Hello everyone and I am new to the group. I obtained a 2002 Dale Earnhardt Special Edition Monte Carlo back in March. It is in pristine condition and only had 6500 miles and I need a few items for it. I was hoping that someone could help me out on here. These are the items I am looking for:

1) Exact Fit Car Cover with mirror pockets for the 2002 model year in black. Any suggestions out there?

2) I need to find a replacement for the hood insulation. It is one piece and a heavy material that is held on with 5 push clips. My research shows this has been discontinued by GM? My search may lead me to a junk yard if I can't find a new one. I have found an airbrush artist to do Dale's picture on it but I want a new one if possible for him to paint?

3) Has anyone had an artist paint any parts on the engine. Main valve covers etc. The same type of parts that are done for camaro's and vettes? Anyone have someone they have used as I have seen some pix but not leads for contacts?

4) Any suggestions for increased HP? It is not supercharged but didn't know if adding a chip etc. would get a little more boost?

5) Any suggestions for red brake calipers? I am only going to show it so I don't need racing quality but would like to have these upgraded to red?

I think that is it for now. Will look around here for answers or please reply back if you have any suggestions. Thanx for your help!

Topper
Walkersville, Maryland
choprrn@aol.com

 

Well, for # 4 and 5 I can suggest getting a tuned PCM from ZZP or Intense. Theres no kind of plug and play chip available. Dont fall for the gimmicks on ebay and the like(+999hp and 999mpg lol). They only hurt your car in the long run. The PCM adds only a minimal amount of power but it changes the shift points and trans behavior overall so it makes the car FEEL faster. Its pretty simple (simple is subjective, I know) to add a supercharger. Look up top swap if thats something youre interested in.

For colored calipers without upgrading to a more performance orientated brake set you can really only paint them. I did that and it looks good although I didnt clean and prep well enough so I need to redo them. They make some snap on shield type of thing but I cant put faith into plastic that close to the brakes.

Just throwing this out there but the drilled and slotted rotors on ebay are not bad at all and IMO improve the look of the car "bigly".

 

2) I need to find a replacement for the hood insulation. It is one piece and a heavy material that is held on with 5 push clips. My research shows this has been discontinued by GM? My search may lead me to a junk yard if I can't find a new one. I have found an airbrush artist to do Dale's picture on it but I want a new one if possible for him to paint?

You will never find that hood insulated liner that will ever be right. Been there done that. My solution was to got to Hobby Lobby and get some Black Linen fabric and then I glued it to the panel. Used the gorilla glue white glue to make it work. Covered the entire liner with the glue and spread it to a thin even coat, then applied the material and pressed it to the liner, trimmed it and reapplied the snap on items and installed it on the hood. Then I taped off the design I wanted and painted it and the results are in the photo.

 

Plenty of people have painted engine parts. If its just a color change, you can have a body shop do it if you're not comfortable with DIY. If youre looking for highly detailed art work, I'd still get with a body shop to coordinate with whatever artist would be painting it. Youll want some kind of protective clear sprayed over their work to protect it so you'll need to make sure the paint types are compatible. Last thing you want to do is pay someone for custom art only to have it get washed away when someone's doing an injector service or some thing and splashes gas on it.

We'd need more detail on how much you're looking to spend and how much power you want. Otherwise you'll just get a bunch of random responses thatll be all over the map.

I will say power gains are rather poor in terms of bang for the buck on the NA engines. Goign to boost is ideal if you want notable power.

Just paint the stock ones. If you're not comfortable doing it yourself, some body shops will do this as well. If no one local in your area will, you could try a performance shop.

Its a fairly simple process - no different than painting anything else besides needing a high temp paint. The tough part with calipers is the prep work as there's so much gunk to clean off to make sure you get good adhesion.

 

A car cover. I had COVERCRAFT make mine for me. They will do an exact fit, mirror pockets. Many different materials to choose from. I always get the flannel liner to reduce micro-scratches, swirl marks. Also I have the really rare OEM cover by GM. It has Monte Carlo on covers nose, mirror pockets. It is silver stretchy fabric, very form fitting , but no flannel liner. Looks to be a 2 layer. Have had it for about 15 or more years ,I used it for a couple years, but always under the carport, so no sun fade, rot etc. Have had it rolled up and tucked away in a box for sometime now. Still very nice condition. I may entertain selling it if you are interested. Used it on my 02 at car shows when leaving car overnight at facility. I could look at my hood insulation blanket. Took my hood off in 08 for a fiberglass one. Have had hood tucked away in safe keeping. Dont really recall what it looks like as it was not an important issue to me back then. Saw one on a 01 Monte at a pick-n-pull junk yard today. The hood still has its heat blanket in pretty decent condition. Bet I could get it for $10

WeatherShield HP Custom Car Covers from Covercraft - Covercraft

CALIPERS, concur easy to d.i.y. paint project. If you dont want to keep it totally original you can get the 02 Camaro dual piston calipers for a brake upgrade, paint them up and pow, nicer looking larger caliper plus braking is way better.

 

I had a covercraft for mine too, the NOAH fabric was a great feel and fit.

I wouldn't worry about HP bumps unless you were going boost like Bumpin said. Too much money for not much gain on these cars to try to add power NA.