My little ritual of the past thirty years is to prep the sparkplugs the night before the work. I remove each, check for gap alignment, and re-set gap to spec. I use copper-based anti-seize on the threads being sure that no a-s is on threads exposed to combustion chamber. Depending on engine design, this can vary. Use old plug as guide.
Also, as a-s likely has some conductivity to it (my guess), I also don't allow it on the external end threads either. Copper anti-seize has excellent heat conductivity (some types do not, and cause a plug to run a touch hotter). I also use a dab of NO-ALOX on the high tension wire end (as well as in boot; I know, some want di-electric here).
As to removal, a blast of shop air, careful removal, a spark-plug thread-cleaning tool run down to break off carbon and grit (could use shop vac to assist in these two operations); and the careful hand-threading in of the sparkplug.
On the latest vehicle, with distributorless, as with the older ones (pre-1981), a "make-shiny" moment with the interior of the coil-on-plug connector and a bit more di-electric (No-Alox is an electrical conductor [metal particles] so I don't use it here), and one is pretty well done.
Would I not use anti-seize? Well, I have a car outside here with a stripped exhaust manifold bolt-hole. Care to guess who got in a hurry a few years back installing these 25-lb manifolds from above? Going to have to remove head to fix the problem.
I have had two big V8's with enormous (high perf) exhaust manifolds. On each, there was a plug that was a complete sonnuva you-know-what to get to. Anti-seize made me feel a LOT more confident about not breaking plug in half when removing; when I "felt" it starting to turn out.
As to getting away from factory recommended plugs, my investigations have always found some shortcomings, somewhere (the exception being an old Chev smallbock where BOSCH standard platinums were an aid due to oil-fouling). Todays cars are factory-tuned mighty tightly. And a performance car like yours possibly even more so.
Hard to ever go wrong with factory-spec plugs, IMO. Just change 'em more often. Shoot, one of my neighbors back in the early '70's changed the plugs on his hot Roadrunner EVERY weekend.
Good luck.
