Flash's 1965 Ford Thames

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Having sold my Bedford van a few years back to fund an Australian Adventure, around the middle of last year the desire to own another crappy old British commercial vehicle returned with a vengeance. So the search began.

Then one day last November whilst trolling the net I came across a listing for this. Hardly Ford's finest achievement, but quirky enough to pique my interest. In chatting to the owner I discovered that the van had already been through a bare metal restoration so the body is relatively mint with new rubbers fitted throughout. The upholstery has also been redone, the floor rhino lined and some tints chucked on the side windows.

Mechanically it is still a virgin, running the original 1700 pre-crossflow motor that Ford borrowed from a late 50's Ford Consul. So basically a blank canvas and a really good starting point.

After a bit of negotiation a deal was struck that culminated in a road trip yesterday to pick it up. Following an 11 hour road trip with a borrowed transporter and a short 15km drive under it's own steam it is now safely tucked up in my shed.

 

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Discuss my obsession with crappy old British van's here:

https://oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/60227-flashs-1965-ford-thames/

 

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Previous owner provided me with a few snaps taken of the van after it had been blasted. Apologies for the grainy quality.

The body was amazingly solid for an old British van. Zero rust holes and just a patch of bog in the back door from a previous repair. The bog was removed and the door was beaten back into shape. 

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So short term plan is to tidy up a few small cosmetic bits and pieces. Longer term plan is to replace the ageing engine, gearbox and diff with something more modern and reliable. A disc brake conversion on the front is also on the cards.

The engine box is pretty compact and the standard column gear shift is still in place.

 

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Got a few minutes in the shed yesterday arvo and spotted a few things that need doing. Looks like the rear indicator lights have been fitted incorrectly. The van looks cross eyed at the moment.

Sun visors are flopping about and only have a single self tapper holding them in. I found the other self tappers in a clearly marked zip lock bag in the box of bits and pieces that came with the van. There must be a reason why these haven't been installed.

Also in the box of spares are the original back bumperettes which I'm keen to fit. Will get on to these when I next get a gap. 

Many other things still to add to the list.

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Yikes time flies. Can't believe its almost 10 months since my last post. Our house reno has taken up all of my free time this year, but I did manage to spend some time thinking about the direction I want to take on mechanical upgrades for the old Thames in between and also did a bit of pesting on the tech forum seeking some advice from those more knowledgeable than I am. Result is that I have kind of set my mind on going with some form of Toyota running gear to replace the rather dated original kit. Main reason for this is that the engine box has very limited space so I will need to stick with a non cross flow motor if I want to keep the floor pan stock. Also first prize would be to retain a column shift but go for a 5 speed gearbox. With this in mind I set a target on a mid '80s Toyota HiAce van as these came out with a 5 speed column shift manual box. As luck would have it back in march I tracked down a 5 speed column shift gearbox. Only snag was that the seller wouldn't sell the gearbox on it's own, so I had to take the whole van. To make matters more interesting he offered me a second spares van for free if I took it away. So I ended up with these two beauties sitting in our back garden.

 

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The van furthest away in the pic has the motor and gearbox still fitted. The gearbox is a 5 speed column shift that looks like it has had a rattle can reco. The engine is a 4Y that according to the previous owner has been reconditioned. Both engine and gearbox are bolted up in the hole, but nothing else has been connected up. On the gearbox side of things the linkages are there but not connected, the drive shaft is sitting in the back of the van and the clutch slave cylinder is missing. The speedo drive is also AWOL with the speedo cable just hanging in space.

On the engine side the radiator and exhaust are sitting in the back of the van and most of the electrical wiring and fuel pipes are all disconnected. So looks like previous owner lost interest mid job. Makes for an interesting time ahead for me.

Anyhow I got today off as we are in limbo at the moment waiting a visit from the building inspector before we can carry on with the house, so thought I would spend a few hours trying to get the donor van running. Managed to find and connect up the wiring on the starter motor and the coil and fiddled around with the connections on the distributor until I successfully got spark at the points. Not getting spark at the plugs yet, but hoping to get some time on it tomorrow. First prize would be to get the engine running to assess it's condition.

Thanks for reading.

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Whilst digging around the internet a few months back I came across a listing for my Thames dated around the end of 2010. This was just before the PO bought it and embarked on the bare metal restoration. At that stage the van was still in its original blue paintwork with heaps of patina. The wording for the listing is in pdf format so I'm unable to upload it, but it makes for interesting reading so I'll transcribe it into a posting when I get a chance. In the mean time here are some pics of the van as it looked back in 2010.

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So wasted a whole heap of time trying to track down a front bowl sump for the 4Y as that is what I need for the Thames. Thought I'd take a short cut to see if I could track down a factory one rather than cutting and glueing a standard sump. Posted on a number of forums including the OS Tech Forum asking if anyone knew what Toyota came out with a front bowl sump on a 2, 3 or 4Y. Eventually tracked down a really knowledgeable chap in Ohio, USA via LinkedIn who had the answer. Turns out that a Toyota forklift model 8FGCU25 has the front bowl sump and oil pickup / pump to match. No chance of getting one at a wreckers as these beasties are fairly thin on the ground and are so hardy you can't kill em. A new sump from Japan will set me back a cool OZ$630 so that is not going to fly. The matching pickup/pump is just over $200 but I'm a bit worried that an oil pump designed to run at a max of 2500 RPM in a forklift might not like running at 4500 RPM in a road vehicle, but maybe I'm just showing my ignorance and some more knowledgeable old schooler will be able to put my mind at ease.

Anyway as far as the sump goes I'm going to go with plan B being cut rotate 180 degrees and re-glue. I've got a mock-up motor so I can afford to sacrifice a sump with out impacting on my runner. I'm just not sure how easy it will be to modify the existing pickup, but I won't know until I drop the pants on the mock up motor. Anyway some pics of sumps and pickups tfor your purving pleasure.

 

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So a few months back a hotrodder on the book of faces had stripped a Thames van that he is turning into a rod and had offered the standard front and rear ends "free to a good home". The van has been sitting in a paddock for a good few years so everything is covered in a good deal of surface rust but otherwise seems fairly solid. Since my current plans are to keep the stock upper and lower wishbones and stub axles I figured it was worth having spares. Only problem was that he was based in New South Wales. Anyway, beggars can't be choosers, so yesterday I completed a 1,200 km round trip and am now the proud owner of a bunch of manky looking Thames bits.

Gotta read up a bit on setting up a "pickling bath" so I can start to get things cleaned up, so keen to hear how others have gone about this.

Anyway picture time or it didn't happen.

 

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So after swapping a few yarns with a local rod builder I've changed direction on my front suspension for the Thames. Original plan was to stick with the standard cross member - there are actually two cross members, one for the front pivot of each A arm and one for the back pivot of each A arm - go figure. Anyway this was causing me headaches with the oil sump setup and I also wasn't keen on keeping the standard steering arms with the joints that need greased every 1000 miles. I figured if I was going to have to throw money at a steering rack and disc brake  conversion  I may as well bite the bullet and look at changing the entire front end. Back in the day L300 front ends were popular with the street rod fraternity and many L300 front ends are still used today.  Did a bit of research myself and also got some guidance from Cletus and MaxPower  and figured if I could pick up a cheap enough L300 I'd give it a go. Started to watch FB and sure enough a real cheapie came up yesterday. Only located 50km away, so hooked a hire trailer up to my mates Landcruiser and we headed down earlier today. Van is now home and since it would be rude to fire up my drop saw on Chrissy Day I'm going to take the day off deck building tomorrow and will spend a bit of time under the Mitsi with a measuring tape plotting and scheming . Added bonus is that the Mitsi has an aftermarket AC setup fitted which I'm hoping I can also move across to the Thames. Being a forward control van the steering setup is also perfectly suited to the Thames.

Anyway, here's a picture of Mitsubishi's finest.

Happy Christmas everyone.

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I'm still firmly in the "hunting and gathering" phase of my Thames resto mod project.

So the newer L300 is a definite fail if you are looking for a straight forward front suspension swap into something else, but having said that the forward facing steering rack and angle box look promising as an alternative to the archaic steering box setup on the Thames.

Getting back to the front suspension it was pointed out to me by Cletus that the way to go is the older mid '80s L300 vans as they have the fully detachable front beam. So for the past few weeks I've been hunting for one of these older vans. Here in OZ there seem to be still a few of the 4 wheel drive older vans around, but the 2 wheel drive versions are pretty thin on the ground. I managed to eventually track  down a 1984 Starwagon, only snag was it was located almost 600km away and was a non runner. Did a deal on the van for $250 and managed to snag a cheap return trip on an empty  transporter that was coming back our way if I was happy to wait. Van arrived home earlier today. I chucked a battery in it, primed the carb and she started first go. Hasn't been run since 2017 so she is a bit smokey, but I don't plan on using the motor so I'm not too fussed. Shoved the van on my ramps and had a bit of a nosey around underneath. Initial measurements of the Starwagon mounting points are pretty close to the distance between the Thames chassis rails so looks like a relatively straight forward swap.  

I've now got my own private "pick a part" stash of 4 Japper vans when I eventually start the conversion.

So the loose plan thus far is:

Complete front suspension and brakes from a 1984 L300 Starwagon.

Steering column, angle box and power steering rack from a 1996 L300 Express

Toyota 4Y engine and 5 speed column shift gearbox, drive shaft and rear axle from a 1986 HiAce

Picture of the mighty Starwagon for you to perv over.

Thanks for reading.

 

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Some NOS goodies arrived from the UK today thanks to Sandy from the Thames 400e Owners Club. New tail light lenses with gaskets, new indicator lenses with lamp body gaskets and a locking fuel cap. One of the indicator lenses is a different shade of orange which will drive me insane, but I'll order in another lense with my next batch of parts and hopefully I'll end up with a matching pair.

We are still donkey deep in our house reno, but hopefully I can get a gap to fit these over the next few days. 

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As we were having morning smoko the rain started falling, so I saw it as a sign that I should move indoors and steal an hour or two on the Thames. Started off by removing the front indicator lights to install the new lamp to body gaskets. Turns out someone had made their own cork gaskets which was better than finding the lamp body mounted directly onto the paintwork. Installed the new body gaskets, re-fixed the lamp housings and installed the new lenses. I'd made a decision to go with amber lenses up front rather than the original clear lenses. First reason was to give the front a bit of colour as its pretty bland at the moment. Second reason is that I had heard that the clear lenses don't hold up in the harsh OZ sun as well as the amber ones.

Sadly the new fixing screws and rubber sealing rings were inadvertently left out of my parcel so I had to use the old screws. Easy enough to replace when they arrive with my next shipment.

Before and after pics to show the improvement. You can see how badly the clear lens had deteriorated.

Thanks for looking.

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With the front indicator lenses done I moved on the the rears.

One of the home made cork gaskets had managed to firmly attach itself to the body leaving this mess.  .... aarghh ...

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Was really nervous that I might damage the paintwork getting it off, but a bit of gentle work with a plastic scraper and a bit of a polish and it came pretty clean. I didn't want to get too aggressive around the mounting holes for fear that the paint might lift, but its way better than it was.

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Fitted the new lamp to body gaskets and the new rear indicator lenses and took the opportunity to mount the lamp housings correctly so that the lenses are correctly orientated.

Looks heaps better. Amazing what a difference the little things make.

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Moved on to the rear lights that sit in the lower rear valance. One of the old lenses had a really deep scuff mark in it so I figured it would be worthwhile replacing both sides with new lenses. Pulled the lens off and detached the lamp body from the valance and discovered another home made cork gasket. For some reason the left side rear brake light blows quite often so I thought I would try to figure out what is causing the issue while I have everything apart. The left back light is wired across to the right light and then the wires head off towards the switch mounted up front. Seems weird that only the left hand brake light blows. Might be something in the lamp body or a pinched wire running between the two lights. Will require more investigation. 

Thanks for reading.

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Bit of a milestone today. Finished up the last of my decking just before smoko so with just a few odds and ends left on the house reno front Mrs Flash and I have taken a decision to spend every alternate week working on the van. Started off by pulling the van out of the shed to give the floor a good sweep. Then spent a bit of time taking some reference measurement of the existing front suspension before I start pulling the lot out. Interestingly neither the front wheels nor the back wheels sit in the centre of the wheel arches. Looks a bit odd once you have noticed it. Fronts sit about 50mm towards the front of the arch as shown in a pic of the left hand side front. Right hand side measurements are exactly the same. Not an issue at the current standard road height, but could be an issue once I've fitted the L300 front end which will give me around a 70mm drop. So current thinking is to locate the L300 front beam so that the wheels sit in the centre of the arch.

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Here is a picture of the right hand side rear arch which shows that the rear wheels are also not centralised in the arch.