Ted,
Your car is looking great! You can make the door release rods from a coat hanger. Use one of the thicker hangers and bend the "z" shape on the ends at the appropriate location.
In an earlier post you asked about the trans mid mount. It is an extra support for the transmission to take some of the reaction forces off the nose of the trans housing. Here is a link. http://vwparts.aircooled.net/E...yeball-mid-mount.htm
I would not remove it.
Also, what width wheels do you have? Are they 4.5 or 5.5? They look really good with the 185 tires!
All - Thanks for the kind words. It's been a great journey so far. Fun little toy to work on. Once the weather heats up around here I will slow down. Mostly because it will be too hot to work in the garage. 
James - Thanks for the info on the trans mount & the door actuator.
The rims are just run of the mill 5.5" chrome knock offs. I keep thinking about getting silver knock offs from CPI.
Ted