wow...those are super clear headlights
Looks like a sweet ride. Doing the tranny cooler first thing is a smart move on your part, and the conclusions youve drawn on the car thus far are pretty spot on...though for exhausts, the more restricting part is actually the stock headpipes witht he pre-cats. slightly larger diameter piping with straight through resonators to keep noise under conntroll should get you a little more power up top
anyways, welcome to the cult...enjoy the car