Finally ran it today and...
The new buggy diffs with 52/17 gearing slowed me down a little from ~38mph to 35mph. Also with the extra weight and extended chassis no wheelies. Looks like I won't need the wheelie bar.
I am going to try 52/20 gearing which should get me close to 40 mph.
Oh, and I forgot about getting a body to fit the extended chassis. guess that is next.