new protege

[570Protege]

Ok so I've been reading up on protege's around this forum and i think I'm ready to start modding my 02 protege lx. Mind you I am sort of a computer guy but do all the minor stuff to my car(oil,air filters, spark plugs, etc)
I have a couple question though that someone might be able to help me with.
My car is the shimmering sand color but I cannot find anywhere that sells that paint. does anyone know where I can buy it if I want to buy a body kit?
Also I want to upgrade my performance before anything else. I'm looking at a injen CAI and a corksport exhaust. Mind you I have an A/T but I am looking to get a M/T swap once I get the money for the clutch kit, pedal setup, etc.
Anything else I should look into for a do-it-yourself performance boost?
thanks in advance

[Muffie]

The color is mica or something, someone on the board has the same color car.
the body shop will be able to match it that paints the kit.

go with short ram. when u get the tranny swap go with a stage 1 or 2 clutch and an aluminum flywheel.

you can always turbo the motor too. a base 2.0l motor puts out about 100hp at the wheels, you can turbo it and get around 200hp without doing expensive mods like pistons and rods.

remove the vics from the intake manifold.

[martispeed]

for the paint, look at paint scratch.com. As for performance mods... once you do the manuel swap the 3 most popular mods are Mp3 ECU, OBX header, and intake. The header and Mp3 ecu will give you the most for your money while the intake really just makes more noise haha.

[570Protege]

why a short ram?
where I live it gets very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter. I figured the short ram wouldn't give me as much pull as the CAI would

[Muffie]

cai can cause problems in the winter, plus i know that AEM does extensive research and they found that a short works best in the proteges

[martispeed]

While the cold air intake may lower the IAT's by a few degrees if that It really doesnt make a difference. Depending on where you live its really not worth it to risk hydrolock!!

[red95_240sx]

sell it and try again, or stick to computers

[570Protege]

ok so what do I need exactly to do the m/t swap?
Clutch kit, shifter, pedal setup, new tranny obivousely, ecu?
tell me if I missed anything

[martispeed]

PM Dubbydoo I think he knows a bit about m/t swaps.