coolal

Hey everyone, my very first post. My 18th birthday is coming around on June 2, and instead of having some big celebration I decided I wanted to fix up the car that my dad gave me when he bought his 01' S500. I currently have 153k miles on it and its smoke silver, with visible wear on the leather of the driver’s seat. I live in West Los Angeles. First, I wanted to repaint the car, and this it seems will be the most expensive project. I think I want either silver of jet black. Next, I want to re-upholster the inside with black leather. Finally tinting the windows, and adding a CD changer to the trunk. Now obviously I’m a little spoiled, but not enough that my dad will say "sure Alex lets do whatever you want" . Now the thing that really concerns me most is engine performance. I have spent countless days trying to find sites that allow me to enhance the engine in some way, yet to no avail. I found a great local mechanic who fixed my cable tensioner, and soon to fix my leaking engine coolant lines. I want to establish a relationship so that I can get good information on what I can really do to help this car performance wise. I am stuck in a world of friends getting 330ci's with another 10 grand of performance gear, yet I am driving my 2-ton tank around wishing to get some better performance. I understand that it is allot to ask, but I have seen how powerful this car is, and was wondering what I can pull out of it. My budget is not huge, as I will most likely be painting the car, and probably getting the CD player in the trunk. Tinting and upholstery will be my bit after a summer job. As long as the car is in the shop anything, I can ask the person to do will make it easier to convince my dad, rather than have a working car in the driveway in a week, and then asking the favors. I keep hearing about airflow, oil's, and additives. It is southern California so I am not worried about cold temperatures, and the engine has been kept up very nicely, with 90% highway miles, until I got it. I know I’m a newbie, and forgive the grammatical mistakes, I’m used to getting the point across without having to think about grammar, (well at least online, my English teachers would have a conniption if I talked the way I did online, in my essays ) I drop the car off at the mechanic Monday night, and I am going to have a nice chat with him about all the little things that are not working correctly in the car. Nothing big, but I am just so comfortable driving in the car, that I start noticing things. Therefore, whatever you can recommend I would be greatly appreciative, and if anyone of you know any good shops to take care of the things I have mentioned, list them too. I am also interested in ROUGH estimates that I can give to my dad for what I want to do. Thanks again.