Things have slowed down a bit over the last couple of weeks. I've had an electrical gremlin driving me nuts, and although many people would think "of course you do, look at this project!!!"...I just honestly didn't expect it. My buddy that has this exact same powertrain in his garage got his working in short order and I expected the same with mine, but it seems I'm the unlucky one. I've spent many, many hours checking pinouts, talking to the computers, and verifying the proper signals are getting to the parts. I think I've finally got the problem narrowed down, and if it is what I think it is, it'll be great to have it resolved. I'll wait to spill the beans until I've confirmed that the problem is truly what I think it is and I get it fixed, but the fix would be cost-free, so let's keep our fingers crossed.
Meanwhile, I've got tired of poking wires and had to get back to cutting metal to get some feeling of progress. Josh mentioned how HUGE the inverter looked in the pictures earlier, and it really was pretty bulky. I've since removed the auxiliary power controllers (power steering, dc-dc converter) on the bottom of the inverter, that removed a good chunk from the bottom of the inverter, good for weight and packaging. These were used for the S10e, but aren't needed for my application. For reference, the inverter now weighs just under 60 pounds dry.
Once the inverter was stripped bare, the hood would now close over it without any chassis mods, only slight relocation of the radiator. It was nice to see the stock hood resting in its home.
Unfortunately, I just wasn't happy with the very tight clearance for the high voltage cables. The only thing keeping the inverter from moving to a much better position was some chassis sheetmetal that supports the hood hinges. That was a pretty easy sacrifice, as it looks like I can rebuild the offending area to change the angle of the hood supports and still use the stock hood hinges. This new location puts the inverter in a very good location, all things considered. Jessica and I think this thing is starting to look more and more "factory" as I get these details ironed out...it's a hell of a lot better than that big lump I had sticking out of the hood a couple of weeks ago!
I still have some minor details to work out before I make inverter mounts and rebuild the hood hinge attachment area, but I couldn't help myself to do a bit of brainstorming. I started to geek out seeing where I will be able to put the stock radiator (for the gas engine), mini radiator (for the electric stuff), coolant pump (electric stuff), hoses, etc. This is the exciting part for me...the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter! For grins, I grabbed the piece of sheetmetal we cut out on our first day that was used to seal off the spare tire area from the radiator area to see if it would fit back in.
Sometimes I impress even myself. 
It's beginning to look like this stuff was MADE to go into the Fiero, even though it's been a whole hell of a lot of work to get this far. How cool will that be if I can re-use the stock hood seal and everything? Of course, I'll have to make some new panels to seal things off on the bottom, as the motor sits right where the spare tire used to be, but I was grinning when I was able to put that sheetmetal back in without any interference. Funny how things work out, huh?
Hopefully I have my electrical gremlin resolved this week. That will be a huge step forward for the project and also towards maintaining my sanity. Meanwhile, I've got a bunch of metal fab to do to make some mounts for the stock radiator in its new home, rebuild the hood hinge mounts, add some inverter mounts, etc.
Thanks for the encouraging words, guys!
Bryce
Though not with a Challenge car, I'd fly down. Now it's getting off of work.
