Tune up and cat back questions

[WGUNGHO]

My 97 has allmost 50k miles, and still has the original coils, wires and plugs. Are any of the replacement parts better than others? I'd appreciate some suggestions.
Second on the list is a cat back. What is the difference in the 97 exhaust and an earlier Fox body LX exhaust. I happen to have a spare Magnaflow catback that is for a Fox LX. I've put the car on a lift, and compared the Magnaflow to the stock, and they look to be damn close. With a little "adjustment", will the Fox catback fit the Cobra?
Thanks
Thom

 

[1998Venom]

I can only offer an opinion on the iginition side of things, based on experience - do a search under my name to find the previous strings.

I'm running MSD wires and coil packs, and noticed a significant improvement over stock. You may also want to check out Performance Distributors' Screaming Demon coils and Live Wires, although they are more expensive. Although you generally don't gain anything on such mods, I believe MM&FF did reported approx 5 HP & ft/lbs on a Mach 1 - take it for what it is - this is not a power-add bolt-on!

 

[98cobrancali]

well what i would recommend on wires is stock motorcraft replacements, they come in blue and nothing fits as good as they do, i have used msd superconductors and they made my car miss like crazy, i have used motorsport wires and they were way to long, and now im using pep boys wires, they were to replace the msd's, but they dont fit either they work better than the msd's did though, unless your having problems with the coil packs i wouldnt replace them, plugs i recommend the cheap ones, autolite 764's work great, dont use platinum, and the exhaust, i know that the pipes and mufflers would fit i couldnt tell you about the tailpipes, cause i had 2 chamber flows welded into the stock catback in my cobra, and when i switched to magnapacks, i cut out the tailpipes on the flowmasters, and when i put my 92 together i used those mufflers with the pipes that attached to the H, and they bolted right up

 

[1998Venom]

I agree with 98 cobrancali with reference to fit and finish with the MSDs - they just don't fit as well as stock - however, I haven't encountered any problems to date - over 3000 miles to date.