Advice on budget a/body bracket car suspension?

If you are re-donig the front suspension I would replace the uppers with tubular. They are lighter, have the urethane bushings which will rotate easier and smoother, and allow for a lot more positive caster so the car is more stable in a straight line. A trick for the urethane is to remove the inner sleeve, and the bushing from the outer sleeve, and use antiseize on both, then reassemble. You might be amazed at how smoothly and easily they twist after that. I'd use the thinnest T bars you can and preload the heck out of them. Otherwise, the lightest wheel and tire package and lightest disc brakes and you're doing pretty good. Also have a real alignment guy align the car for racing.