Does your buddy have a warranty? I had a ford esp and my coils started to go, they of course didn't cover them. So I cancelled it and got a NAPA warranty. I ended up needing all 8 ingnition coils to be done. Once one goes, they will all go. If I were you, I would call Ford and ask them to work something out. I know it has been done in the past. Otherwise, If your buddy has an ESP, cancel it and go by a NAPA warranty. it would Prop. cost about 800 bucks. To replace all the remaining coils, it is $140 x the number remaining, plus gaskets and other shit and labor. It would easily be a "G-note"
Good luck, but the 97 seems to have coil probs, I bought mine with 42k on it and in the first 4 months of owning it I had 3 coils done, and ended up putting over 2g's into the car/engine in the first 9 months because of probs. Damn cars
Mike