Near-mint 4th gen Civie what can I do with this puppy?

My neighbors (northern New Jersey) have a 4th gen Civic hatch for sale. It's a base model, red, 5 speed, grey plastic upholstery, black bumpers. I don't know the exact year, I couldn't see the mileage (probably mid 100s), but it is in superb condition. There's a rip in the driver's seat, otherwise the interior appears near-mint, as does the paint, the silver-painted steelies look mint, and the car shows extremely minimal wear. The car looks 3 years old, not 11-14 years old. They're asking $2000.

I'm probably not in the market for this car right now, but it might be an intriguing second car.

I figure sport springs, shocks, sway bars, would cost about ~$1200, so I'm wonderin' how much more would it cost to bring the 0-60 time down to, say, 7-8 seconds, and I dunno, a 1/4 mile in the high 15s? Something reasonably fast for daily driving but not too crazy. Could this be done for a reasonable price without sacrificing too much reliability?

How much does a clutch/tranny re-do run on one of these puppies? (anticipating the end of the tranny sometime after the perf. mods)

I'm interested in creating a minor sleeper, not too interested in swapping the rims or changing much of the appearance.

Sorry if this is annoying super newbie stuff.