Looking for beginner 1999 Camry Mod Projects

[Retro]

Long time Toyota family owner, and first time modifier. I got my Camry back in November of 2009 and have fallen in love with it ever since. Now that I am a full time driver commuting to college 40 miles a day, I thought that it would be smart to finally make some modifications to keep my baby young and strong, and also economical on gas.

I'm interested in doing most of the work myself. I'm fairly a pretty handy guy, and I'm looking for some easy starter projects that could ease me into automotive work. I've installed several radio's for my friends, and some other speakers and audio stuf, but I want to expand my knowledge base to mechanical as well. (I know these things are two totally different things.)

So please, I'm open for suggestions! the car has 135,000 miles on it, and just got a fresh set of brakes and tires, what else do you think I should add to help keep the car for as long as i can? For starters, I was looking to a cold air intake system. Seems easy enough to rip out the old OEM one and replace it for +10 or so horsepower. (Oh FYI the car is fully stock still, besides some audio mods)

[xpeed]

CAI can only give you so much gain. You'd be lucky to even gain 5+ hP with one these days.

You can start with upgrading your spark plugs to iridiums, new fuel filter, timing belt, water pump, and then move on to head exhaust manifold, larger piping, catback exhaust, etc.

[Retro]

Ahh, great stuff to keep in mind, thanks for the tips. i recently had the water pump and timing belt replace because they were going bad when i took it in for an oil change about a month ago. I'll look into the iridium spark plugs and head exhaust manifolds. I think i'll save the other exhaust stuff for later this year.

[Silent Runner]

You didn't say which engine you have, but you mentioned economical.. economy/fuel? Really not alot you can do with the 4cyl to get real performance unless your willing to turbo or something. CAI systems may make it sound cooler/louder, and cat-back systems will do the same, but with little significant power gains if any. If you have the V-6, you can eventually look at a nice TRD supercharger. But if I were you, I'd start with audio (you have), cooler dash lighting, headlights, tailights, body kits, maybe suspension mods, then start working on the power thing. Keep the car you love for awhile and make it look better, then carefully explore the tricky area of power improvement. Just my 2cts.