[hegemon]

Do to your Laser what Leyland did to the Mini. Tear off every non essential peice of metal and put a crude roll bar on it instead.

I would suggest on top of the sump guard that you try to raise the ride height by fitting different springs. You might also like to think about fitting high profile tyres to smaller rims...softens the ride nicely.

re: exhaust/muffler: any sound deadening makes the engine work harder. ergo, for more power, remove the mufflers. This depends on how much noise you can put up with. Perhaps get a pair of earmuffs as a trade off. The easiest spot to remove it would be the rear one and as suggested above, point it out the side, though this will increase the noise.

There was a segment done on Ch.9's The Car Show in which they tore off many of the panels of a Toyota Crown station wagon. Over the 1/4 mile it was slower because of the increased drag, however if what youre after is more power and not outright speed or acceleration, this probably isnt an issue.

As mentioned above, removing interior parts like the dash and rear seats is a must. Seatbelts might be worth keeping though if you take the doors off.

As for more power, I'm stumped. According to MythBusters on TV, putting moth balls in your fuel tank acts like octane boost....dont know about the longterm effect on the engine though. Seems longevity and power are a paradox. I'm all for random acts of destruction however...