Not 100% sure about the brakes but at any rate, I will be finding out shortly.
My package actually arrived Friday and I have spent several hours fabricating a new motor mount since my original plan to use part of the stock one was a no go:
this motor is HUGE! It's one thing to see the measurements on paper and a whole other thing to be holding it in my hand.
The only power tools I have have at hand and have used thus far are a grinder and an air drill: no joke. So I have literally spent Friday evening and most of Saturday creating a new motor mount. I must say that it does look good, though. I will post pics later tomorrow or Monday since it's late and I'm dead tired.
I was picking out some paints today for the Shift body and have settled on an gold/orange/purple/red color change paint, and high gloss black paint by Spaz Stix. I'm not going to do a whole lot of fancy painting on this since I think the paint I've chosen should be a conversation in itself. The body lines on the Shift body are well defined....even crisp: so the color change paint will look really good as it forces all the sculpted details to pop out. My plan is to do the trim around the windows, the front grill and the rear roll bars in black. I will be adhering a very shiny, thin, prismatic film onto the windows and front headlights. Since it is shiny on the adhesive side too, I can apply it to the inside of the body. Doing this does not change the prismatic effect noticeably or even at all.