ECU Upgrades
 

I have read that the 8 was originally powered to as much as 280 hp but had to be "powered down" to the 238 and 197. Are there ECU flashes avail.? More specifically are they avail for the AT? to regain some of that back. And how about an ECU upgrade to get rid of that damn rev limiter (I KNOW WHEN TO SHIFT DAMMIT!)

I doubt what you read was true, or else by now tuning shops would have ECUs like that for sale.

280 was goal that was never reached on anything near production. there are no flashes available for power especially for the AT. there are ECU upgrades available in japan and italy. some get rid of teh rev limiter but if you know when to shift why would you need the limiter removed.

Any stand-alone ecu (eg Interceptor, Motec, etc) would allow you to set the rev limiter where you want it, in addition to tuning for more power. Expect to spend at least $1500 if you tune it yourself, more for dyno tuning. Bear in mind that you are not going to perform a miracle with a standalone as far as power goes, but in combination with a midpipe/high flow cat (loud) you could expect decent gains.

Raising the rev limiter will stress your torque converter and transmission fluid, so an AT cooler would be recommended, and 8000rpm is probably around the usable limit as far as durability and power are concerned. A higher stall speed and more efficient torque converter would be nice also, but it'd have to be custom made (unless the FD t/c fits, then you could buy one of those and have it upgraded).

On the good side, the ecu and midpipe/cat could be used for a future upgrade to forced induction, so if that was your plan you wouldn't be out any extra dough. If you stayed naturally aspirated, then adding a 4.77 final drive (or different diameter wheel/tire combo) would be the only other thing you could do for more get-up. I guess you could cut some weight, but that can get rather expensive.