she's a long read but it's a good one I'd like to think send my apologies to your boss
I took the stock shorty/head as far as I could. It did ~ 520+awhp on 93 octane at 30psi and when I put in race gas and left the boost and AFR the same and added 4* more timing it started pushing coolant (likely lifting the head but there was no knock) so I backed off and went back to pump. I ran that through DLL and it showed 565awhp...that's a bit much to ask from the stock shorty so I decided to order the built 2.0 from Buschur and do the stage 3 head at the same time so I can have it decked, o-ringed and assembled and shipped to me. Now I'll be able to push it much harder on race gas and not have to worry so much. After all, it is my daily driver.
My goal is to have the most power possible from say 6000rpm to 10,000rpm which is what's going to get me down the track faster. The built 2.0 will allow much higher rpm than the 2.3 and that's going to keep me from having to shift into 5th gear before the 1/4. The Buschur BF 272 cams are a bit overkill on the stock head so that's why I elected for something a bit more tame previously (HKS 280). Since then some better cams have become available. If I had it to do over again on the stock head I I'd go with the GSC S2, no loss of low end torque and massive gains up top but they do require upgraded springs/retainers. The Bushur BF 272 + their Stage 3 head will greatly improve efficiency and make more power where it counts in the upper RPM.
I don't know where I'll end up on pump/race because at least for now I'm sticking with the stock ecu/mas until I hit a wall and max it out. Then the AEM EMS I have sitting here will go in and I'll max it out again. I'd like to see 540-550ish on 93 octane with the new shorty/head/cam and 600ish on race gas but that's a tall order on the stock ecu/mas.
I like carving corners too but I haven't been back to the autox since the 35R turbo. I still want to but the events they've been having lately were designed by miata/mini cooper owners and everyone is hating the ridiculously tight technical parking lot courses they've been doing. I haven't even bothered to go see for myself yet. I hear they are going to switch it up soon and if it's opened up a bit more I'll go out there to blister some tires but I doubt seriously I'll be as competitive as I used to be. Maybe I'll do some road course stuff next year.