my starter car is a bone stock 94 camry le!

[94cylcamry]

Hey all. I don't know if any of you remember me..I'd posted a few fleeting threads on here months ago asking curious questions about what would soon be my car. Well, I went and got my license last Saturday, and dad officially signed his 1994 4cyl Camry over to me two days later. I've been driving it a lot since, and I love it. It's pretty much mint condition, minus the small rust cloud on the back drivers side wheel well, and some coffee spills on the inside. All in all it's a really nice starter car, still running strong at 156k miles.

The first day I got my license, I went and got it a bath. Now it at least looks clean on the outside. Although I hate making it give up the garage to Dad's new car, as it's pretty much been garage kept it's entire life.

ANyways. I'd like to do some things to this car, but I'm not sure exactly what. I have like...2,000 dollars for the time being...but that doesn't mean I want to spend all of it. I don't really understand how people who work for car insurance angencies can sleep at night. But that's alright. And it seems to have decent gas mileage so far.

Upgrades....

1. I see all over youtube people just doing away with the stock airbox and attaching a cone filter to the stock intake hosing. Is there anything wrong with doing this? I'd like to eventually get a kit, or at least just a pipe, and attach the cone filter to that. I'd do that mostly for the noise, although I hear there's the slightest of slight power increases as well.

2. I was going to look into some of those DEPO clear headlights to replace the stock composite ones. If I do that, I was thinking about getting some new bulbs...I've heard good things about Sylvania Silverstar bulbs? I don't need something extremely obnoxious like Xenon blue or anything...no offense to those people who have them, but people who ride your bumper at night with those bulbs are extremely annoying.

3. Possibly getting clear turn signal lenses. I'm not sure how that would look on my tan camry, I may just let those orange. Just a thought.

4. Engine mounts. Engine mounts engine mounts engine mounts. I've heard other people have had this problem as well. Well.....the idle just keeps getting rougher and rougher. The shop says the engine mounts are shot, and looking in I can only see the uppermost one, but the rubber looks completely...well...shot. So I'd believe him. Fortunately my grandpa is sort of car savvy and is offering to do that for much cheaper than the shop would.

5. I was thinking of Seafoaming it? I've heard extremely mixed reviews on this, so any input would be nice. I also just read the guide to cleaning the throttle body with the Seaform Deep Creep, and that looks like it may be something that would benefit my car.

Thanks everyone for any input, I apologize for the long post. I'll try to get some pictures in of my car. Also, if you haven't already...surmised this, I'm a complete noob. But I'd love to learn more about cars. Thanks to anyone who can help me with this!

EDIT: I'd also LOVE to get the windows tinted. I don't know of anyone around here that does that, but that's on the agenda. Not so tinted that you can't see through it, just a little darker.

And duh, I'd like to get a strut bar to help the Camry take turns better. It's not like I'm going to be racing it, but I hear even a cheap strut bar works wonders. What do you think? Thanks.

[eyeball96]

Camry FAQ ------> READ FIRST -----> Comprehensive List of Gen 3/4 INFO and DIY

The above link will answer ur questions!...Welcome "back" to TN. And Drive Careful.

[94cylcamry]

Thanks eyeball, looks like a lot of things in that thread that I'd love to do. Just little things like the cathodes in the trunk would be awesome. Anyways, thanks again, I'll give that a read and post in with any questions.

[xtremeskier97]

Your Grandpa is going to charge you to replace the motor mounts?! LoL...please tell me Im reading that wrong!

Good luck on the car! Seafoam it...it helps throttle response for sure. Just dont forget to replace the sparkplugs after doing so.

[94cylcamry]

Lol. No. What I meant was that were going to pay for the parts, and he's going to install them. I think it's like forty or so bucks for a motor mount, times that by 4(?), and you get 120. That's opposed to the almost 600 that the local shop wanted to charge us. I guess it's all labor.

But ok...seafoam the car...why do I have to replace the spark plugs afterwards? I hadn't heard that before.

[ToyotaGenerator]

Originally Posted by 94cylcamry

ANyways. I'd like to do some things to this car, but I'm not sure exactly what. I have like...2,000 dollars for the time being...but that doesn't mean I want to spend all of it. I don't really understand how people who work for car insurance angencies can sleep at night. But that's alright. And it seems to have decent gas mileage so far.

Upgrades....

4. Engine mounts. Engine mounts engine mounts engine mounts. I've heard other people have had this problem as well. Well.....the idle just keeps getting rougher and rougher. The shop says the engine mounts are shot, and looking in I can only see the uppermost one, but the rubber looks completely...well...shot. So I'd believe him. Fortunately my grandpa is sort of car savvy and is offering to do that for much cheaper than the shop would.

EDIT: I'd also LOVE to get the windows tinted. I don't know of anyone around here that does that, but that's on the agenda. Not so tinted that you can't see through it, just a little darker.

And duh, I'd like to get a strut bar to help the Camry take turns better. It's not like I'm going to be racing it, but I hear even a cheap strut bar works wonders. What do you think? Thanks.

Welcome to world of cars. Note you can blow lots of money for no good reason and look back and wonder why you wasted so much money on cars, so careful.

Engine mounts: DYI Improving Gen 3/3.5 vibration problem at idle

Tinted windows is nice. Make sure it's completely legal to avoid problems with the police. Don't forget the windows are slightly tinted from the factory. This is one place I would recommend spending the right amount, because you get what you pay for. Have someone good do it, and get the nicer metallic tint (which costs a bit more). That combined with this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=160236445869 will have your car nice and cool on the hottest days.

Strut bars are good, especially on older cars.

In general, make sure the car is completely up on maintenance. Try and find any servicing or fluid changes your father may have missed or skipped. Get the car in tip-top shape. And then just drive it.

[rty]

Note you can blow lots of money for no good reason and look back and wonder why you wasted so much money on cars, so careful.

Agreed. I'm not doing any upgrades to my car and driving it to destruction like a true Toyota. Well, I might get rims, so I look cool while doing it, and if I don't wreck them I can sell them afterwards.

[bigbird]

ive never herd of having to replace sparkplugs after a seafoam. if they are bad then yeah seafoam then replace but seafoam doenst harm them.

and for teh OP the post is WAY to long, i got bored after the first paragraph. definatly search you questions, ill bet ya find 80% of what ur lookin fro that way. if not then come back with more specific questions.

[Kep]

Try to avoid the eye candy until you are confident that the maintenance is up to snuff. It is great that your grand dad offered to replace the mounts. However, it would be twice as good if he agreed to let you do all of the labor under his supervision. It will give you a good deal of experience and confidence to try other things.

+2 on organizing the maintenance history. Figure out when you will next need to replace the timing belt, transmission fluid, brakes, brake fluid, etc (check the owners manual). Sea Foam is a pretty good treatment. Do a search on this forum and on Gen 1&2 for "sea foam" and "seafoam".

Keep about $1,000 on hand for six months or so until you get a feel for what you will need to do. Be a shame if you had a pretty car with worn out axles, struts, or suspension that kept you from driving the car safely.

Enjoy!
Kep

[94cylcamry]

Thanks guys, and sorry again about that opening post.

Umm. Yeah, I'll talk to my Grandpa and see how much of it I can help with, or do myself. I'd prefer it that way anyway.

As far as I know all maintenance is up to date, the timing belt was replaced a little while ago, the car has new brakes a new radiator...a slew of other things. It's leaking a slight amount of oil right now, extremely slight, but we chose to let that go because of the price to install a simple 3 dollar o-ring. Maybe that's something we can also work on when we get the motor mounts replaced. The tip about using the Gen4 mount is a good one.

I'll post back tonight.

[Bear95]

Fix the rust !
Bear95

[94cylcamry]

Haha, I'm getting around to that. I guess I'll just need some sandpaper and some touch-up paint? Or what? They are two very minor, very small spots.