Thanks Phil! (Yes, I remember you)
I haven't made time to post pictures lately because I've been swamped. Progress has been a bit slower than I had hoped it would be over the last week or so due to lots of reasons. Oh well, I keep my nose to the grindstone and do the best I can...the car has to be at the transporter on Friday so I'm really running up against the deadline, as usual. Several big projects are about 90% done and I'm hoping to finish those up tonight. It doesn't look like I'll have time to post pictures and more detailed updates until Friday or Saturday, after the car is dropped off. Very little of the work we're doing now was "required" but we're trying to improve the car as much as possible before the big show, can't disappoint our fans!
Jessica has been a huge help again this week doing tons of detailing. She's getting pretty good with a rattle can! The Fiero had lots of black trim pieces that were a bit worse for wear, but a can of half price "trim paint" (that we got at a hardware store that was closing it's doors) and several hours of her attention to detail has all of the trim looking fantastic. This is yet another thing that most people won't notice when seeing the car for the first time, but having it all look fresh instead of having chipped/peeling/faded paint is a dramatic difference. Another example where time is a big investment, but for only a few bucks the car looks MUCH better.
The interior has been getting thoroughly detailed too. Based on some comments we got in San Diego, we've decided to put most of the stock interior back in the car. This means regluing the (typically saggy GM) headliner and trimming some stuff around the battery boxes. We're probably going to leave the carpet out. It doesn't look too bad with it out (and floor mats in) and the carpet on this car is VERY heavy, probably 30 pounds. Surprising for such a small car, but it's really nice stuff with a thick backing material, probably to help with noise insulation. Jessica is also doing most of the interior work, I guess one of the (very) few perks to her unemployment is that when I'm REALLY pinched for time she can step up and help out.
The wiring is coming along nicely. I tested things out on Monday night after I'd cut and spliced a bunch of wires for the EV system and things still worked normally...thank goodness! I have a few more details to re-wire like lights, wipers, etc. under the front hood, then I'll finally be done with under-hood wiring. Since everybody seems to think there's so many wires for the EV system when they've seen it, I'm going to great lengths to change that opinion. The EV system actually has fewer wires than the gas powertrain, so it makes my life a bit easier in trying to hide the wires.
I'm still struggling on what to do with tires. The car is currently wearing some mismatched all-seasons. I have some used up RT615s from a LeMons car that would be free to the challenge budget, but they're arguably not much better than all-seasons with tread and I'll probably have to pay to get them mounted (and of course my budget is getting tight). A coworker has a tire machine, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get his help before Friday for free mounting. I'm thinking I should ask Jessica to dress up in her cutest outfit and send her to the local yokel tire shop to see what the bottom dollar is for mounting, she's got free tire patches there in the past so it's worth a shot. 
Everybody says to put the best tires on that you can afford in the budget...I wish I could track down some of those free/near-free autocross tires that I am always hearing about with challengers!
Bryce
JUST KIDDING!). I've never had that much tire on a 6" rim, I wonder if you could even get a flat-ish contact patch. In any case, it would probably still be better in the autocross than the all seasons I've got now. Anybody in the Gainesville area know of any uber-cheap tire shops? I'll punch some numbers into my budget tonight to update the latest progress on the car and see exactly what I can afford.
