Countryhick,
i love that you have stuck with this project for so long. i have 3 that i am working on now that will most likely take a few months to get them all done. one of them is a 1/8 scale on road with a 3speed tranny(strictly going to be a top speed runner). anyway, the car looks great. cant wait to see more vid of it. you MUST check out this post. it was the first post i ever saw here at RC MOnster and it's why i joined. when i saw how clean this conversion was i knew the guys here must know what they are doing. it is a brushless Serpent posted by Serum. tons of pics and an absolutely beautiful build. maybe give you some ideas for your carbon fiber work if you havent completed already.
http://www.rc-monster.com/forum/showthread.php?t=6281