First mods 4 my car...

[SpoCom2nr]

Well everybody. I just got my visa/debit card so I'll be ordering some parts from money I saved. Tenspeed might sell me his headlights that I want... And my goal is to order a Weapon R intake.

I also detailed my car the other day. I thought that the scratches on my rear bumper weren't that bad, but after really giving it an intense cleaning, that'll be my next thing to do. I'll be sticking with oem stuff on the outside so I'll be getting an oem rear bumper to save on money and go for the sleeper theme.

That's my plan for now... So yeah. Can't wait to get my pin for my card to order the parts.:lol:

[Brandon]

sleeper? with just an intake?

hmmmm might want to add more bite to that bark.... a good driver could over power just an intake. and a stock gt def. will. but it does make a good start :)

[SpoCom2nr]

Originally posted by Brandon
sleeper? with just an intake?

hmmmm might want to add more bite to that bark.... a good driver could over power just an intake. and a stock gt def. will. but it does make a good start :)

Well, my plans in the future are growing and growing... Unfortunately, my money doesn't want to grow as fast since I'm in highschool and only working part time. Haha. It sucks. But I definitely want to do a sleeper kind of thing and have a ton of parts under the car...

[b2089]

A starting point for any SE should be brake lights in my opinion. New eyes are okay, but on an SE the tails are the weakest link. These are available at customgrandam.com, a site sponser

http://www.customgrandam.com/cftails.jpg

Personally I'd much rather make a post like this BEFORE I get the parts. Once you get them it's too late to get opinions and advice. After you post pics and a how to if it's a unique mod..

You're at a point now where you have to think carefully what to do with the money. Sticking OEM for now is good but if you decide later on you want a kit then it's lost money. I'm sure you realize this but I have a rule that I must sit on decisions 24 hrs and major money decisions 1 week.

you mentioned being a sleeper. Does that mean you are looking for more engine upgrades down the road? In my opinion the best mod would be an upgraded computer because it will help with all future mods.

[b2089]

One more thing, what wheels do you have and are you looking for new ones. Personally I love many of the factory wheels that Pontiac offered including the multi-spoke SE premium wheel, but many people like to go bigger. I wouldn't go any bigger than 18, but that's just me. If you go bigger make sure to get the right tires to keep the outside diameter the same. Sorry if any of this is old hat for you, but you have to be careful with cars. They're too expensive to make mistakes on.

[SpoCom2nr]

Originally posted by b2089
A starting point for any SE should be brake lights in my opinion. New eyes are okay, but on an SE the tails are the weakest link. These are available at customgrandam.com, a site sponser

http://www.customgrandam.com/cftails.jpg

Personally I'd much rather make a post like this BEFORE I get the parts. Once you get them it's too late to get opinions and advice. After you post pics and a how to if it's a unique mod..

You're at a point now where you have to think carefully what to do with the money. Sticking OEM for now is good but if you decide later on you want a kit then it's lost money. I'm sure you realize this but I have a rule that I must sit on decisions 24 hrs and major money decisions 1 week.

you mentioned being a sleeper. Does that mean you are looking for more engine upgrades down the road? In my opinion the best mod would be an upgraded computer because it will help with all future mods.

Yeah. I seen the headlights and I love them... And I seen the carbon fiber tailights... But I figured I can only get one right now... So I wanted the headlights most. That's a great point though about the tails.

I'd definitely want to go sleeper theme by buying parts for under the hood. Body work is to expensive for me, and I haven't seen anything that interested with the grand am yet... So that's what I'm thinking.

A computer would be great, but I don't know where to find or get one... And I don't want to really remap anything...

[SpoCom2nr]

Originally posted by b2089
One more thing, what wheels do you have and are you looking for new ones. Personally I love many of the factory wheels that Pontiac offered including the multi-spoke SE premium wheel, but many people like to go bigger. I wouldn't go any bigger than 18, but that's just me. If you go bigger make sure to get the right tires to keep the outside diameter the same. Sorry if any of this is old hat for you, but you have to be careful with cars. They're too expensive to make mistakes on.

Well, I've been thinking about it a lot (wheels). Right now I have the multispoke premium wheels I think you are talking about... The ones that have 16 spokes... They are really nice and in great condition. I think I may just remove the center pontiac logo cap and leave it at that for now... When summer comes and highschool ends that's when I'll need to start saving for college.
If I do decide to go with bigger wheels I've decided that the largest I'd get are 17s... Everything else bigger looks out of place unless you lower the car etc...

I'm glad you understand the situation though. This is why I won't go into any body work... If I make a mistake on my car, I eat it... It's my first cars... So I'm trying to do really light novice tuner work... And I want to keep it my daily driver while being street legal... I want to add parts to this car but I don't know how far I want to go to do it. This is just my car to toy around with, with modifications since this is my first time doing this. It's my light project car... And after college I'm hoping it'll be my daily driver and I can get a better project car (which is probably going to be 3 years from now).

Well... Update. I ordered my headlights and my weapon r intake system. Hope to get those this week. Can't wait. I think the headlights will make my car look way difference... And a lot more menacing looking. ARggghhh! :D

And then for appearance, maybe next month I'll get a new OEM rear bumper since the last people who owned my car scratched it up a lot!!:-/

Thanks for the advice and tips b2089. They were really helpful in helping my make choice. :)

[Vampyrate]

i hear ya on the sleeper look. the only "performance" exterior piece that i have is the 9" antenna. but i do want to get the black tails and head lights for my car. and the area that i grew up, lights and an antenna doesn't say much and is still considered slow if it doesn't have a body kit and a fart can.

i want my car to look sort of stock (im gonna drop her on springs this summer and get tint during spring break). right now, she has a lot of bark because of the custom exhaust, but that's only when i hit the gas; at idle, shbe is quiet.

[SpoCom2nr]

Originally posted by Vampyrate
i hear ya on the sleeper look. the only "performance" exterior piece that i have is the 9" antenna. but i do want to get the black tails and head lights for my car. and the area that i grew up, lights and an antenna doesn't say much and is still considered slow if it doesn't have a body kit and a fart can.

i want my car to look sort of stock (im gonna drop her on springs this summer and get tint during spring break). right now, she has a lot of bark because of the custom exhaust, but that's only when i hit the gas; at idle, shbe is quiet.

Yeah. Same here. I also don't want body kits because people automatically lable you... And everyone who is slow has a body kit because once you buy one you don't have money for other parts :lol: ... No use to have aerodynamics if you don't have speed... Ya know?

I also want those tails... And a carbon fiber hood... And that's all I'd do for exterior... Then it's the inside of the car and under the hood where it'll be at. But I should at least get better brake rotors. No use in having power if you have nothing to stop it...

[b2089]

I'm not sure where you can get a computer for the 4 cylinder but I'm sure someone here will have advice. When you get serious about performance ask those in the performance section. A local speed shop may be able to re-program it on the fly because that's really all the internet companies do.

I like the 16 spoke wheels, you can scratch that off the upgrade list.

You need one of these http://www.customgrandam.com/shorty2.jpg

the cost 28 bucks but you can get rubber ones that are bigger from Autozone I think. One of my pet peeves with GM is the giant antenna we have so I always try to strong arm people into doing what I like ;)

The antenna is at http://www.customgrandam.com/shorty.htm

Anyway, don't let people get you down if they react a bit harshly. It's all part of the game. We all have to express ourselves somehow.

By the way, if you haven't already done so there's a section here to post pics of your car. Introduce yourself there and you'll get a better response.

[SpoCom2nr]

Originally posted by b2089
I'm not sure where you can get a computer for the 4 cylinder but I'm sure someone here will have advice. When you get serious about performance ask those in the performance section. A local speed shop may be able to re-program it on the fly because that's really all the internet companies do.

I like the 16 spoke wheels, you can scratch that off the upgrade list.

You need one of these http://www.customgrandam.com/shorty2.jpg

the cost 28 bucks but you can get rubber ones that are bigger from Autozone I think. One of my pet peeves with GM is the giant antenna we have so I always try to strong arm people into doing what I like ;)

The antenna is at http://www.customgrandam.com/shorty.htm

Anyway, don't let people get you down if they react a bit harshly. It's all part of the game. We all have to express ourselves somehow.

By the way, if you haven't already done so there's a section here to post pics of your car. Introduce yourself there and you'll get a better response.

I seen those online somewhere!:D I totally understand. I have the long one that goes above the roof line... So annoying... I hate it. I am going to get one of those... Eventually. :lol:

And I think I will stick with my factory wheels. Just remove the center caps for them and they'll look even better! :D

I'll get some pics up of my car once I get my weapon r intake installed and my headlights... But first I have to get them in the mail. :)

You shaved them emblems on your car right? I might also do that... I haven't decided yet though...

[b2089]

I didn't shave mine. In 03 they changed the style to have about half the emblems of the older version. I have a Grand Am GT emblem off centered on the trunk and Ram Air V6 on the front fender at the nose. They are all in Victory Red to match the car except GT which is black. I think it looks damn sweet personally but many people like to debatch and co for a (yawn) monochromatic look. I do understand why people didn't like the extra badging on the doors though.

I actually added a sticker to my back windows of the pontiac flags at grafxwerks and a liquidome Pontiac emblem to my lower fender behind each front tire. I don't have those pics yet.

Imagine this in bright red on the little rear window section
http://www.grafxwerks.com/products/images/prod_images/1054_01.jpg

[SE2000]

Originally posted by SpoCom2nr
Well, my plans in the future are growing and growing... Unfortunately, my money doesn't want to grow as fast since I'm in highschool and only working part time. Haha. It sucks. But I definitely want to do a sleeper kind of thing and have a ton of parts under the car...

To do a sleeper, body add ons is not the way to go. Headlights are fine, tails start to say a car is modded.
upgrading the intake,exhaust and improving the suspension, says sleeper.

[SpoCom2nr]

Originally posted by SE2000
To do a sleeper, body add ons is not the way to go. Headlights are fine, tails start to say a car is modded.
upgrading the intake,exhaust and improving the suspension, says sleeper.

Definitely. I agree 100% with you... But on the other side of things... The tails do look good. The carbon fiber ones. So I'll probably try and find something in between... Like tinting my tails... But first I'm worried about my rear bumper, cause like I said, the last owners scratched it up badly...

I already ordered the intake. I''ve ordered the headlights too. And I got some Xenon bulbs... I might upgrade my whole headlight lighting system... Put new bulbs in it that look and perform way better. Then get my rear bumper... And I'm set for the outside... Just get rid of some scratches... So it'll have to go to a automotive paint repair shop...

[sudden_impulse]

For a true sleeper you'd want to look online for stuff such as performance cams, headers, computer, transmission upgrade, etc. For these cars a few of the things aren't little projects and can cost a bit to do.

[SpoCom2nr]

Yeah. I've been thinking about it... I think I'll just tune everything... Appearance, interior and engine, but lightly in each section. I don't really want to work the engine cause it has 100K now... So I'm only going to do light stuff to it... Basic bolts on that kind of thing. This car has to stay reliable and streetable.

[sudden_impulse]

I've got 125K on mine and I'm still hoping to do a bit with it. If the engine goes out, you can move most of the parts to a new engine.

[SpoCom2nr]

Originally posted by sudden_impulse
I've got 125K on mine and I'm still hoping to do a bit with it. If the engine goes out, you can move most of the parts to a new engine.

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one over the 100K pillar. All the cars I drive at my job that are grand ams have like only 30K, so I was like damn... Haha.

Anyways, what's up with all the snow on your car in your picture. Did you do that on the purpose or did that really happen? Lol.