i've done allot of shows in my car (unfortunately the car has been in pieces most of this season) and the number one thing beyond all the mods in the world when it comes to a show (well a quality show) is cleanliness. You can have all polished 1million hp dual charged, but if its dirty then a proper judge will deduct heavily.
So . . . before doing anything mod wise, pull apart anything u can in the engine bay and clean under and around it. Simple Green is a nice degreaser and will help. make sure to clean all hoses and plastics really well that are even the least bit visible. disconnect some of the vacuum hoses to get around them better and to get to lower ones.
Next, relocate the alarm speaker. that needs to be hidden somewhere else (behind the bumper etc)
then, remove, relocate, rewire or just get that yellow wire that is connected to the injector 3 out of view. any random lone wires are immediate eyesores
next, the plastics (large side, smaller radiator, ecu cover, large and small fuse covers. first scrub them down real good outside of the car then do one of 2 things. 1: paint them glossy black to keep their shine so you dont have to tire shine them every show and reclean the dirt off. or 2: paint them another color that goes with your scheme (i say never more then 3 colors in a scheme, 2 is better including car color) and nothing super bright or wild.
For the intake manifold, scrub the crap out of it even the hard to reach areas close to the block as its very visible. Then, either use tireshine/armoral which will fade and collect dust, or spray it high gloss black. I would not suggest doing it in a color other then black
next, the fuel rail. it looks corroded so if it cannot clean then as before paint it black.
next the throttle cable sleeve, some areas are corroded white and other area is rusted from the clip. clean and black the sleeve as well as the rusted clip
now depending on your budget you can ramp up the mods but here are some basic cheap ones to get you by in the beginning smaller shows.:
-intake, you have an SRI, shine the crap out of that with metal polish. Consider a heat-shield (cheap on ebay) to add shine and a "purposeful" mod that others may not have.
-Next a strut bar. you can start off with a cheap ebay one for now but later get a quality name brand one. keep the color of it in your scheme. Not only will this add to suspension points but it will also cover up alittle bit of the engine bay for you.
-battery. if you have the money look into a Braille or optima battery. With that, new battery terminals gold or silver add a nice simple but effective touch.
-Oil Cap: if you can get a name brand (greddy, Buddyclub, C-one) that is preferred, if not then just a shinny clean one to keep the small touches going.
-Bolts. As small and insignificant as it sounds, changing out your bolts makes a MASSIVE difference to judges. go to an Ace harware or any decent hardware store with custom bolts. if you have the money chrome bolts are great but expensive. IMO just some stainless round Hex (as opposed to standard square socket style) on all visible bolts is a great touch. most of the bolts in the car are the same but just go one day, remove them, label them, bring them to the store and swap them out.
lastly the valve cover. you have 2 options: 1: get the carbon fiber one listed above. 2: either do it yourself or have someone else polish it. that will add a very nice touch to the engine bay. many people paint and powdercoat them so polishing lets you stand out a hair.
for now thats all i have. if you have more questions let me know.
I dont know if you have done shows before or looked into them but one major thing to consider is how the point scale works at your show. 99% of the shows work on a sectioned point scale. 10 points each section. ive listed generally how the sections go below but its different every show.
Consider greatly covering every aspect even if just a few touches to get maximum points. i cant count how many times i've beaten a 600+whp supra with rims because they neglected interior/audio etc. They may get 10 points for engine but thats all they can get. I may have gotten only 5 on engine, but i got 5 on interior, 6 on audio and with everything else equal I "should" and normally did win.
Normally 5-10 points maximum for each
-Interior (dash, seats, belts, carpet, headliner, visors, gauges, speedo, roll cages, etc)
-Audio/Video/Trunk (ICE) (headunit, amps, subs, sound deadener, overall design of trunk audio, overall cleanliness and uniqueness of trunk design, monitors, lights, speakers)
-Suspension (often wheels, brakes, suspension, sways, struts, and cleanliness of the undercarriage)
-Exterior (sometimes wheels, bodykit, lip kit, molded, paintjob (even a well polished stock gets points), hood, trunk, antenna, tint, moldings(cleanliness) headlights, tailights, foglights, grills)
-Engine (overall cleanliness, appearance, NA vs Boosted, Swapped, internal components ONLY if you can back them up with dyno/build pics etc. )
-Lastly and not at every show: Presentation: (anything from display boards, trophies, mirrors, themed decorations, carpets and lastly how you present your car and all of its details to the judge)
So in sum, make sure you have atleast touched every aspect in each cateory. and more important then any mod is how clean you car is. scrub everything, remove everything and rescrub. clean in the fender wells, under the car, all suspension components, cupholders, AC vents, shifter boot, seats, under seats, trunk, moldings etc.
