Modernizing/refreshing my 3.5

[Life2]

After 15 years and a mere 125k miles my gen 3.5 is still running like a top. Unfortunately it's age does show in certain parts of the car. I'm trying to make an effort to make my car seem more modern. Recently I did the first actual mod and put a headunit in that plays...get this..CD'S! For some reason my XLE did not have a cd player. Anyways, after that I made an iPhone dock in the little pocket where the e-brake is on the 4 bangers. Now I'm trying to come up with ways to just make my car more modern. I also want to put on some basic features the car should have come with to begin with.

One thing I will never is understand is why I don't have a map light. I mean the light between the sunvisors, not in the middle of the headliner. Is it because I have a non-sunroof model? Either way, is there a chance my car is prewired for it so I can just pick one up at the scrap yard and put it in?

In addition to that little thing I'm looking for suggestions on things I can do. An example would be an LED light conversion on the interior which i'm currently researching (any helpful links would be greatly appreciated). I want the end product to look as stock as possible.

[iovaykind]

There are plenty plenty of things you can do to make your car modern. I love the idea of LED conversion. You'll have to wire your own map light if you want it, no Camry came with it prewired. The only LED conversion for inside the car would be the dash, A/C console, shifter, and the dome bulb. LED conversion for the taillights can be done.. and the front turn signals and parking lights. Headlights I don't recommend using LED.

Another way to "modernize" it is to simply give it a good clean to make it look fresh! Also, maybe a fresh tint, and new speakers. OH, and clean the car.. as a bunch of Camry's that old tend to look realll dirty.

[Bankos66]

If I was you I would put in new speakers, maybe some subs if your into that music and def give the interior a good scrub

[mr.nitro]

ive seen some nice led dome light conversions on ebay.

[uibalnme]

Clean it out. Freshen it up. Get as much as you possibly can back to like new condition. That will give you a great place to start mod(erniz)ing. Since it seems like you're starting with the interior, the mods you have done, and want to do, are nice mods.

You could also do gauge faces with chrome trim rings...




Shift knob...




and my personal favorite among interior mods...

[djepik]

I wouldn't be able to get those Black Glow Gauges for a 93 Camry right? .. It seems there's only white available?

I really like the look of the black ones.

[iovaykind]

Gauges are the same from 92-96..you just gotta look around for the black ones but they are for sale.

[iovaykind]

Originally Posted by uibalnme

Shift knob...

How hard is it to change the shifter?

[djepik]

Originally Posted by iovaykind

Gauges are the same from 92-96..you just gotta look around for the black ones but they are for sale.

Oh ok! It's unfortunate that Ebay has no black gauge faces .. all I see are the white ones

[projektvertx]

Originally Posted by uibalnme

That looks like a batman shifter!! My car has sunroof and has a map light, you won't be able to put a map light in, at least not the OEM one, if you don't have a sunroof. The sunroof lowers the interior head space by a considerable amount, the place where they put the map light/sunroof controls has some hollow space above it, which non-sunroof's don't have...

[LittleWhiteBubble]

Interior-wise I would either change the gauge faces or just change the bulb color. I did mine blue, it looks pretty good. That's the cheapest change that makes the biggest difference. One thing I've been wanting to do is get the arm rests with the tweeters built in. Exterior-wise the best cosmetic upgrade would be larger wheels with thinner tires and paint the calipers.

[Life2]

Thanks for all the posts guys! I was getting bummed out yesterday when I saw my thread had zero responses for the longest time.

Speakers-I think this is an awesome place to start. Mine does sound pretty nice right now but I know they are the cheapo stock paper ones so I'm sure it could sound even better.

Steering wheel-AWESOME mod! I think that looks really nice. Only things that would sketch me out are the slight chance of not knowing if the airbag would deploy god forbid anything bad happens. I remember looking into this a lot when I wanted to get a corolla/celica wheel for my Mr2. I don't think any amount of convincing could get me to do this mod as much as I like it.

Shift knob- If I found the right one with an OD switch I'd be so down for it. I remember searching for this before and saw I'd be paying around $100 for one and possibly hacking up my shifter itself. I think if it were much shorter it'd look funky even if it's "sporty". I'm still willing to do this though as long as it looks stock in the end. Even in my own eyes I think this is kinda ricer but I think it'd look neat to get a shorter knob that looks like it could be stock and then put on a black shiftboot despite it being an auto. Part of me thinks it would look cool and the other part of me is telling me I'm being a ricer by doing that.

Gauge faces-The one mod I would never do. It looks tasteless to me. No need to take any offense at all. As you can see I'm very picky about a car being modded to look like it came from the factory that way.


As far as cleaning my car goes it's damn near spotless. Even my wheels are usually at least a 7/10 on cleanliness. Every time someone gets in I get compliments on how clean I keep it despite it being an "older" car... Guess that means it shouldn't be cared for? Idiots


OOOOH by the way I picked up a map light from the junkyard today before reading the posts on here. Call me crazy but I'm determined to make it work. Even if it might be useless. I think there is enough space for it. I just wish I had gotten the wiring for it from the junkyard too because I was thinking with my car being an XLE it might be pre-wired for it.

I would REALLY like to get a set of SE wheels and does anyone know if the black center tail light panel from the SE fits the gen 3.5?

[iovaykind]

Go for the shift knob mod and just put the O/D switch somewhere else.. finding a shifter with an O/D button is going to be hard, but also expensive.

Is there anyway to just hardwire the O/D button so it's always on?

[uibalnme]

Originally Posted by iovaykind

Go for the shift knob mod and just put the O/D switch somewhere else.. finding a shifter with an O/D button is going to be hard, but also expensive.

^not...

http://motors.shop.ebay.com/__?_from...ft+o/d&_sacat=

[iovaykind]

Um $35 for a shifter? I think I'll pass. I got a regular one without the O/D button for like $8.. that seems reasonable. Is it bad to just hardwire the O/D button so it's always on, instead of relocating the switch?