Concentrate on passing tech first, most of the headaches you'll have are if your car can't pass tech out of the gate. Most important are the roll cage, seat, belts, fire system and kill switch. Most other stuff can be buttoned up at the track in a worst-case scenario. Make sure to read, re-read, memorize and then read again the "how not to fail Lemons tech" article on the main web site.
After that, Altima specifically doesn't really matter all that much as most cars fail in the same places once put under racing stress. Change all the fluids with high quality fluids. Get a set of high quality brake pads (hawk, ST43, EBC, etc..), and use racing brake fluid, like RBF600.
Your first race will likely be an organized cluster, it gets better the more you stick with it and build your car out.
If you're looking for a laundry list of maintenance or (potentially) cheap items that could add to reliability:
- transmission cooler
- replace wheel bearings
- get 2-4 spare wheels
- replace suspension bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, engine mounts, anything with rubber that flexes.
- Bolt your car before every race (google it, but basically any bolt can fall out will fall out.
- lighten the car (remove extra glass, cut interior door frames, etc... also plenty of videos online).
Just remember, there's always the chance that the car goes out and immediately blows up or makes kissy faces with the wall. Don't feel like anything beyond the safety requirements are "required" to spend more time and money on, and usually adds to frustration if you're building your own car and entering a race for the first time.
1989 Merkur XR4Ti: Project Merkur Space Program - Wins: Class C - Colonel and the Sinkhole 2023 | "Heroic Fix" The Pitt Maneuver 2023 | "Halloween Meets Gasoline" The Pitt Maneuver 2022
1980 Dodge Challenger: Most Extreme eLemonAtion Challenger (Rust Belt Ramble 2021 Dishonorable Mention)