the rex still looks pretty good. it has one faint dent in the passenger side door - i hate parking lots!
i've never raced - only against myself, in the wee early morning hours, on the freeway when it's deserted. fastest i've gotten her is 124, and it was scary - not scary from the speed, but scary from how smooth it was. it felt like i was cruising at 55. no shakes, shimmies, twitchiness, or anything. if i hadn't run out of road (!) i probably could have maxed her out.
i've only done a few minor 'mods' and they're for the most part silly. one is the 'star ground' mod, where you run fat cables directly from the battery negative terminal to five or six points around the engine and engine compartment. This ostensibly helps the electronics run more accurately, giving you a boost in performance and/or helps the motor run more smoothly. hard to say if it helps, but since it can't hurt, i've left it in place.
the next 'mod' was taking out the spare and the jack. lighten her up! less weight to tug around, faster car, better gas mileage! worked great - until my wife had a blowout on the freeway two weeks ago. i won't repeat the conversation we had about that.
the last 'mod', and the one that does make a difference is using a rather arcane additive in my gas. the rex wants 92 octane ideally, but about six months after i got it, california lowered all premium from 92 down to 91. oh the humanity! i found this stuff on the net that's kind of interesting. it's a *viscosity* modifier for the gas. it's this thick, gooey - heck, kind of like boogers! - liquid, and i inject just a single ounce into a tank of gas. it modifies the way the fuel atomizes through the fuel injectors, making for smaller and more uniform droplets that burn better. there is a definite benefit from it. can't quantify exactly the horsepower increase, but i'd say maybe two or three horsepower - about what you'd get back from going back to 92 octane. and the engine does run smoother.
hey, i must have just had my morning coffee! can you guess why i say that!?
blah blah blah BLAH blah blah BLAH BLAH, blah BLAH blahblah blah blah.
:D