I blew a rod in one of those MR2 Spyders a couple of years ago. When they rebuilt the engine, I felt the same way, like they didn't build it to the same tolerances; felt about 15 horses were missing. It blew again a couple of months later, because they didn't address the real issue for the first failure, oil starvation due to sludge.

It does sound like you're so close to stock performance anyway, you'd surely be wasting breath trying to convince the mechanics that you are a .2 second off specs. Another thing, it is warmer these days, and that'll definitely take .2 off your time and more.

I would just watch your oil very carefully over the next few months. Change it often (your "new" engine will contain more metal shavings and junk in it for a while), and make sure your oil doesn't smell burnt or feel thick.

Other than that, there's plenty of performance mods out there that'll get you back in the game. You found one, the elbow, but there's also the PV muffler, smaller wheels, K&N filter, weight savings, etc...

Scott Swett