You have a 20 year old Ford 4-banger with over 200K miles and you're thinking long-term, AND you want to know how you can spend all of your money fixing it up?
Ugh, nevermind, just follow this transcript from a Need For Speed Underground walkthrough:
Originally Posted by edmel89
as for things you can do to the car, honestly it depends on what you want, if it was mine, i would give it a major tune up, change all fluids! spark plugs, wires, fliters, etc etc,
and for mods, i would keep it simple, unless you have money to go crazy.
start with good aftermarket IC piping (intercooler piping) then upgrade to a large FMIC (front mount intercooler), then maybe get a HKS blow off valve. and upgrade the airfilter or replace it. Then you can jump into exhaust, look into a nice flowing exshaust, 2.5-3 inch in diameter, no cat, a ress. and a straight through muffler.
then you can pop in an aftermaket clutch, stage one or two, and then get a good set of shocks/coilovers, and lower the car some, get new wheels, and a good alignment, and you'll be good to go.
if the car is in good shape, and you trust the motor, get a boost controller and up the PSI a little.