1970 Ginetta G15

[Darkspeed]

Pizza Wednesday at the Cheshire project venue resulted in the delivery of the dash for SliC which was still at the Shropshire project venue, the collection of painted odds and ends for V8's and V6's and the repair of the gearlever assembly following the steps above. A very small amount of welding required on the gate and a little filling of the wear groove on the shaft cup.

Imp gearlever restoration count = 5 - need to have a chat with the owner of #13 as being a '68 car that's bound to be - especially as we appear to have a set of repair parts that don't currently have a home to go to so the count may be 6 before too long meaning I would have restored lever assemblies on 1% of G15 production -

The G21 prop should be completed about now and I have given the wiring a once over and looks like it should be good - note to self need to order some rod ends.

[Darkspeed]

So went down to Coventry and met up with #13 - multiple reasons - it was the old farts 75th birthday on Monday and I had a card and bottle of Jack Daniels for him - Turns out that JD is not his taste really and Jamesons is his preference - fecking go without next time the old sod

The G21 prop' was there for collection - very nice bit of work by Dave Mac propshafts. It will takes any amount of power shoved along it should the G21 get an increase in the future, and it just fell into place perfectly. You always have those little nagging doubts when something is custom made to specific dimensions - did I measure it right, will it miss that, line up with those etc?

Manifolds for the Honda were also done and boy are the ports a bit larger than before - this one will cross a few threads - pick it up in theis thread - pictures in the Stratos thread and testing in the flowbench thread!

We also have a pick through his Aladdin's cave of tuned Imp stuff - He is building up 3 boxes one for himself one for me and one spare that may end up in the rally G15 - strengthened diff cross pins, shot peened and treated gears etc. Then spent a bit of time looking through the special stuff - Newman development cams - Special 410 lift cam and billet carrier - numerous Chesman heads, R21's - R carriers - tall block spacer plates - short pistons with nylon thrust buttons - tall liners special rods -Derrington 40's manifold, combi's all sorts of historic race stuff.

He was just finishing the lapping in of a set of REC valves in a M16 head he had ported. I suggested that the 45's that were on the 8 valve that this is replacing and are going back on will not be up for feeding that head - "Hmmmmmm you're probably right"

I then told him to go up into the garage loft and dig out the gearshift mech' for the G15 as I would rebuild it for him as we have a spare rebuild kit - good job as well. Rebuild to follow.

Off the the Cheshire man Cave tomorrow to do some Ginetta related stuff.

Blast still need to order those rod ends - and some stainless as I have Ginetta door hinge assemblies to manufacture - two sets!

[Darkspeed]

More bumpers - a set for SLC

Wax - Gel - Composite or to be completely correct - Wax - Tea - Gel - Tea - Composite - Tea.







Now to be left for a week.

The Tacho from SLC needs a refurb but before stripping it down it was decided that a test would be in order to see if it still functioned. My mate dug out his distributor test rig and we wired it up accordingly - the old dizzy I had dragged out of a box needed a quick file of the points to get a contact but apart from that - all good.







Flick the switch.









May have to develop that little test rig further.

[Darkspeed]

Today was going to be a day spent on the Strato's and a bit on the Gearlinkage for #13 but instead of that a mate came round early doors with the wheel from his '14 plate GTD Golf. He had thought that the car had developed a slow puncture but after taking it to the local tyre shop it turns out that the alloy has a cracked rim on the inside. So he had the tyre shop whip the tyre off the rim this AM and he popped round to see what we could do.

No photo's of this but when we saw the crack in the rim - if not for the corrosion you would have seen daylight through it - We both though WTF happened here - I think that it was only the powder coat that was holding air and that had finally given up leading to the slow leak. Nothing was going to be lost on this hitting it with the TIG so I ground out the crack and cleaned up the area. The crack went from the top of the wheel lip and around the wheel and a good 40mm into the wheel itself.

It took about 2.5 hours end to end but we finished up with a pretty tidy looking repair on the wheel but setting up the TIG on the go whilst doing a welding job I had never attempted before was interesting. A the end of the task not only was it near invisible when it was all dressed back, it also held air - Result - Cast alloy welding badge.

Once the wheel was done it was onto the outer CV boot on my Daughters '07 plate Polo. This had really pee'd me off on Wednesday when I started it as I missed Pizza evening trying to get the bloody drive shaft out - what a mare - it absolutely solid in the hub. Anyway, long story short I managed to complete that as well today in-between showers so no project work today just faffing about with other people dailies.

Tomorrow - Projects.

Starting with that G15 gear-linkage.

[Darkspeed]

As we will have covered Imp/G15 gear lever restorations quite extensively in this thread this will be the last you will see of this. Promise.

Started off by doing the shift rod repair - Clean weld up and then grind back.







The original shifter in #13 was pretty worn out when inspected.



The ball part of the pivot had gone and the pin had migrated - the shift quality must have been appalling.



After drilling out the rivets to release the stick etc. and cleaning up, the pivot cup was also found to be really worn.





Scrap - the lot of it - could repair but no point as we had a good standard in one - good being a relative term



Ginetta Gearsticks are 2" shorter than an Imp stick and are canted forward - at a "sporty" rake



The pivot cup was good and just needed a de-burr of the slots - Also, as this G15 will be running EFI there is no requirement for the choke. So the assembly was cleaned up a filler piece cut and the hole welded in.





And there you have it a fully repaired and modified kit of parts for assembly into a G15 EFI gearshifter assembly. Will probably do the assembly work of the gearstick on Wednesday.

[Darkspeed]

Work has also been started on the engine cover in preparation for taking a mould from it.



Blast - must remember to order stainless so I can get on with making those hinges.

[The Rascal King]

Might be of interest...

bringatrailer.com/listing/1964-ginetta-g4-roadster/?utm_source=dailymail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-12-12

[Darkspeed]

Dec 12, 2018 15:13:55 GMT The Rascal King said:

Might be of interest...

bringatrailer.com/listing/1964-ginetta-g4-roadster/?utm_source=dailymail&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2018-12-12

Nice car but already well outside of my of view on what's actually value for money.

[Darkspeed]

Stainless steel has finally been ordered so we can progress the manufacture of some new door hinges for SLiC and the G21 - Stainless hinges have already been produced for the 4 cars!

Preparation of the engine cover for mould production is progressing well and we should be ready for making the mould in a few weeks.

We have also completed another pair of bumpers. Two more pairs and we will have covered all we require. Going to try some Metallic Silver gel coat pigment to see what that provides as well as laying some up with satin weave cloth rather than ordinary CSM.

At some time in the past it appears that SLiC may have had a nudge on the N/S front as the glass around that area has had a repair leaving the glass about 3/4" thick in some area's and not quite the right shape - plans are to cut the entire area out and repair using a wing mould.

[Darkspeed]

Just checking on the opening times over Xmas for the company I get my gasses from and this was on their facebook page.



Made me smile

Should have checked yesterday however as they are shut now until the 2nd so when the Argon is gone it's no more until 2019.

Nice to see the Sun occasionally today - gave me time to get out in the garden and rake leaves!

[Darkspeed]

G15 door hinges - not the most complicated of things

Stainless steel so they last a bit longer than the standard mild steel.



A started off cutting the 1/2" tubes and the 1" and 1 1/2" strip by hand but when it came to the 4" strip I moved to the grinder



Three sets cut - tomorrow will be drilling and maybe some assembly with welding the tubes to the plates



This is a completed set that was kindly done by a fellow G15 owner - Some aspects are not how I would do them so I will be firing up the TIG to add a few more little welds here and there.



A set for SLiC a set for the G21 a set for BOY and a set left over - for eBay.

Need to order up some stainless 1/4 UNF nuts and bolts and some 3/8 UNF full nuts as the only ones I have are Nyloc

[kevdonlon]

Dec 29, 2018 18:19:56 GMT Darkspeed said:

G15 door hinges - not the most complicated of things

Stainless steel so they last a bit longer than the standard mild steel.



A started off cutting the 1/2" tubes and the 1" and 1 1/2" strip by hand but when it came to the 4" strip I moved to the grinder



Three sets cut - tomorrow will be drilling and maybe some assembly with welding the tubes to the plates



This is a completed set that was kindly done by a fellow G15 owner - Some aspects are not how I would do them so I will be firing up the TIG to add a few more little welds here and there.



A set for SLiC a set for the G15 a set for BOY and a set left over - for eBay.

Need to order up some stainless 1/4 UNF nuts and bolts and some 3/8 UNF full nuts as the only ones I have are Nyloc

Hi Andrew, how much for the spare set please, i need a set for mine,
Thanks kev

[Darkspeed]

Dec 30, 2018 15:10:28 GMT kevdonlon said:

Hi Andrew, how much for the spare set please, i need a set for mine,
Thanks kev

Hi Kev, You are more than welcome to have first refusal on the spare set, I will drop you a PM when I have done a tot up of the costs.

[Darkspeed]

The remnants of the hinges from SLiC



And from the G21 !





And although I already have a fully rebuilt Dennis Alt transaxle that came with the Ben Boult 998 from SLiC I am having another built up by the owner of #13 as he does build a very nice gearbox when the mood takes him.

[Darkspeed]

Just had an email through that the Aluminium metallic gel coat pigment that I have ordered is in the post and on its way - when it arrives we will lay-up another set of bumpers using that and satin weave cloth and a final set that we will try and chrome wrap to see what it looks like.

Better get back to these hinges.

[Darkspeed]

This is what £90 worth of stainless steel UNF nuts bolts and washers look like - enough for the fabrication of 3 sets of hinges and 1/4 nuts and washers for two further sets.




And the metallic silver pigment for the gel coat has also been delivered





Better get going on completing those hinges.

[Darkspeed]

After drilling quite a lot of holes it was down to welding.

First off I gave the set that had been made for a few upgrades - there was bolt that had a damaged thread so that had to be cut out and replaced and I wanted the bolts and few other parts to have a little more weld. Then there was a couple of cases where the welding had missed the mark.



So I ran over them with my rig - probably set a bit higher.



Then I got with the ones I am making





Right up to the point where the battery died in my mask - and there was me expecting it to be the gas that would run out first.



Have some welding music

[Darkspeed]

One new battery for the mask plus a new bottle of pure Argon and we were back in business this evening.

Three sets completed and the existing set given a few extra mm's of weld here and there.










There may be another set or two needed as well......

Need to start looking at G21 window frames next - they are not going to be much fun.

[Darkspeed]

Working at the Cheshire branch of G15's 'R' Us again today doing a quick lay-up of some more front bumpers. Instead of the usual CSM - Chopped Strand Mat we made a set using satin weave E glass cloth. My mate had never used this material before so he was keen to see how it behaved. I made a bumper previously using a mixture of CSM and Cloth and it's very nice to use.



We also had the Aluminium / Metallic pigments to try as we want to see what sort of finish that this product will give. It mixes in and behaves very much like Aluminium paint in that it appears very streaky and it also seems to lay that way on the upper surface of the mould. It will be interesting to see how the surface looks when out of the mould.



CSM needs about 2 x resin by weight to wet it out and consolidate it so if you have a part with 500g of CSM you need 1000g of resin - With the cloth as there is less space in the weave for resin its 1:1 so for 500g of mat its just 500g or resin a 33% weight saving. Each bumper took 70g of Gel - 120g of cloth and 120g of resin. The previous test ones I made with just a single layer 225g CSM and a single layer of 280g cloth weighed.



When the cloth is fully wetted out and consolidated it becomes almost transparent.





As the cloth is bi-directional it will be interesting to see how it compares with the CSM types.

We also found a few minutes before it got dark to quickly test the new hinges on SliC - the '72 G15 and they dropped into the body and the doors rather well.



I am not convinced that the weather is going to play ball tomorrow for me to have a look at the G21 so I may have to update a different thread.

[Darkspeed]

Quite a reasonable morning so I made an early start and got stuck into the G21 with the plan to remove the dash' steering column, wiring as well as what was left of the door hinges from the doors and the body.

Now here's a thing - I turned to glassfibre cars, starting with Duttons as they were very cheap quite capable and allowed plenty of scope for improvement, mainly because I was fed up with spending all of my time chasing rust and welding on tin cars. Hmmmmmm this G21. - This is what happens when a car drops out of use to a mechanical or perhaps even a bit of rust on the box section chassis and gets put away for decades in a leaky damp shed. It still looks well enough as there are no gaping holes in the body.... BUT when that damp gets inside the car, as it will as it will do as they all leak after a certain point, it just stays in the car unable to leak out as it cannot rust a hole in the floor. When it's warm it steams up into the car and then when it cools it condenses onto everything and if it can rot or rust it does.

As you can see when the new owner got the car home - it looks reasonable enough - Could not open the doors - we know why.



First up was something that will look very familiar.

The remains of the door hinges after a tap with a knocky stick









I took the passenger door off and gave it a shake.



The door speaker!



Still more rattling around inside.



I had a break for tea.