The 740's are not a lot heavier than S14's, think theyre around 1200kg's and A LOT of weight can be stripped out of them, easy enough to get them under 1000kg's. The 2.0 is basically the same motor as the 2.3 just a differant displacement and 250/300 can be got out of them easy enough.
Most importantly they slide well
i duno, we had a 2.1 244 with a welder, in the wet it could do some twisty turny skids, good luck in the dry though!