairdaily]

same here dude, first couple of weeks i had my car. i almost bought those stupid clear corners for my 02. solaraguy has helped my ass alot.

[B_Master_Flash]

a cheap mod I have that gets me a lot of compliments is neon under the seats, it's really striking when you get in the car and it only costs about $40 to do yourself. Neons are about $15 a tube, then you just need a switch and a relay.

[MGLax13]

Dont get sucked into that air-fuel mod on ebay that costs like $20 nd claims to add upto +20 HP. It's a resistor that you can buy for like $.50 at radio shack and i heard it could do some damage.