How does my budget look? / What counts towards rule 4.7?

The issue is the car was aquired not running for free, so I've had to spend some money trying to get it fixed, which costs towards the $500

A CAI is also not required for Lemons build so skip it for now if you don't have the budget and add it after the race using your residual. If you really want something, fabricate, don't buy. You can make a cold-air intake using cheap stuff you can get from the hardware store. It looks very lemony and the judges won't care what you spent on it.

This!!!^^^

I'm sure that we all appreciate your acceptance of the rules, and desire to stay within them.
I do... it makes it easier to pass you on track.

Judges understand that maintenance and reliability parts will be replaced.
They'd prefer that you not vomit your engine parts, transmission parts, etc. onto the track.
Generally, the only time that they object to what you've done to the car is add
parts that make the car hella faster, and/or make it handle well beyond how it should.

The formula is:

• Keep the engine stock, but make it reliable with fresh belts, hoses, plugs and wires, etc.

• Make sure that your wheels aren't going to fall off, or that your suspension isn't going to collapse.
  Example, wheel studs are a safety item. Most, not all, ball joints will not make your car faster (not strictly a safety item), though some cars can have options that do, but both keep your car from becoming a problem on track.

• Anything related to safety, info, or driver comfort does not count toward the $500.

• Spend what you have to. Spend what you want to. Accept the penalty laps if assigned, or bribe your way out of them if you can. Either way, you're not going to win your first race. Though, with a POS car that lasts the weekend, an excellent theme, or a really positive and helpful attitude, your could win a trophy.

• Have a hella good time.

• Ask for a residual value post-race to fix whatever you broke, or invest in making it a little better.

• Repair or Replace what you broke or bent.

• Repeat

• Repeat

• Repeat

If you must create an intake, aluminum pipe, cone filters and silicon joiners are cheap at Summit Racing.  Make sure you have a bend before the MAF/AMM as many of them will run poorly without it.  Make sure it has a fresh source of air that isn't heated by the engine.

I run your twin in the midwest ( 95 Ford Probe ).  No judge is going to care if you spend that money on the items listed to get a 26 year old car running properly.  I gaurantee you'll get zero laps as long as you don't add aftermarket performance parts, and even then they probably won't care.  Just get it reliable, add good brakes, cage it, add the proper safety stuff and go race and have fun.  Hit me up if you want tips on a cheap-ish effective brake set-up.

Your heart is in the right place but don't oversweat the budget here.  Spend what you need to make it safe and reliable first then don't worry if you go over a bit on budget.  If for whatever reason you rub a judge the wrong way or they see something they don't like and you end up with some penalty laps, trust me it won't matter one bit for a number of reasons.

1.  You weren't going to win anyway.  You don't know what you don't know yet and one of them is how to win a Lemons race.  Even people with extensive racing background have a difficult time winning one because the variables are different in Lemons.
2.  If you get laps, wear it like a badge of honor.  Someone took a look at your operation and made the determination that you actually have a shot at winning something.  You look like you have your shit together.
3.  If in the very remote chance that you do get laps it will make zero difference in the amount of fun you will have.

If your intake is jacked and can't be found in the DIY junkyard or it's cheaper to fit a CAI, then I might consider the CAI.  Otherwise I'd keep it stock and make ducting to feed cold air to the stock airbox.  Coroplast political campaign signs are free ducting material the day after an election.  Start stockpiling that stuff.  It works good as radiator ducting as well.  As previously mentioned, bolt-on aftermarket mods may do more harm than good and I'd bet pretty chrome CAI kits are prime contenders to do more harm than good.  And you hope to gain, what? 2HP?  You'll get much better return by cutting down the stock suspension springs and finding bigger swaybars in the DIY junkyard.

tldr; don't sweat penalty laps.

My comments were only meant as a guideline to help him budget his cash outlay to get the car to the track.....
(save a buck or two here and there...)

That's good news then

Your car came from the factory with seat sliders that mount PERFECTLY to your floor, have been crash tested,  and designed to slide easily.  Strip off any unneeded bits and mount your seat to those. The price is right and they work so much better than anything you could buy from the aftermarket.