ok, ready for 1st mods!

[Rally]

I'm excited, armed with my newly acquired knowledge of the GT obtained through the observations and toils of all you Mustang fiends, I am ready to enter the foray of actual modifications. By this I mean actually buying stuff, not just talking about it!

This is my order:

1. Steeda tri-ax shifter (there's nothing quite like immediate gratification!)
2. 3.73 gears (I mostly do highway miles)
3. x or h pipe (with cats) and Magnaflow catback.
4. pullies/ timing adjuster
5. a brief period to lull my wife to sleep
6. '01 intake/heads
7. Repeat step #5
8. Springs with CC plates and shocks/struts

To begin: with the gears, what is the general consensus of the best way to fix the speedo? Chip or small gear thingy? I am a precision oriented guy, so the most accurate/sound way would be the best, but if it's the difference between an $8 piece of plastic, or a $100 chip, I might lean towards the inelegant solution.

Secondly, with the exhaust. I just assumed that I would have the x-pipe (or h-pipe, I'm still trying to decide) with cats put in, along with my catback and be done with it, and legal (here in CA). But I believe I have 6 catalytic converters on my '97 GT. How many cats would a catback and x-pipe setup have? If less than 6 (and I'm sure there will be, hence the performance gain), will this be a legal setup? I read that the techs won't cut off cats in the install since it is illegal. Since virtually everyone has done this gear mod, what is to be expected with the install where the catalytic converters are concerned?

Looking forward to the change in my GT!