Economical Mods for '00 996 Cab 4 cornering and acceleration

Remember those Bose ad campaigns from the late 70's that featured a wicked looking 911 whale-tail (and the others with the the guy sitting back in front of a 901 speaker while his wineglass was slowly being pushed toward his open hand from the blast of sound)? I guess I have had the itch for a P-car ever since! Well I've had the 901's for years and I've driven 914's and 944's and 986's but only recently landed my first 996 (metallic ocean blue, stock suspension and exhaust 2000 Cab 4 with full leather). It's a beautiful car but... after driving it daily for two months am really sad to admit that the acceleration and the handling are a tremendous letdown. My 225-hp '01 Audi Cab TT AWD turbo was quicker, more nimble and didn't throw me around in the seat the way my P-car does. I know it's not a fair comparison, but DAMN. I spend a lot of time in highway traffic and rarely get to break triple-digit speeds, so top-end is not an issue. The car needs to accelerate much more quickly and feel more balanced in turns without mods requiring pulling the engine out and without resorting to the jarring, ultra-stiff ride of a track car. Since it is out of warranty I figure that rather than walk away from the car I'll try a few, inexpensive mods. You guys are my inspiration! I am no gear-head but I can read and follow directions. Here is my starting point: Knowledge: I use Rennlist, Renntech, 996 shop manuals, complete porsche parts list including exploded diagrams ($15, pelicanparts.com). Tools: Buying them as I go. I get the feeling that some of the clearances and tolerances on the P-cars will require some special tools. But that's another thread. Shifter Slop: I've ordered the B&M SSK ($250, summitracing.com) and will install it next weekend. The shorter throw is a must-have and I will take extra care not to miss a gear in S-curves until I get used to the tighter tolerances this kit adds. Know I'll need to buy a T-20 and T-30 torxx driver and some metric sockets... Body Roll: After reading everything here regarding the 996 C4 suspension, I've decided to start with the sway bars and ignore spring and shock upgrades for now. Understeer is currently acceptable probably due to AWD and PSM. My ride seems stiff enough for the speeds I drive, I just need flatter cornering. I have stock 17" wheels and am aware that I could go to 18"s and a shorter front tire and get some benefits, but I think I might get a bigger bang for my buck with sway bar mods. I also intend to have the alignment checked, but feel I should wait until after I upgrade the sway bar(s). My stock sway bars on the 2000 C4 are 23mm(F) x 18.5mm(R). The RoW 030 bars seem only slightly better, while the adjustable GT3 bars at nearly the same price are 26.8mm x 20.7mm. The H&R'sare even beefier at 26mm x 23mm ($269 front, $232 rear, tirerack.com) and, like the GT3's, are both adjustable according to the product description. I'd read here that the H&R fronts are not adjustable so maybe they changed the design? The additional cost for the H&R front is, I'm assuming, because it includes new end links. I'll confirm that before I buy. Now I can only do one project at a time, so I am thinking of adding the H&R rear bar first. Big Question: That will give me a 23mm front sway bar and a 23mm rear sway bar! I feel this might give me a tendency to spin out, yes? I'd imagine that my AWD and PSM would make this less of a concern, but I am curious to see what kind of a ride I will have. Predictions? Also, I've read that the stiffness of a sway bar is determined by the square of the diameter... so I think that would make the H&R rear bar over 100% stiffer than the GT3 rear bar. Too much? Maybe I should go with the H&R front and the GT3 rear? As far as being smacked against the doors in corners, I'm considering ditching the power drivers seat (ouch, I'd hate to do that!) for the GT3 seat but I haven't sat in one yet and wonder if it is really going to fit. I'm 6'2 250 lb and I've noticed that a lot of stuff is designed for shorter, smaller people. Besides, those seats are expensive. Are there economical aftermarket seats with good torso support out there? Maybe my only option is to get the harness bar and 5-point belt (I'll need it for DE anyway). How much of a pain in the ___ is dealing with that going to be for my daily commute? Well maybe the sway bar mods will solve this problem. Acceleration: I typically accelerate in the 2000 - 4500 RPM range. Maybe mostly because I am not used to driving such a high-rev capable car... I can't help flinching at the engine noise above 5000 RPM... all my instincts tell me to shift before the damn things throws a rod or something, ha! Unfortunately this 3.4 liter is sluggish until it hits 4500. It's heavy. Getting the pricey racing seats will lighten it up a bit but not enough. Going with the lighter battery mod seems like a pain and with so many electronics in this car I don't want to mess around with that. Maybe an ECU chip upgrade and a cold-air intake? I've either got to find an economically reasonable way to increase power below 4500 or get over myself and start driving the *%$# out of the engine by keeping it in the 5000-6500 range. Did I mention that this car is out of warranty? I realize that I've asked a lot of questions here, but I feel sure that these issues have been experienced by many of you already and that some have found innovative solutions without simply throwing money at them. I will break out some of these questions and post them seperately to make it easier to address the ones you want to reply to. Thoughts?