Final assembly

[Myron Nelson]

I have a MK5. My chassis is at go-kart stage with about 40 miles on it.
The body is at a paint shop. The body has been on the chassis once for fitting and removed for paint.
The original plan was for the shop to remount the body after paint and then I would take it back to my shop (2.5 hours away) for final fit out.
Here is my question. The manual states that it is "easier" to mount the headlights and taillights with the body off of the car. My dilemma is whether to give the associated parts to the shop and have them install the lights before setting the body or to do it myself after the body is fitted. How much harder would that be? Is it worth a couple more hours of shop time? I enjoy the work, I just want to be practical and efficient. What would you (experts) do? Thanks in advance.

[cv2065]

I drill and fit the lights before sending it to paint. Pull everything off then reassemble when it comes back. It’s not hard to install the lights once the body is on, but if they haven’t painted it yet, I’d probably have them drill and fit beforehand.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I always install all of the lights prior to putting the body on for the final time simply because there's easier access with the body hanging. Doing it afterwards is just a matter of having to get underneath to get to the park and tail light fasteners---less convenient but not a big deal. You will want to do the tail lights before installing the rear splash panels.

Jeff