1970 Ginetta G15

[Darkspeed]

As I did the first bit of work on this project for quite some time I figured it was an opportunity to get a thread rolling on this one. Unlike the G27 and the Strato's this one has never been a feature car of any magazines and is not some odd ball special one off with any sort of interesting history.

This particular G15 is an early "small window" car number 100 to leave the factory and it did so in basic trim but it did have the "optional" heater fitted. I bought it as a project from a fellow member of the GOC who had also bought it as a project and it has been in project status since around 1984.

This was my first of 3 G15's although it feels like I have had more of them as I do seem to spend quite a lot of time working on them - I had one here with me being worked on for another GOC member for about 3 years.

When it left the factory it was in kit form - popular for the time to avoid tax in Moonstone White. It would have left the factory with the 875 Imp sport engine but during it's life it did get a decent 998 fitted as many of them did but all that was left when I bought the project was the cylinder head - although the car did come with 7 or 8 Imp engines and transaxles in various state of decay most of which went straight in the bin.

As bought about 8 years ago.



And pretty much what it looks like today!

The chassis however has had a bit of work done on it over the years which we will retrospectively detail as we make some progress with the car.

The work done today was to fit a fan to the rad. - The rad although old is a high efficiency unit with a good core that had no doubt been purchased by a previous owner to better cool the 998.





Plan this year - over the next few months in fact is to get the hole in the sunroof filled in.

A more recent shot of the car - now with holes in places where there used to be none.



The correct method of fixing a G15 that someone fitted a glass sunroof into.

And here should be a picture of the roof repair mould I have - trouble it cant find it.

That's enough for the time being.

[Darkspeed]

Uncovered the car to give it some sunshine today and took a snap of the roof mould

[Darkspeed]

And the inside .




It was not until I started to organise photo's for this thread that I realised just how much work I have done on G15 chassis over the past few years. That and refurbishing the Imp gear change assemblies that that the G15 uses.

4 Chassis now and a 5th on the way !

My 1970 car.



A 1972 car that was fitted with a Cottage Classics 'Race' chassis - about as bad a chassis as I had ever seen.

My 1973 G15 that I sold which then came back to have some modifications for Historic Rallying - I had forgotten the amount of wok that went into that chassis.



Very early 1968 chassis - Mailkin Motorsport had done a great job restoring it but I was asked to carry out some of my modifications



And 4 Imp gear lever assemblies

The rubber bush turn to this over time



The housing wears





And the gear stick indent ball wears groove in the shift rod




The Imp club have had the lever ball remade in Nylon so fitting that is nice and easy and then its all about putting metal back and re-shaping it.











Trouble is that each time I do work on a chassis I think of something else, now I am going to have to go back to my chassis, which I thought I had finished, and carry out all of the things that I did on the later ones. As my chassis needs to come out from the car so I can do the roof fill I will carry out the door bar mod and front chassis tube mod at the same time.

Then it's 3 pairs of wishbones to beef up !!

[Darkspeed]

Gear lever and new nylon ball - missed from above.






And more



And again





Another !

[Darkspeed]

The steering column support that I did on my chassis was a little more elaborate than the one fitted originally.






Original

[keyring]

Awesome progress! Loving the chassis work especially!

[tdk]

Lovely car - thanks for the updates.

[johnthesparky]

As we’ve built the Fug we’ve realised better and tidier ways to do things.... we will need to pull it all apart when we paint it eventually so it’s not too bad, just put it down to learning, make a note so we remember and move on....

This must be a bit like buying a computer though, do I wait and miss the latest upgrade or do it now and know at some time I could have done it better.... personally I think you should crack on!! (And then redonit later anyway..... it makes a very interesting read )

[Darkspeed]

Jun 25, 2018 21:42:25 GMT johnthesparky said:

... personally I think you should crack on!! (And then redo it later anyway..... it makes a very interesting read )

It will be modified before it gets put back together as the changes and work I did on the other cars are things that make the car much better for it and I have all of the parts pretty well sitting here. As the body must come off to have the roof and other glassfibre work done it does not make any sense not to do the chassis as it will not take very long to do.

These things are tiny and the modification I did originally make the seating area quite narrow and the works I did on PXH with the cage tied into the rear and the forward floor, not only make the chassis much stiffer, but also retain that extra couple of inches width in the car which really makes a huge difference. Working on all of these different chassis has also made me aware of changes that the factory made after the first 100 or so and why.

[Darkspeed]

I don't know what it is with these G15 things - no sooner do I sell one that someone calls me up offering me another.


When I sold the Red G15 - Nice action shot of it on a Historic rally event with its new owner



I was near immediately contacted about another project being available.
This was purchased as a father/son project but #1 son not being fully committed to the task it has now become anothers father/son project as that particular son had not forgiven said father for selling his G15.



Now, no sooner have I dropped this off for restoration with it's new owner - There will be ongoing assistance from me and the Cheshire and Marches Ginetta restoration crew.



Do I get contacted about another ! - And there I was only recently having a Pizza/working party evening with the C&M GOC crew saying how pleased I was that the TVR 350i project had fallen through as I really do have enough to do.

I can see this thread expanding to the restorations of 4 G15's at the same time.

#13



#100



#609



#tba

And knowing my luck this won't be the end of it....

[OAY842F]

Well I'm lost on what's what and which is which, but that's fine, great stuff all the same - keep it going and thanks for posting! I love an Imp engine and have fond memories of test driving a fairly well modified one as a student. There were a lot of different staff working at the garage selling it, so we had a few drives...

[Darkspeed]

Be warned that it is unlikely to become any clearer as this thread progresses - Pictures speak a thousand words - yep most of them being questions about "What the heck this bloke is actually doing" I would suggest that some of the randomness is a consequence of attempting to do too many things at the same time and then posting it on this forum whilst assuming that anyone that follows one of my threads also follows the other ones. Plus I don't really post with others in mind other than with a hope that something in these posts provides of use.

So to make matters worse - here's another G15 that spent time with me.




Whilst watching the GP its an opportunity to order up some composite materials for various repairs that need to be carried out.

[darrenh]

I decided some time back that that when I had my midlife crisis it would be ginetta flavoured or a tvr S series. well I'm 42 now and still have all my hair, plus ended up just being an all life crisis :-D

[peteh1969]

Is it based on an MGB for the glass?

As from some angles it does resemble an MGB.

[Darkspeed]

Jul 7, 2018 10:47:04 GMT peteh1969 said:

Is it based on an MGB for the glass?

As from some angles it does resemble an MGB.

All the glass is bespoke - The MGB visuals come from the fact that door skins are moulded from the MGB and the swage lines are then followed through the body. The door form and the door handles themselves are the only parts taken from the MG parts bin.

The front suspension is mostly Triumph Spitfire - Wishbones - Uprights - Hubs - Steering rack - the front hubs are re-PCD'd to 4" and the studs uprated to 7/16. Back end is all IMP.

The rest is all Ginetta.

Chassis is just a platform from 2" and 1-1/2" 16SWG RHS with an Imp rear cross member welded to the back of the chassis to accept the Imp wishbones. The rest is bits of folded steel, angle iron and steel strip. It is supposed that the body shell adds to the structure of the chassis - but the way that the body is mounted from the factory and the lack of rigidity in the tub itself I don't really see it.

[Deleted]

Nice to see someone else up to their armpits with a certain model / marque - I thought the disease was fairly unique to myself and the amount of 'Jowett's' that I have in the pipeline / ownership - but no you are clearly suffering from the same disease just the 'Ginetta' strain of it - the good news is that it's completely incurable

[Implandy]

G15 makes my Clan look simple !

[peteh1969]

Jul 7, 2018 13:21:07 GMT Darkspeed said:

Jul 7, 2018 10:47:04 GMT peteh1969 said:

Is it based on an MGB for the glass?

As from some angles it does resemble an MGB.

All the glass is bespoke - The MGB visuals come from the fact that door skins are moulded from the MGB and the swage lines are then followed through the body. The door form and the door handles themselves are the only parts taken from the MG parts bin.

The front suspension is mostly Triumph Spitfire - Wishbones - Uprights - Hubs - Steering rack - the front hubs are re-PCD'd to 4" and the studs uprated to 7/16. Back end is all IMP.

The rest is all Ginetta.

Chassis is just a platform from 2" and 1-1/2" 16SWG RHS with an Imp rear cross member welded to the back of the chassis to accept the Imp wishbones. The rest is bits of folded steel, angle iron and steel strip. It is supposed that the body shell adds to the structure of the chassis - but the way that the body is mounted from the factory and the lack of rigidity in the tub itself I don't really see it.

Thank you for posting the reply, a little history help to fill in the gaps.

[yoeddynz]

When you get bored with any of these please do post it to me...

Alex
Marahau, nz

[Darkspeed]

Jul 8, 2018 0:08:57 GMT yoeddynz said:

When you get bored with any of these please do post it to me...

Alex
Marahau, nz

Should the gods of prosperity shower upon me more wealth than I my wife can spend at some point in the future I will surely send you one.

Most of the G15's that leave the UK these days end up in Japan where they have a very strong following, hence why you find this obscure little British manufacturer turning up on Grand Turismo.

The club has most of the original 1970's factory moulds and a 1980's chassis jig but it's all in really poor condition and only held for posterity as nothing useful could sensibly be produced from it.





Plenty of owners raced these cars so had their own moulds produced for the most vulnerable area's - I made a set of repair moulds for a friend of mine to get the front wings back to original as they had been modified for flared arches. Probably covered that in the Strato's thread along with the works on the G21. There are plenty of moulds about when you start looking and asking but as most of all the Ginetta racing and restorations started well before the birth of the internet and these guys are well retired and only use phones to speak to people on you have to track them down the old fashions ways. I think the average age of a Ginetta owner has to be 65!