Even though I've been unable to do any direct work on the car in the last week or so (finishing my Summer course) there is still discernable progress!
Last night, great news came in! An email from Cafe Electric -- my Zilla is ready! I sent a payment for the balance due right away and hopefully I'll have a controller next week. (This leaves one major item that's still on-order -- I placed an order for a PFC-20 charger at EV Source LLC on June 3. I'd previously had an email exchange with Ryan Bohm from EV Source and he expressed "some confidence" that the charger could be had in 8 weeks. Of course 8 weeks was a little while ago now...
On Saturday night (Aug 9) I ordered some parts for the project from www.car-stuff.com --- a new clutch and a steering rack for manual steering. The clutch arrived today; literally three days after I ordered it!