I have been driving a Backdraft in the San Jose area for a couple of years now, about 4,000 miles, so my experience only, you milage may vary.
Front 3M, Yes, up to the front hood line and across and the rear fender area are a must. But, I also had it put on the top of the doors where you arm will rest and all those watch and ring scratches are no longer a problem, especially on the passenger door. My car is black and the stuff is invisible and super gloss. AND, put it under the soft top where it contacts the body or your will have a mess to try to polish out immediately.
Oil Cooler, temperatures can be above 100. Besides look factor would this be useful? Yes, but the "look factor is worth the price" alone.
Hurst short shifter. Depends on your taste. But, I put a Tri-Ax (spelling may be off) on my TKO 600 (yours is different) and it was night and day for shifting, but actually made the car just more comfortable all the way around. I used the absolute shortest holes and the shortest shifter and it works like magic.
Solid motor mounts. I changed mine back to urethane mounts and lots of stuff stopped vibrating off the car and the whole experience was just better. Your motor will be softer in that area for sure as mine shakes your filling out idling. Good for a race car, not so good for a street car in my experience. Easy garage change if you make a mistake here also.
Steering wheel, do want wood wheel. Is Moto-Lita Wheel improvement over stock? You won't know what you really want till you drive it a while, just the way it works. A bit like the shifter, after a while, looks are secondary to you just wanting it to work great and be able to see the dash instruments.
Mirrors, seems windshield mount is needed to be useful. Would like mirror on passenger side as well. Is Ray Dyot best choice or are there others that work better? I put chrome Rays on mine both sides, mounted on the windshield, really look cool on a black car. Both are useless. The center mirror is your best friend, with the drivers side mirror having some marginal use at times. Can't really advise here, just know the small round mirrors on both sides look cool and serve no useful purpose in flight.
If you are not going to race or track day the car, you might want to consider a taller rear gear. It will make the car much, much better on the kinds of roads we drive on out here. As an engineer, you might want to look at a gear chart vs. tire size/final drive and that will give you a good feeling for the RPMs at 70ish, where most of your driving will be probably. This will make some guys cringe, but something just under or around 2,000 at 70 in your best gear is really nice on a sunny day in California.
Put a heater in the car if you haven't already and you will drive it 12 months out of the year here. Changes are you wasted your money on the top, mine has been on once for about 20 minutes, took it off and never even though of putting it on again, with the heater. Just watch the weather forecast and you will be fine. Carry a cover, just in that super rare case.
BUT, be extremely careful with your new baby at first. When they bite and they always do, it's quick and fast and usually a total surprise to the uninitiated.
Good luck and you will love the experience.
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