On the mileage front if you can retrofit the 5 speed that would likely help. These can be made fun to drive without sacrificing the mileage; better brake pads, shocks and even add a set of sway bars.

My friends used to wonder how I got those couple of extra MPGs out my street cars, I always told them that they slow down to much for corners and then have to accerate back up to speed. Due note that I just wanted to go around corners faster, using less throttle to get back up to speed was a nice side effect.

OK back to your car; these things are very sturdy, stone axe reliable and easy to work on.

Tom