Have you seen THIS EPISODE of Marty's Manic Monaro build? Then you'll have seen Turbo Yoda and Marty thrashing hard to get all the important, power-adding parts of the Barranaro installed, and there is plenty of information in that episode that people who've never undertaken a build like this would have missed.
For one, it shows how dry-assembling a project can actually save you bulk time later in expensive reworking. What time you lose test-fitting parts and going through the work of dry-assembling whole sections of the car can often save you hours of expensive, time-consuming and vibe-shredding modifications to your carefully sorted work.
Dry-assembling the car, or dummy-fitting the car, is a step most professional car-building shops will go through as they understand it saves bulk time, expensse, and heartache. Loosely bolting parts together, working out hose-routing and mounting of parts, and even checking your wheels and tyres will fit are all great ways to avoid having to redo work when you find problems with what you'd planned.
Read on below to see some of the ways a test-run can short-cut hours of work.
FINALISE FABRICATION
Welding up custom parts only to later discover you need to modify them is one of the most-disheartening parts of project car life, but dry-assembly runs prevents this. When parts are merely tacked or taped-together you can save hours of welding and finishing, or the expense of paying someone to do this.
Anything that requires welding really needs to be tacked or taped in place until you have the car almost ready to go. This will save you going back in to cut fabbed parts apart to reroute them around another part of the car that now needs that space.
It also means you'll have a far better idea of how the car goes together and its general serviceability, for when it comes time to change spark plugs and accessory (or drive) belts, and other such work that will eventually come.
PLUMB TRUE
Running wiring and fluid lines is infinitely easier if you do a test-run. Taking the time to sort out where you engine and transmission needs to be will mean you have a way better idea of how to sort important fluid connections like the fuel lines, coolant hoses, thermostat plumbing, and things like transmission coolers.
Dry-mounting your engine and transmission will give you time to test-fit radiators and fans to see if you have good options to keep your project car cool (which is pretty important, BTW). If you're clever about it you might even be able to work out how to mount your engine and radiator so you can use off-the-shelf radiator, fans and hoses to radically simplify your servicing.
When working with big-horsepower builds don't underestimate the time you'll need for lead times ordering parts. If you can work out what size of exhaust, tailshaft, fuel system, and even ECU that you'll need - ahead of time - you'll save so much double-handling later on. This takes careful planning and a willingness to spend a few hours playing makebelieve, but it will make your life FAR easier later on when you have all your fuel line and mounting positions dialled.
SAVE TIME BY TAKING TIME
Taking the time to hold things in place with tack welds, tape or cable ties, so you can finalise the optimal positioning, will save you a heck of a lot of time. Going back to rework something you've already sorted (like engine or radiator mounts) is a huge knock to your mental strength and motivation, and this can literally knock your timelines out of orbit.
What was once a project you were naililng can become a mental torment. So, think carefully about dummy fitting parts to make sure you don't have stitch-ups in your future. the time it takes to sort these jobs out now is repaid in multitudes later on when you don't have to customise parts to sort out disasters your own haste has created (which is something I've done).
HAVE SUPPORT
Having built more than a couple of cars over the years, I firmly believe the perfect number of helpers is 5. This gives you 4 talented co-conspirators to actually bring your vehicular shenanigans to life, and one person who is a trusted gopher to sort you food, drink and spare parts you'll invariably need.
Do not EVER discount that fifth member as the value of having someone who can both run to a parts shop OR a takeaway and nail precisely what you need in both cases is rare and immeasurably valuable. Being able to concentrate on making your nonsensical mechanical contraption live releases huge mental load of other less-important tasks like sustenance (I'm kidding, NEVER EVER forget to eat while building a car).
KNOW WHAT LIES AHEAD
Sometimes there's simply no way of getting around having a stitch-up. Sometimes your project has +10 parts in -5 space, and you're going to have to do Some Figuring. Sitting down (ideally on a milk crate with some form of Thinking Juice) is going to be the next step as you ponder ways to cram 10kg of "stuff" into a 2kg bag.
This is where helpers can be of great service, as outside assitance can see problems from a new perspective. What looked impossible moments before may only require some repositioning of a couple of parts to then make everything work in glorious harmony.
On a previous engine-swapped project I wanted a thermostat which pointed the opposite location as this would radically simplify my hose and radiator options. In the end, dry assembling all these parts and working this out meant I could get a factory thermostat houing cut and welded in the direction I wanted, which saved bulk time and cost for the radiator and hoses.
Dummy assembling all your parts also allows you to work out what parts you're missing, and budget for whatever you need to order in the future. This really is working smarter, not harder.
