1970 Ginetta G15

Did not manage to get the jig welded today as I decided to sleeve all of the mounting holes in the jig as a bit of TIG practice - Getting the hang of Mild steel a little more now - the mistake I have been making is just not cleaning it enough - basically anything with tig has to be absolutely spotless the cleaner it is the better it welds - unfortunately you cannot get inside the box but you have to try.

I had to cut and prep - 20 sleeves !! - I got 12 welded - Just 8 more to go.











It's all good practice - See if I can get a bit of work done on the jig in the morning before I head off to meet up with Captain Itchty to look at the works for BOY.

Busy day










Platform to mount the body on for the roll over jig - almost - completed.

Yep, would have been daft to buy something specifically for a job and then not to use !


Just having a tidying up and planning day today to give the neighbours a bit of peace and quiet. Probably end up doing gardening to keep busy WTF!!

An hour this evening saw a bit more prep work and the first welding on KBW.






Four sleeves welded into the new and replacement cross-members 6 more sleeves to go.






I also cut one of the first chassis repair sections

Tomorrow may see the front cross-member drilled for sleeves and and the steering rack mounting re-inforcing plates tacked in as I gradually make my way from front to back.

Okay - so maybe not as interesting as paint drying - here's watching welds cool.

Chassis is 10 foot long - this is the first 18" that I have completed this morning.


Chassis stiffening member - with 2 sleeves
Two steel plates to stiffen the steering rack mounts
Two holes cut and sleeved in front cross member a few pin holes and incomplete welds filled.









Inside of the chassis members not too bad for 46 years.




Chopping out and welding up of the very corroded centre part of the front main chassis cross-member next and dropping in a few more sleeves.

And the final bit for today to replace the worst section of the centre rail





Sleeving the centre rail was not as nice as the new sections as there was quite a gap to fill around the tubes.



Just before doing quite a bit of sweeping up I marked out the sections in the outer rails that will need to be repaired. I will get on with those in the morning.







And dread of dread - sections where someone got there before me.....





I mean really!!!!

I have no idea what was trying to be achieved with piling weld on weld on weld to that degree but what I do know it that it will be a Royale with Cheese PITA to remove.

There's a foot or so to go before I get there though.

Only half a day on the car today as me and the lad went for a run out in the Gemini to meet up with a mate and have a tea at the local airfield.


The inside of the chassis where the repair sections need to be let in are pretty good so no worries on that score.



It's funny how localised pin holes and corrosion can be.

The three underside three patches were done, the sleeving of the rear cross-member for the coolant tubes and another little area of corrosion on the rear cross-member











Once they were done I figure it would be a good idea to check to see if the tubes could be let through the chassis - Just about.






I also spent far too much time removing shot blasting debris from all of the box sections - in particular the rear 2" diagonal sections.

Couple of days off so it's the final repairs on the main platform tomorrow and then

Seat mounting threaded sleeves - x 8
Chassis mounting sleeves for body - x 2
Chassis mounting sleeves for roll cage - x 6
Side plates for body mount - x 6
Captive nuts for seat mount - x 4
Trangulation plates and captive nuts for body mount x 10 or so
Rear suspension cross-member supports - x 2

After that I can move onto the rear section repairs and modifications !

The extended seat/seat belt mount strips - why Ginetta felt the need to save on a few inches of steel strip and not run it to the back until the final cars made we shall never know.





Triangle plates just tacked at the moment, these will be drilled for body mounts with captive nuts.






That crack welded.



Holes getting ready for sleeves



Damage getting ready for repair.

Compared to some of the shockers others have to deal with on this board I think we get off pretty lightly with our Plastic Fantastics. If just restoring back to Ginetta standard spec that would have been little more than a weekends work start to finish.