Before embarking on the Austin Seven Special, I have to finish the current project; a G15 powered by a BMW K1100RS bike engine. The restoration is now into its second year with just the reassembly and finishing needed to complete it. The car first registered in 1971, has been off the road since the early eighties. The previous owner bought it as a project so he had never seen it run. Although he had bought a new chassis, it had been stored outside under a leaky tarpaulin and had rusted through in several places. The fibreglass shell had been stripped back and to a cursory glance was in good condition. However, it had suffered the ravages of time and weather as my painter would point out later in the build.

The car which was originally Imp powered, came with a lot of Hillman Imp engine parts but no complete engines. The cost of building a 998 (875 pistons are almost unobtainable) ruled it out of my budget so early on, the decision to go bike engine was made. The decision was made so much easier by Clark Dawson, an extraordinarily talented engineer who has master minded the installation of the unloved (and therefore very cheap) BMW K series engines into Davrian, Clan, G15 and of course the Imp. And I believe into a Midget. Amazingly, the engine is dimensionally similar to the Imp, same weight and produces maximum power at seven five. In fact the engine is more like a car engine than a bike engine even down to the clutch. Clark developed a bell housing which, with an adaptor plate, allows the Imp transaxle to fit the engine. There are three engines in the range; K1000, 1100 and 1200. On Clark's advice I chose the 16 valve K1100RS which produces 100 BHP and pulls strongly from 500 rpm. I purchased the engine complete with the throttle bodies, ecu and loom. Clark's auto electrician friend takes the bike loom and modifies it to connect directly to the car loom so nothing could be easier.

I'll not bore you with too much detail of the works carried out but I'll try to attach some photos showing the progress. The chassis took a long time to repair taking three metres of new tube. It's not a great design it has to be said but I imagine it works with the body to achieve sufficient stiffness. Unfortunately, it was made just before Ginetta went into liquidation and there were faults with it that I have had to rectify. This included the caster angle which I went to a lot of trouble to get absolutely right at 6 degrees. The chassis has Triumph front suspension and Imp rear wishbones. After the Imp cross members dried up, Ginetta made their own which rely on very accurate welding and positioning of the components that make it up. I discovered toe in on one side and toe out on the other; non adjustable. So I decided to modify it to accommodate the MX5 cam bolt arrangement to adjust the toe.

So where are we at the moment? The chassis is finished, shot blasted and powder coated, the body painted and mounted on the chassis which is on a rotisserie. The wiring which i made a bit of a meal of is completed apart from connecting the engine loom which will happen once the engine is installed.

that looks good - I know of a nice white one with an Imp engine,

I'll follow this with interest and look forward to the A7 Special - are you in the 750MC?

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Originally posted by HowardB
that looks good - I know of a nice white one with an Imp engine,

I'll follow this with interest and look forward to the A7 Special - are you in the 750MC?

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Good to see you getting a G15 back on the road. I built one in 1969??? ish with a 998 Imp engine. I've also had the BMW engined bike. Nice to see them coming together as it isn't a pairing I would have thought to do but is a really good idea.
The G15 was a really nice everyday use car that performed very well in the time it was around, it's one of those cars that I wish I had kept.
Keep us up to date with how it goes :-)

free tax and no mot required?

Pity the old Imp engines are getting so rare and expensive, but great choice of replacement!

Looking forward to seeing more of this project.

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Originally posted by John Bonnett

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Originally posted by HowardB
that looks good - I know of a nice white one with an Imp engine,

I'll follow this with interest and look forward to the A7 Special - are you in the 750MC?

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Not at the moment Howard but probably will join once I've embarked on the project. I'm certainly going to the 750 extravaganza at Beaulieu in the Summer.

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Originally posted by HowardB

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Originally posted by John Bonnett

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Originally posted by HowardB
that looks good - I know of a nice white one with an Imp engine,

I'll follow this with interest and look forward to the A7 Special - are you in the 750MC?

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Not at the moment Howard but probably will join once I've embarked on the project. I'm certainly going to the 750 extravaganza at Beaulieu in the Summer.

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Beulieu is great, Dad came back with a door handle for his 28 tophat,.. random

750MC is great for all things Austin7 and the run some fantastic events too

watching with interest

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I've started plumbing the brakes and wondered if a couple of pics of a simple press tool I made a few years ago to form clips might be of interest. Punch or drill a 3mm hole and then sandwich the strip of aluminium between the two plates. Squeeze up in the vice. This forms a double clip but can be trimmed to make a single.

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Originally posted by John Bonnett
I've started plumbing the brakes and wondered if a couple of pics of a simple press tool I made a few years ago to form clips might be of interest. Punch or drill a 3mm hole and then sandwich the strip of aluminium between the two plates. Squeeze up in the vice. This forms a double clip but can be trimmed to make a single.

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I've made quite a bit of progress and the engine is now installed although the rear mounting has yet to be finalised. The driveshafts bolted up easily which came as a big relief. More photos to follow.

I felt the engine could be a bit higher at the rear to put the drive shafts parallel to the road at ride height. To this end, I made a new rear mounting which has done the job nicely. A combination of a bespoke machined adaptor plate and Hillman Imp oil filler elbows, the throttle bodies are turned through 90 degrees. All fitted.




[Edited on 7/4/18 by John Bonnett]

Looks great John.

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Originally posted by jeffw
Looks great John.

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Found it!
Looking like you are on the home straight. I very much like what I see.....

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Originally posted by cliftyhanger
Found it!
Looking like you are on the home straight. I very much like what I see.....

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Many of you may have come across and even use peel back rivets but for anyone not familiar with them they are especially designed for use with fibreglass and not only spread the load but also pull up really tight. I've used them to attach the ecu mounting plate to the body. The ecu fixings are reduced head M5 rivnuts.





[Edited on 26/4/18 by John Bonnett]

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Originally posted by John Bonnett
Many of you may have come across and even use peel back rivets but for anyone not familiar with them they are especially designed for use with fibreglass and not only spread the load but also pull up really tight. I've used them to attach the ecu mounting plate to the body. The ecu fixings are reduced head M5 rivnuts.





[Edited on 26/4/18 by John Bonnett]

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I may have to abort this thread because I'm having difficulty loading more than one photo. This shows the injection panel wired and installed.

[Edited on 2/5/18 by John Bonnett]

I forgot about this thread!

I fancied a Beetle kit but with a BMW oilhead mated to the VW transmission.....I think the clutch arrangements are very similar.

Looks great though - a former colleague used to tarmac rally a yellow G15.

I think you're right. It should fit a beetle.

Yay! I tracked you down, great to see the continued progress on the Ginetta John. Keep up the good work!

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Originally posted by yorkshire_spam
Yay! I tracked you down, great to see the continued progress on the Ginetta John. Keep up the good work!

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The forum thinks the images is at: http://https//www.locostbuilders.co.uk/gallery/IMG_8375.JPG
But I think the proper address should be: http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/gallery/IMG_8375.JPG

Cheers,Sam

Went to the National kitcar show on Sunday and there was a very nice G15 there with a BMW engine in the back like yours - looked brilliant!

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Originally posted by ianhurley20
Went to the National kitcar show on Sunday and there was a very nice G15 there with a BMW engine in the back like yours - looked brilliant!

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A few more pics, full size this time.

Looking good John, that engine looks made-to-measure!

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Originally posted by yorkshire_spam
Looking good John, that engine looks made-to-measure!

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Photos working John and I have to say the car looks superb

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Originally posted by nick205
Photos working John and I have to say the car looks superb

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Gear selection is giving me a problem at the moment and is the only thing standing in the way of driving the car out of the workshop. For any vehicle that hasn't turned a wheel under its own power since the early 80s this is a momentous occasion and one I've been looking forward to since I began the project. I'm hoping to get it sorted today so watch this space!

In the meantime I've made a start on a simple airbox. Okay, I know it has square corners which are perhaps not ideal but it's easy to make and I like easy. The only welding needed will be a stub pipe to accommodate the cone air filter. The BMW bike has flexible but fairly rigid flexible rubber pipes to connect the TBs to the airbox and I'm going to try using these rather than welding in stub pipes. We'll see how it works out. Not too much work to start again if I have to.

Another good day. Gear linkage problem solved and here's a short video of the first drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49OIsEs1Ozw

Love it!

Hi John

I see some of the pictures have died.

Is there a more complete build thread elsewhere on the interwebs? I wondered if it might be GOC?

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Originally posted by rdodger
Hi John

I see some of the pictures have died.

Is there a more complete build thread elsewhere on the interwebs? I wondered if it might be GOC?

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Thanks John
U2U sent

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Originally posted by rdodger
Thanks John
U2U sent

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