Okay, more info on this for those playing along at home.
Anze Engineering says they can build me custom Penske struts. Price is $2k PER CORNER. They seemed heavy on the sales pitch but light on useful info. Too steep to find out the car still isn't competitive.
Steve is going to build me a set of 8611's. Already have a set of stock struts on the way to him. Price is less than $2k for the entire set. I probably still can't rebuild myself, but for that price I consider them money well spent. If we find the car is fairly competitive but we feel can still be improved considerably with better shocks, I guess I will worry then about going with something more expensive.
I got my shock dyno today and got training on using it. That included getting an intro on how the internals of a monotube work and what's required in rebuilding them. Very good info and Roehrig is very VERY helpful and open. I know it wasn't cheap, but I can't imagine many companies that I'm happier to spend money with as far as support is concerned, let me tell you. The *president* of what appeared to be a small but well run and busy company gave us the training and he REALLY knew his stuff. He then made it very clear that we're free to call them any time with any question.
I can't wait to tear into a shock. Just need a few more tools and something to play with.
--Donnie