That is what it's all about, enjoying what you like to do. I didn't get a chance to see your car run but heard good things about it.
On the manual trans stuff, I just hate to see stuff break when it doesn't have to. It is relatively expensive to get the driveline up to snuff but makes for a safer, more reliable car. It also gives you room to grow with power.
Most build their cars from front back vs. back to front and hopefully with some shared experience everyone can enjoy their cars how they were meant to be.
This clip shows my driver side axle breaking on launch using a full slick:
The ET streets are the DOT slick, right? I've always heard that manuals need to go with something other than DRs, because they are too stiff to take the drivetrain shock.
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