Bthom, welcome to the wonderful world of posting

Can't help you with the cord but Al and Carl and some of the others are knowledgeable with electrical matters.

As for the new pump and filter #1 - you might want to look into the EC50 - a bigger filter never hurts and makes maintenance easier.
#2 To mate the pump to the filter 1 1/2" male adapters should work with a little pipe a 90 and a union (though a pool store or good plumbing supply store may have a specialty union that you could use) -- you may have to set the filter up on some cinderblocks or build a little shelf for it so you have the room to make the connections, either way, it shouldn't be a difficult bit of plumbing.

Good luck with the new pump and filter! Have a great swim season!!