Quoting DR1665:
@Paul - Did you just say that, if you could do it all over again, you'd drop ten large on a custom gearbox to support 300hp? That's EXTREME!
Brian, yes I did say that, but let me try to qualify that a bit for my own position. I already own an extremely rare 4.3 final ratio five speed box stolen from a rally car. If you've ever driven a 3.909 ratio box you will know how much that peps up the response of a 2.0 litre, 16G car. Now imagine twice that response, thinking that you are in third only to find out you are in 4th. Yes it really is that good and the only thing that I have driven with better ratios for Hong Kong was the JDM Civic Type R with the six-speed close ratio box. If I used the 4.3 final ratio as a starting point and built a six speed, I could get very close to those same ratios in the VR4.
And that really is it, it isn't just about the power! The car is already very quick. Yes I know in reality it's probably only a low 13 second car at best (I doubt it makes much over 250 to the wheels) but it is still quick enough to hold it's own against 95% of the cars I'll ever meet and I don't think it's worth doing all the other things necessary to compete with the other 5%, ESPECIALLY as most of those cars want to make their point on the highway at 130 mph plus. Everyone who knows anything can tell you that venturing north of 400 hp entails a lot in terms of costs, breakages and loss of drive-ability.
350 hp to the wheels, this custom transmission and a set of diffs would make for a brutally quick car. It IS a lot of money but it's still considerably less than I have spent on my build so far and that 'build' has yet to see pavement. The simple truth is that I could have spent much less and had a car that was both easy to drive and tough enough to be beaten upon with impunity whenever I wanted.
All I'm saying is, looking back, I wish I'd gone another route.