what should i do with a 2000 nissan altima

im thinking of getting started on tuning my dad's altima but i have nowhere to start. any suggestions on how to fix up a 2000 nissan altima? I want to get some speed out of it, but i also wanna work on some cosmetics a bit, plus i aint loaded with money.
THanks  

is it your altima or your dads altima. if its your dads altima, then leave it alone, unless he is all for it.

what engine does your car have. is it the 2.5 or the 3.5.  
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the godfather has spoken

Its his, but he says if i can show him that i have a concise plan and i end up actually doing some good to it, then he will just end up giving its to me. im pretty sure its the 2.5.
If it doesnt seem like that good of a car to tune, then are there any suggestions for a good cheap car?  

do you have a job? if so, drive dads altima, leave it alone, and buy a car. the kind of car you want matters on what you want to do with it.  
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the godfather has spoken

im gonna get a job soon, but i plan on using that money on the mods. ive been lookin for an eclipse and saw a 2002 model for 5000 with around 86,000 miles on it? would it be a good car to try for?  

is the eclipse a v6 or 4 banger?  If its the v6 then its the DOHC 6g72 which is the same engine in the 3000gt. Responds to mods well and parts are mostly interchangeable. ie the 6g72tt from the vr4  

yeah it does have a v6 engine, but it has 135,000 miles on it, not 86,000. will that make too much of a difference? oh and i just saw the new car sticky that Xx3kgtxx wrote, and saw that u wrote the eclipse. but u said GST could be a FWD. the one im lookin into is a fwd but i dont know what a gst is. im only 15, turning 16 in april, so sorry if i dont know that much. im still learning.  

If you want to go fast, I say avoid all FWD and Naturally aspirated 4/6cylinders. GO for an Eclipse GSX with AWD and a turbo 4g63 if your trying at all to be "fast"  

come on scrotum the indycars are na and they a fast, its all abt what u want out of it if ur lookin to drag then scrotum might be right but if u doin time attacks, circuit racing, or anything involving sharp turns, u might want a fwd  

actually, a lot of indies are turboed. nascar are natuned and they push 900whp.

the eclipse your lookin at is the gt or gts version. theres not much of a diff, just a better suspension. i prefer the 4cyl myself. i didnt see the point in spending an extra 4gs on the gt for only 50hp more. the third gens all came with sohc.  
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the godfather has spoken

in response to the godfather, i saw a 2000 eclipse with 4cyl with 86,000 miles on it. and i saw a 2002 eclipse with v6 and 136,000 miles on it. they are both about 5000 dollars. its just the 2000 has an ugly red color that i would probably paint. but it has better seats. the 2002 is a good color, but crappy seats. so in the end, it all comes down to the fact that which would be cheaper to fix and mod. i plan on having a little circuit but probably not too much racing. i just really wanna pursue this field in the future, so i wanna learn how to customize on my own.  

they both will have a good amount of a tunnin market. the 4g motors can all swap parts. i know alot more about the 4g64 then the 6g72.  
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the godfather has spoken

these are the two eclipses that im looking into. (I know that html doesnt work, but its sorta hard to communicate this way)If u guys can just copy that bigass link into ur browser and give me some personal feedback, that will be great.

1)http://edmunds.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=257528201&dealer_id=70849&car_year=2000&rdm=1236024111765&model=ECLIP&num_records=25&systime=&make2=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=1981&keywordsfyc=&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&keywordsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=used&distance=25&marketZipError=false&search_lang=en&showZipError=n&make=MIT&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=&drive=&default_sort=priceDESC&seller_type=b&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceDESC&address=08536&advanced=&end_year=2010&doors=&transmission=&max_price=5000&cardist=27&standard=false


2)http://edmunds.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.jsp?ct=u&car_id=257598611&dealer_id=18561214&car_year=2002&rdm=1236024111765&model=ECLIP&num_records=25&systime=&make2=&highlightFirstMakeModel=&start_year=1981&keywordsfyc=&keywordsfyc=&keywordsrep=&keywordsrep=&engine=&certified=&body_code=0&fuel=&awsp=false&search_type=used&distance=25&marketZipError=false&search_lang=en&showZipError=n&make=MIT&keywords_display=&color=&page_location=findacar%3A%3Aispsearchform&min_price=&drive=&default_sort=priceDESC&seller_type=b&max_mileage=&style_flag=1&sort_type=priceDESC&address=08536&advanced=&end_year=2010&doors=&transmission=&max_price=5000&cardist=20&standard=false  

the gs wasnt there any more. pm me for more info about the 4cyl, and pm Xx3kgtxX for more info about the v6.  
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the godfather has spoken

all right since one of the cars i was looking at aint there anymore, and the other one got its price jumped, i think i should look into alternatives because i dont plan on buying a car until summer. so any suggestions?