New User-- '85 AE82

Hey there.
A while back my uncle gave me his Corolla for free. It's at about 145,000 miles right now. It needed quite a clean up, plus a bit of work to fix the battery. The brakes still need some work. I'm not super knowledgeable about cars, but I was looking to perhaps learning and even working on my car to increase its performance.
From what I've found (or lack thereof) it seems that there isn't much you can do with the AE82. Do you guys have any suggestions on where to start?

Most people start with a weber. If your in california dont bother thinking about it.

Its an awesome car, i had mine given to me for free from my next door neighbour that couldnt run the car. just a starter motor and fixed , i want to get started on doing some nice mods but dont know where to start performance wise, ive cleaned the carby, changed the oil and the oil filter, air filter and just a general clean of the full inside, the carby clean made a massive difference, well more than i expected, and oil change made it sound alot smoother and run smoother, now i have accelerator/timing issues. where are you located? if anyone has any tips or cheaps mods for me feel free to let me know.