So I'm a clueless NJ guy who bought a surprisingly clean, mostly-stock 1997 5 speed last year, and after a year of spirited drives on sunny days, I've started thinking about making it less slow. Now that I've read and failed to understand lots of great posts on these forums, I figured I'd say hi and make a fool of myself. Since I have no experience with a wrench, I'm expecting to throw away entirely too much money ruining this car. Apologies in advance for all the stupid questions, I'll try my best to make them less stupid.

Here's my money pit:
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/370...zda-mx-5-miata
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/3y7...zda-mx-5-miata