Future Designs/Mods Questions

Hello all, as I've stated probably for the thousandth time, I just got my 98 3.8 Camaro. I was thinking about throwing in some interior lighting and highlight the exterior with the word "Camaro" on the fender or door. The car is a dark blue color that fades to purple under certain light conditions. My questions are these...

#1. What color should the interior lights or neons be and how should I wire them to turn on when the headlights are turned on/off, or atleast turn off automaticly when the car's turned off. I was thinking blue interior lights as the car is exteriorly blue and interiorly tan.

#2. How should I highlight the exterior? I was thinking of the word Camaro on the fenders or the doors, should I use the ones that regularly came with the early V6 3.4 4th gens or use something different or maybee even a completely different idea? Black won't highlight very well on my car.

#3. In the distant future, I was going to put stripes on the car, what color should I match it's dark blue with? Should I replace the stock hood/spoiler with a better looking hood/spoiler before attempting this?

#4. Arn't there any inserts for the word Camaro on the rear below the trunk of the car? If so where can I find them and what matching color should I use to make it stand out?

#5. In the distant future I was of course going to mod the beast, I'm quite content with it's accelleration but of course, it can be faster. What mods should I start off with and what brands should I look for with my most HP boost? I'm also trying to stay NOS free, to much of a science for me... (Okay 40 shot just won't get you movin enough.... :confused: but 100 shot'll blow your engine into a charcoal crisp... :eek: )

#6. Almost last but definately not least, Sound System. I have checked VERY little into these, right now just a stock radio sits there with a cassette player and no CD player. What should I eventually replace this and the speakers with?

#7. Finally, and definately my last mod to the car... T-Tops... how much will this cost and who can do this? Where can, IF I can, find T-Tops that will fit the car. Also is there a high probability of leaks and such?


I know I'm just laying down the load but this was all on my mind and I had to state it before I forgot. Thanks all for help and suggestions.

Congrats on the car, I'm sure you will have lots of fun with it. I'll take a stab at some of your concerns and hopefully point you in the right direction.

#4- They do make inserts for those. I have chrome inserts in the rear and the front grill on mine, looks clean and sharp. RKSport.com has ones for it but they're kinda expensive for what you're getting but they are nice. I picked mine up on Ebay for like 3 bucks each. They're nothing special, just simple chrome cutouts to put in each letter but they're a nice cheap way to make your car look nicer.

#5- Best mod to start out with would probably be a freer flowing exhaust system. The stock exhaust on regular v6's blows and even the Y87's arent that much better. GMMG and Borla are great systems but are hella expensive. Flowmaster and Dynomax have cheaper systems that are nice, I have the Flowmaster system on my car and it sounds nice and has a noticable power increase.

#6- Do a search on the internet or check the Audio section of this site. There are MANY things you can do with a sound system.

#7- Conversions can be done and have been done but be prepared to shell out some dough to get a shop to do it for you. Also it might be difficult just to find a place that will actually undertake the project. Do a search on this site, I remember someone posting not too long ago of their successful T-top conversion.

Hope this made sense and helps out some :)

#1 I put a blue light bulb in the back dome light for a while (same bulbs can also be use in the map lights) it was a cheap way of making the lights in the car blue. Put off quite a bit less light though.

#3 If the stripes are going to go across the hood and/or spoiler then you should get the hood/spoiler first.

#4 If you don't want the stainless steel letters, there's a guy on this site named Brent who makes decals. If you do a search you will find people are very happy with their transactions with him. I too have done business with him, good quality and he uses the same materials that the other places use but he charges WAY less.Brent's website. (http://www.bfranker.badz28.com/vinyl/vinyl.htm) I would go with yellow or red.

#5 After market lid.

#6 Depends how much you want to spend. I had a 98 3.8 too, I couldn't stand having no CD player, I put in a new head unit with 4 new speakers for about $600 with installation.

#7:( Should have found one with t-tops. The kit alone goes for about $300.

Cool, thanks so far with the answers, where would I find a T-Top conversion kit?

Here's a page on it. Costed him $500 for the parts. (http://dw-zone.gotdns.com/t-tops/t-top.asp)

#3- Dark blue car + white stripes = :thumb:

#4- Find Brent in the Appearance board

#5- Nitrous is your friend. Well...my friend at least. 80 shot.
Upgrade your intake/exhaust FIRST (this includes getting a bigger I-pipe). If you want to stay natural, gears.

#6- Depends on your budget/music taste. I spent <$1500 on my system.