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More on the 16V "quest for fast"



Thanks to those who sent replies to the previous post on this topic. This
is on my 2L 16V. I ended up not touching the airflow plate, as reading the
correct section for CIS-E (not CIS) indicates that the plate can rest a bit
below the bottom of the venturi cone. And the car starts fine.

Other suggestions that did not impact anything: 
-it's not a clogged cat, since there isn't one
-I did change plugs, from Bosch Silber single electrodes to the dealer
spec'd ones, which are NGK triples. I've never found plugs to make much
difference.
-Cam chain- I did not check this, the chain was new when the head was
rebuilt five or so years back. I think it's not likely to be worn, maybe
I'm wrong?
-bad fuel- filled up and added some octane booster since we can only get
91. Maybe a bit better.
-ignition module - have yet to dig another one out.

Okay, here's what the car feels like. It idles and runs smoothly, no
missing/buckiing/stumbling. To me, this rules out fuel distributor issues,
and maybe even injector spray issues. Also, I reset the ignition timing
(retarded it a few degrees) to where I think 6* should be at, viewing the
mark as squarely as possible with all the crap in the way. No difference.

Anyway, the car just feels like it's doubled its weight. Just slow to move
forward. Makes a lot of nice noise, but it's going nowhere. Once in a while
it'll act like its old self, but it's just not the tire smoking screamer it
was. Most people would be perfectly happy with it, but I'm not most people.
I'm not giving up till it is faster.

So to me, that suggests something beyond the engine, (though retarded
ignition/overly rich could do this too, right?) since it seems to be
running well enough. So what resisting forces might that suggest? I checked
brake disc temp after a nice highway run, nothing scary there, and I don't
hear anything/smell anything, though once or twice in a maybe 50 mile run
there was a machining sound, a subtle, high pitched whine, which I wasn't
too thrilled with. Only at speed, only on load. Speed dependant I'd say. It
went away though. (It's not diff rivets, those too are history) That sounds
brake-like, right? Application of brakes did not make a difference though,
but pushing in the clutch did I think.
Would something like a failing PS pump cause drag? Or is it just the start
of a clutch failure? This one's lost it's snap and is acting like a stock
clutch, it's a level 2 Bully, and has been abused for two (or 3?) seasons
now; used to be a very off/on clutch. I don't smell anything, and it seems
to pull as well at the torque peak as anywhere else in the range, usually
they begin to slip around 4500 rpm on this car when they're at the end of
their lifespan.

What am I missing???? It just feels like I'm towing a second car behind
this thing, that's the best way to describe it. I DID check the rearview...
cathy