[MVF4Rrider]

Glad to help. It still kills me how much emphasis is placed on peak numbers and dyno graphs. If it's a smiliar curve, just higher, that's great. I've seen many dynos of "chipped" and modded N54s where the curve was anything but smooth, peaked even earlier, and dropped like a brick in the last 2500 rpms. But the end result is a car that will more easily bark the rear wheels and I think that's enough to entertain most.

Ultimately you start with a goal, such as shaving a half-second off 0-60 times. There are multiple paths to meet this goal...not all of which require motor mods. A shorter final gear alone will almost meet it. The 3.91 for example delivers 8% more torque to the road no matter the rpm or gear. The 4.10 delivers a whopping 13% across the rev range and should come close to meeting that goal, or exceeding it! Extremely lightweight wheels and gripper tires will improve acceleration, and aid braking and cornering too. On the motor side, software, headers/cats, lightweight flywheels, intakes mods like the RPI create a measureable boost in torque/hp. All but the flywheel have a variable power increase effect across the rpm range. The flywheel doesn't add power, but does allow the engine to rev quicker, which translates to quicker acceleration.

My goals for my car don't involve all these things, at least not all now. I've got the RPI ram air kit. Next I'll get ESS software this winter to smooth out the power, bump it up a bit, and eliminate the top speed limiter. Then the 3.91 final gear hopefully in 2009. After that I'm unsure, but would like headers and cats, then later x-pipe and mufflers. Oh joy.