John Bonnett
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Everything posted by John Bonnett
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Thank you Jon, interesting that DV recommends 70 degrees which is exactly what my Triumph runs at. I have a 72 degree thermostat. On the Imp the header tank has full flow but I'm thinking about changing it to the modern system with the header tank connected to the bottom hose and a bleed back from the thermostat housing. This is what I've done on the Triumph and it works well.
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Plan is to use one inch stainless steel tubes for the coolant, welded into the sleeves. These will become stressed chassis members and will, I hope, add something to the stiffness.
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I have to admit that I'd forgotten all about the pipe but when I remembered after the gussets went in, to my relief the pipe cleared them. Lucky or what?
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Jon, nice to hear from you and thank you for the reminder about the book. I've just this minute ordered it. You are quite right about the bumpers. The Riley Elf rears are hens teeth but I do have one, albeit needing re-chroming. But i may not fit bumpers. I'll wait and see. I've pretty much made the decision to build a completely new body, mainly in aluminium but supported by a tubular steel frame. This decision makes possible some serious strengthening and bracing work on the chassis which could include a backbone like a transmission tunnel. Meanwhile I've still got to finish welding in the seat fixings and the seat belt captive nuts.
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I'm adding a cross member between the wishbone mounts which I felt was badly needed. Cut outs were necessary to clear the coolant pipes. Using a hole saw I bored two 40mm holes and TIG welded in stainless steel tubes of the same diameter. This will put a lot of strength back into the box section.
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Master absolutely not Hazen but if you fancy a foray over here you'd be very welcome, camera or not. John
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Thank you very much Pete. There were many dark days on the Triumph project and the encouragement I received here made a huge difference to me. The Ginetta people all seem to agree that the G15 corners really well but the handling ranges from bad to awful. Looking at the chassis it's not hard to understand the reasons. That's why I'm putting the effort into stiffening it up. John
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Somehow or other Hazen I've got to try to stop the chassis from wanting to fold up and to put some torsional stiffness in. At the moment I'm thinking about a transmission tunnel that will provide a backbone, taking the load path from the the cantilever at the rear to the front of the chassis. To achieve this the rear firewall will need removing along with a longitudinal section of the floor. I'm waiting to hear from the GOC how they would view a G15 with an aluminium body. If they are okay with that and accept it as a G15 I can add strength to the chassis and build the body to suit. I would prefer this route rather than having to mutilate a perfectly good fibreglass body.
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I'm at a bit of a cross roads with the chassis. Having fitted the seats I now realise that the supplementary bracing shown in my previous post won't work for me because the frame joins the chassis in the middle of the seat runner. I could get round that by fitting smaller seats but I would prefer to keep the originals. For sure the design of the chassis leaves a lot to be desired having little or no triangulation or stiffening. Anything I do to improve things will of necessity mean cutting out pieces of the floor and rear firewall to give clearance for the additional tubes. The shell is so good I don't want to mutilate it. So what to do? Put it together as it is in the knowledge that the car will handle very badly? Fit bracing and cut the body to suit? Or a third option build a new body. While considering these options, I've been making up fixings for the seat runners. The Ginetta way is to drill a 1/4" hole all the way through the two by two and fit a nut and bolt without a crush tube. What I've done is to weld a 1/4"UNF nut to a length of 10mm stainless tube. Turn the nut down to 10mm and TIG weld the assembly into the chassis.
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Really excellent work. I'm full of admiration. rgds John
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Ah, that was with the duff engine, only 68bhp at the wheels. Got 106 now 😉 It really was a fantastic event with hospitality that only the French can provide. And 1.7 miles of closed roads what could be better? And you don't need a competition licence.
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The GOC have been really helpful in providing advice and photos. I now know that Safety Devices don't offer a full cage so I'm taking the rear cage and bracing route. Here are a couple of pictures showing what someone else has done and which i am going to try to copy.
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Well thank you John. I'm hoping to crack on really quickly with it but the chassis design is a bit of a concern. If I can get a full roll cage out of Safety Devices at a reasonable price I'm hoping that should add the stiffness it needs. If not I'll need to get creative 😉
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Absolutely no problem. It's really kind of you to take the trouble so whenever it fits in with you will be great. Thank you, John PS With the chassis on trestles with me sitting on the front and my son leaning on the back we were both quite shocked to see how easy it bent at the point near the rear where the angled uprights join the main longitudinal tubes. It twisted just as easily.
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The last week or so has been spent on rectifying the rusty areas of the chassis. Although the chassis was new twenty odd years ago and never had the body fitted, it has been stored outside under a tarpaulin and we all know how these things turn out. In all, I have inserted nearly three metres of 2" x 2" box section in various locations; time consuming work but all is sound now. The body is briefly back on the chassis, bolted down on the new front fixings so that the four rear holes can be marked along with those for the seat runners.
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One more photo
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Some good progress to report today. On checking the rear wheel alignment the left hand wheels toes out and the right hand is parallel. No adjustment- yet! I thought this might be the case and already had a plan to design a system of adjustment based on MX5 cam bolts. It needs a bit of thought but it should work and will make a huge difference to the way the car drives. I cut out one of the rusty tubes and looking at the inside; well worth doing. I've sleeved the replacement and tacked it in. It was a great relief to find that all the holes line up.
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Thanks Jonny. It must have got lost in the ether or perhaps I just thought I'd sent it. Whichever is the most likely. 🙂
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The chassis has never been used Jonny, just kept under a tarpaulin for twenty years and I guess it's gone rusty where the rain got in. Shame. I'm really pleased you worked on the G15 because you'll be able to put me right and keep me on track. The chassis is pretty straightforward but fitting out the body is a different matter. Oh I sent you a PM. cheers John
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By a strange coincidence, TSSC on their forum have just added a non Triumph category. Absolutely right there, it was a miserable experience for Andy and one can only admire his doggedness in pursuing the receiver until he got the chassis back and as it should have been, free of charge.
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Thank you everyone especially the Mods who have given the okay to continue with the thread. I feel very touched and hugely flattered that you have the will and stamina to follow Book 2 of War and Peace. I'll try to keep it like the Sun; loads of pictures and not too much print. Sadly no page three though 😉 I'd like to thank Jonny-Jimbo for his very useful and interesting contribution above. And what a fine piece of fabricating. Now, here's the story about my chassis. Andy Wright the previous owner bought a replacement chassis from the Ginetta factory only to find that the body didn't fit. I've spoken to Duncan Campbell who built chassis at Ginetta and he told me that the jig for one side of the rear end had been lost so they made both sides using the one jig. Turns out that the two jigs were different and the sloping upright ended up the same length rather than one shorter than the other. This prevented the body sitting down properly on the chassis. So Andy sent the chassis back together with his old rusty one as a pattern. Three weeks later, Ginetta went into administration. It was over two years later that Andy finally got his rectified chassis back. By that time I guess he had lost a bit of heart and a lot of enthusiasm. The chassis had been stored outside under a tarpaulin for twenty years or so. It's rusted right through in two or three places where the water got in. I understand that it is a late chassis with a fabricated rear cross member rather than the Imp one which you mention. I want to measure the wheel alignment at the weekend and hope they are either parallel or with a bit of toe in. The concern is that if they are not or one different from the other there is no adjustment. Many of us have personal experience of how awful a car is with a bit of toe out. Fingers crossed that they will be okay but if it turns out that they are not as they should be I do have a Plan B. The front body mounts weren't drilled so I've made up some threaded stainless steel sleeves and welded them into the chassis. They go right through welded top and bottom. So much on the lines you describe Jonny but without nuts on the bottom. I'm going to bore out the holes for the coolant pipes to 32mm and weld in sleeves to stop water from filling the cross members. There should be room for 28mm copper pipe providing all the holes are in line with each other. I now have three meters of 2" x 2" ERW and have made a start repairing the rusty bits.
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Thank you Colin. I feel quite touched. I will continue on the basis that the Mods are okay with it. Give them a few days to consider and if i have their approval then post a few more photos. I'm cutting out rusty bits of chassis at the moment which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I keep looking at the body and thinking how nice it would look in polished aluminium 🙂
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That's very kind of you Brad, thank you. I just don't think it fits here. cheers John
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Yes it's all a bit tenuous isn't it Brad. I have to say that right at the outset I didn't feel comfortable about writing it up on this forum and Tim obviously feels the same. I think perhaps it might be the right thing to remove the thread. cheers John
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Not how you or i would have done it eh Chris? 🙂