stock lights..

[evilfix]

how much more battery life would i get from running the car without the lights plugged in?

how much faster would it drain the battery if i added a drop of solder between the red and orange solder points to keep the rear red lights going constantly? (bent for neons)

[damootch]

how much more battery life would i get from running the car without the lights plugged in?

I almost always unplug the lights. I've found it gives you 2 or 3 more minutes of run time.
The lights are cool, but I want to get the most 'play time' possible.

[Azimov]

how much faster would it drain the battery if i added a drop of solder between the red and orange solder points to keep the rear red lights going constantly? (bent for neons)

Quite a bit I would think. Though these little cars have the most efficient LEDs I've ever seen.
I got a car once that shines the headlights all of the time. I left it that way and don't really notice any major loss of play time. Though I'm sure it's less.
For neons, I just bought one of the neon body kit packs and ripped the light harness out of both bodies. The bodies were way to big anyways.