Because my car always looked better. 
Your 97 wouldn't be a bad car if it was a 2.0L, the extra HP really really helps. Also, do you know if its a revision A car? I think it was only on the FX but if it is there will be a big box in the driver's side fender, 85% sure its the evap canister or something like that, that basically sits where you'd run a filter for a CAI. Also, I'm 99% sure all Tiburons came with a cat on the exhaust manifold, so your header makes you illegal for STS (unless they changed the "no moving the cats" rule in STS) and puts you into DSP. IMO no one will care locally unless you start winning so just run in STS until you do.
Koni makes strut inserts for the Tib, Whiteline make the best sway bar for it, bushing kits are available from Shark Racing and KSpec as are strut bars and most of the other little things you might want for it. Watch out when you go to buy wheels, as all Tiburons up to the 2000 model year had captive rotors, meaning the rotors are bolted to the hubs and can't be replaced w/o a press. Because of this setup, there are 4 bolt heads on the face of the hub, making it very hard to find aftermarket wheels that will clear those bolt, especially in a 4x114.3 bolt pattern and that are decently lightweight. Rota Slipstreams will work fortunately, since they're cheap and light I'd go with them.
I've seen a tiburon running at the Solo Nationals in STS (he had a 2001) and he didn't do horribly. Not in the trophies, but not DFL either. The biggest problem is cost, since everything is low volume, imported, and/or custom made nothing will be cheap. Neon's should be a lot cheaper to build up and run, but then you'd be stuck driving a Neon and who wants that? 
