WOW!!!!

[Ebb_N_Flow]

After 2 days and 500 miles of driving ..... i can say im way impressed by my 2001 solara se v6, great acceleration, superb handling, incredible ride feel and all this being stock, i cant wait till i can afford to do some mods(3-6months) !!!! Great Vehicle !!!!

[Mole]

cool, whats in store?

any ideas yet?

[Ebb_N_Flow]

Not to sure, i have about a 5k budget to work with so i was thinking of going with the TRD package level 3 ?????

any ideas or input ??? .... im pretty new school to the world of import tuning and mods stear me in the right directions with the money ive got to spend

[CASTRO]

TRD package level 3?!? they still have those avail? lol well, hey man, if you want my advice, go straight for power adders. Most importantly the only way to go faster... the TRD charger. thatll set you back about a grand or 2 depending where you get it from. Secondly i would go suspension. You can figure out what you want after that. But those are what I would do first considering you have a lotta cash to play with.. Use it wisely! No indiglo gauges, etc till you get those. lol

[FLASH]

TRD Body Kit!! Check the ForSale section to get it at Group Buy Price! ($200 off)

[Yanks0114]

With 5k here is what i would do

Suspension (tokico struts + Eibach, vogtland or tien springs) = ~$550
TRD body kit from group buy $1,250
TRD Supercharger if you have "the need for speed" ~$3000 w/install
if you get the TRD charger then i would definately get a catback exhaust ~500

If you chose not to get the supercharger than you could get a nice set of rims and upgrade the sound system.

Keep in mind if you do get the supercharger you will want to upgrade the brakes in the future.

[SolaraT]

^ Yeah that sounds like a good setup for 5k and it will not only look good it will be real fast too. Thats a great package to start off with.

[Astro]

^Definitely!

[sleepin2000]

Skip the body kit and the cat back exhaust and just get the whole exhaust system from the headers back from JP performance.

[Fletch]

Good news: you can find out what parts and where to get them at the best prices all from this forum.

Bad news: There is not much selection of aftermarket parts for Solara.

Your first mod without a doubt should be the TRD shortshifter, it's around $150 and you can do it yourself fairly easily, a lot of bang for the buck. You are SE so I assume 5speed...

[redkysolarase]

I'm an SE and I have an auto

[krook]

^me too. know how i solved my disappointment? got a supercharger....
now i'm somewhat satisfied.

[Ebb_N_Flow]

mine is an auto as well Really wished it was a 5 spd man. but i cant complain to much ..... its still a really sweet ride @ 42k miles i scored it thru a ford dealership for around 11k after they crushed my car with the garage door )...... it was actually a blessing in disguise !!!

but all the ideas sound great i think the first thing im gonna do is work on the suspension and get some new wheels then ill see whats goin on after that ....i think thats something i may be able to do sometime with in the next 30 days ..... but the rest of the engine performance mods will have to wait a lil a longer.... Ty to all for your great response and being patient enough to talk to a n00b..... im really looking forward to doing something nice for the car it seems to really bring things to life....

[cdssolara]

mine is an auto as well Really wished it was a 5 spd man. but i cant complain to much ..... its still a really sweet ride @ 42k miles i scored it thru a ford dealership for around 11k after they crushed my car with the garage door )...... it was actually a blessing in disguise !!!

but all the ideas sound great i think the first thing im gonna do is work on the suspension and get some new wheels then ill see whats goin on after that ....i think thats something i may be able to do sometime with in the next 30 days ..... but the rest of the engine performance mods will have to wait a lil a longer.... Ty to all for your great response and being patient enough to talk to a n00b..... im really looking forward to doing something nice for the car it seems to really bring things to life....

I think you've got the correct order in mind. The stock Solara has decent power, but the ride is pretty floaty and boatlike. You'll be amazed at how much more solid the car feels with a good aftermarket suspension set-up. Once you get to that point, you'll probably start lusting after more power; in which case the supercharger is the easiest way to go.

[Sentinel]

I have to agree with cdssolara: "Floaty and Boatlike"

I thought the TRD Rear Sway Bar had major "Bang for Buck" going for it, at less than $200 it made the ride on my 2000 SLE Waayyy nicer. Although now that I've got the Tokico shox and Eibach springs the car handles much better. Definately go for suspension first. [/quote]