The battery racks arrive!

It was like Christmas Friday! The big package from Electro Auto arrived, containing front & rear battery racks, and the rear poly battery box that fits into the rear rack. I immediately checked the rear hole dimensions against the dimensions of the rear rack. You guessed it - the hole was too small. Better than too big, I guess. I trimmed the hole to fit with the grinder, and after some significant "persuasion", The rack moved into the hole. I haven't bolted it in yet, but I need to add some reinforcement pieces of steel for the side lips first - they came with the rack.
I also performed a test fit on the front rack - fit well. It also isn't bolted in yet, but I will do that soon.

I had been periodically removing the cabriolet body "clipper kit" over the last week or so while I was waiting for the parts to arrive. The plastic clipper kit pieces, including bumpers, are pretty thrashed, and I planned on replacing these bumpers with lighter weight and less obnoxious euro-style bumpers anyway. During the test fit in the front, I had to remove the bolts holding the front bumper on the vehicle. So here is the first look at the vehicle and its new form...

Also, the mount plate for the brake booster system arrived, so I installed that as well. It basically mounts the electric vacuum motor and vacuum reservoir for the power brake system (since the engine is gone, I need a new vacuum source for the brakes, and this is it). The motor mounted nicely, and now I have to attach the reservoir on top with some tightening hold-downs.
Exide Orbital (34XCD) batteries have been ordered (12 of them). I should be able to pick them up next week! The project is starting to speed up again!