1995 Ginetta G27 4.5 V8

The PPC article was basically PPC taking the opportunity to be derisive about the RV8 and how poorly it performs and how much better a certain small block Ford in a Capri was in comparison. The actual facts were that my stock valved and Holley carbed 4.0l RV8 with a clogged air filter and clockwork timing was kicking out a greater BHP/litre than the 5.0l SBF with Edelbrock heads 50mm throttles bodies and an Emerald ECU! Okay so neither were setting the word alight with headline figures but it was just perpetuating the myth that Rover V8's are as the cover said - curse word.

So I had bought a V8 G27 which had some very dubious previous owner modifications - I am sure many will notice a theme here with the cars I seem to buy -

Here we are up at the Ponderosa with an indication of the paint work that the car came with. It is a surprisingly small car which can be seen by the size comparison with a Westfield.







I have already removed at this point a Large Scooby bonnet intake that had been placed on the front of the bonnet! - where the alloy oval section and duct tape is ! and a large alloy tea tray affair just below the front rad apperture. You can just make out hole in the above picture. This was one of the first bits of glassfibre repair I undertook.



There was also a very poor fixed hood scoop from a G33 grafted onto the bonnet to clear the air filter which was removed along with the Escort Cosworth style vents.



After doing a bit of research on the car it became clear that this was no ordinary G27 which had both good and bad things going for it. The odd thing about this car is that the Series 2 had been out of production for some time when this car was made and rather than the usual Ford Sierra stub axles up the front this car had G33 parts on it.




The Ginetta cast alloy upright is a rather strange thing with verry little SAI/KPI which results in large scrub and on my car fitted with a steering arm that provided 0 Ackerman. Wind on a little lock and you cannot move the car. In the shot above you can see the top rose joint.

This is how much of that rose joint screws into the upper wishbone.





The car was not slow by any stretch - 232BHP when running poorly and 255ftlb of torque and weighing less than 750kg it was pretty rapid - 1st gear was utterly pointless as some clown had fitted the car with an open 3.9 Diff so the LT77 was effectively a 4 speed but all you really needed was 5th once it was rolling and it would head at the horizon with a relentless shove in back until it bounced off the rev limter. People who were chatter boxes when they got in the car soon lost the power of speach when the accellerator was buried and that's torque.

So it was powerful, bloody quick, handled lethally! and looked like a supermodel after a drink and drugs binge with an Avon rep.

That sounds like quite a recipe for winning but also one for dying! It will be interesting to see where you go with it .

Looked to be fairly healthy bearing in mind the shortcomings. Didn't the V8 Ginettas use fairly restrictive LR sourced exhaust manifolds too? What spec Holley is it? I've gone from a 390 vac sec on a P5b V8 to Emerald driven efi on a 4.6 with a bit more compression, tvr885 cam & minor port cleanup...and top hat liners...yet to get it on the dyno but should be a bit more lively, hopefully 250+bhp & 280lbsft.

I remember talking to Dave Walker about the WH V8 Capri.....he was less than complementary about the whole thing....well that was after he stopped ranting about the WH ur quattro with a knackered engine....I distinctly got the feeling that he had little time for the general shenanigans which surrounded it all.

Obviously I could have completely misread the situation.....

I digress....do really like the G27 derivatives...good looking cars.

Stew.

The G33's did use a stock 3.9 cast manifolds

The Holley on that original 3.9 engine was a 390 Vac sec which was modified with a secondary metering block sitting on a Wildcat spyder manifold.

That engine was a DJE engine

Blueprinted and balanced 3.9 + 20 thou
DJE 220 Cam
DJE stage 1 heads
Fed mogal rockers
Lightweight fly
ARP head
Original dizzy was an Opus set up which was sporadic at best - I swapped for a recurved later dizzy with Luminition

The new engine is

Small journal 4441cc - known as the 4.5 - standard (3.9) bore
Small journal cross bolted block
4.5 Crank - Balanced
Omega JED pistons - Matched
Late rods lightened balanced shot peened
ARP throughout
M248 3 degree advanced
BRE big valve heads - Duplex springs, steel caps
11.5 static
Group A rockers
IDF manifolds - ported and matched
45 IDF type TB's
Lightweight fly and AP clutch
MS semi sequential

Exhausts on this one are better for flow but could be better.



New engine looks like this



Hoping to be close to 300 BHP with a very free revving nature

Huh? Thought you'd sneak this one past me with a new thread, eh?

Good job I've got my V8 and pretty Ginetta alert turned on, isn't it?

Love it and bookmarked.

"All aboard" - "Lets get ready to rumble" - etc. etc. Good to have you along for the ride.


07lilredwagon the trumpets will be polished, however for the sake of engine longevity and protection they will unfortunately out of sight in a filter.

You should easily break 300bhp with that set up

Years back I managed 333 at the flywheel on a 4.5 with Kent M238 cam, big valve heads and a 450 mechanical secondary Holley on a Harcourt intake.

The G27 was built as a racing car and it is a development of the G4 series 4 which was basically the updated and revised next generation G4 - In the mid 80's Ginetta went back to the drawing board to remove the compromises of the G4/4 and produce a more Race/Road G4 so it was designed from the off with racing as the focus and the chassis was improved from The G4/4 and built to accept the Jaguar IRS. As the car was a good few stages in development along from the original G4 is was given the next avaialable designation - G27. The cars were very successful on the track especially with Mark Walklett and his Mazda Rotary powered development - sucsess in the kit cars series eventaully led to a full single make series for the cars - which started the more race focus of the company to The G20's - Juniors - G40's G50's and now with the Le Mans LMP1 program.

So back to my bitsa.

I had my trusty G31 to run about in so I decided that the G27 had to come off the road - it was fun in a straight line but was hard work to keep it that way, and the real essence of a Ginetta is the ability to go round a corner like nothing else.

Too many years ago now I broke out the tool kit and turned the car into this. Take away the roll cage fabrication as that was a later addition and that is all you have bar a glassfibre tub that sits inside it to contain all that torque - the original development was just for 4 pot Fords.

Here in ireland kit cars are vry hard to own as our registration and taxation system crucifies any poor sod who either tries to blu-tac one together under his stairs or is naive enough to buy one from Harry Potter motors. (harry lives understairs for the uninitiated)

Its monumental enough to buy and restore (try find out what parts bin hungover bob scrounged in back in the death throes of Ginetta) but to cut it in half!!!!! I'm subscribing the hell out of this.

Good luck sir.