Packing Characters into reals/lists

[WikiGuru]

Here's a challenge for the FASTEST way to pack 8 characters into a real list, input from (pre-defined) Str2, and then unpack them back into Str2. It must support all characters in Str2 (at least). Str2 is defined below (just store it from the home screen)

Note: if the inputed string is not a multiple of 8 (Str2 below isn't), your String to Real program should append extra spaces at the end. Real to String doesn't need to remove these, but if you want to...

To test your programs, use this string (store int Str2):

Str2="THIS IS A TEST OF STRING TO REAL AND REAL TO STRING.+-*/ (I THINK IT WORKS)1234567890 {1,2,3,4}[2][3][4][66] DIM MISMATCH/ ABCDEFGHIJK... UHH, I THAT IS ALL I KNOW."

here's my times: (if someone wants to check them, that would be much appreciated)
tested on Wabbitemu emulating TI83+SE OS version 1.16
String to Real: 3 and 1 pixel
Real to String: 9 and 7 pixels
[color=#000000background#000000]
String to Real:

:DelVar L10->dim(L1
:"°°°°°°°°°ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789+-*/.,(){}[] ->Str1
:DelVar E1->C
:While fPart(length(Str2)/8
Str2+" ->Str2
:End
:length(Str2->D
:If D>7:7->D
:Repeat D+1>length(Str2
:DelVar A1+E->E
:1+dim(L1->dim(L1
:For(B,C,D
:A+inString(Str1,sub(Str2,B,1))10^(2C-2B-1->A
:End
:A10^(inString(Str1,sub(Str2,D+1,1->L1(E
:2+D->C
:8+D->D
:End

Real to String:

:DelVar E" ->Str2
:"°°°°°°°°°ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789+-*/.,(){}[] ->Str1
:Repeat E>=dim(L1
:E+1->E
:DelVarBL1(E->A
:While iPart(A10^(-B
:B+1->B
:End
:A10^(-B->A
:For(C,1,7
:Str2+sub(Str1,iPart(A10^(2)),1)->Str2
:fPart(A10^(2->A
:End
:Str2+sub(Str1,B-1,1->Str2
:End
:sub(Str2,2,length(Str2)-1->Str2

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