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Flash's 1965 Ford Thames


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In my last update I glibly mentioned that one of my remaining tasks was to fine tune the angle and length of the new gear stick. 

How can something that rolls off the tongue so easily turn into another head scratching nightmare I hear you ask. Well let me explain:

So the first order of business was to fit my driver’s seat as well as the engine box lid and fresh air flap so that I could ascertain the optimum height and position for the gear knob as well as confirming that the gearstick would clear all major obstacles when being put through the gears.

I also needed to make sure that the gear stick was out of the path of the forward hinged engine lid for ongoing maintenance purposes.

I thought I’d use an old bit of 20 mm PVC electrical conduit to mock up the shape and length of the gear stick before replicating it in steel.

I’d envisaged needing a few subtle bends to get the desired outcome.

How wrong I was !

Just look at the piece of spaghetti that I ended up with.

Clearly that is not going to work.

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So now I'm thinking that a remote shifter would be the way to go.

Something that will bring a shorter gear stick closer to hand and at the same time will clear both the top edge of the engine cover for rearward motion and the metal dashboard for forward motion. If I'm clever about setting up the pivot points I may be able to shorten the stick stroke at the same time.

So with this in mind I headed out to my local wreckers this morning and procured this fine piece of equipment for the princely sum of $10.

It's basically a duplicate of the shifter I'm currently using.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Well it's feeling a bit like Groundhog Day here at Rough & Ready Restos as I embark on yet another version of my floor mounted gearshift mechanism.

Yep, I know I've absolutely flogged this subject to death and I've lost count of the number of previous failed attempts, but hey I'm too dumb to have given up by now, so here we go.

The last time I wrote about this I was looking at creating a remote gearshift setup to circumvent a ridiculously long stick throw with something that resembled the shape of an earth worm.

So I'd purchase a  duplicate of my existing gear shifter that I had grandiose plans for.

First step was to disassemble and then cut up my latest purchase leaving me with just enough to create the beginnings of a new plan.

 

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I then spent a bit of quality time under the front of the Thames puzzling out my next move.

So what I'm thinking of now is to move the existing shifter out of the fresh air intake tunnel and as far forward as I can. I'll then mount the new gear stick further up inside the tunnel and run a connecting rod between the two gear sticks which should hopefully allow me to mimic movements of the new gear stick on the relocated existing gear shifter.

Hey its worth a go I reckon.

It's only going to cost me a bit of time and a few steel off-cuts.

So first step was to relocate the shifter.

I found two factory holes in the front valance that look like the perfect front mounting points for the shifter.

Proceeded to do some CAD design and a little metal carving and I ended up with this:

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This morning I cracked into the final bit of fabrication on the main gear shift mechanism.

First order of business was to create a new gear cable mount to replace the one that is currently only held on with one bolt.

I'll be cutting off the round gear stick and replacing it with a flat piece of steel to which I can attach the shift rod for the remote shifter, so I thought I'd tackle that at the same time.

I'll let some pics do the talking.

Next order of business is the primary gear stick setup.

Thanks for looking. 

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Had to make a MK2 version of my gear cable holder bracket to position the connecting rod closer to the pivot point as I was getting way to much sideways travel when selecting gates.

New version next to old for comparison. The extra hole in the new bracket on the right is where the connecting rod attaches.

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  • 1 month later...

With the Mustang hogging most of my car time these days the poor old Thames has just been languishing in the shed, but she is never far from my thoughts.

In the November edition of the UK Thames Owner's Club magazine Sandy announced that after over 30 years of running the club almost single handed he is stepping down for a well deserved break. So with the future of the club being so uncertain I decided it was an opportune time to order the few remaining parts that are unique to the 400E range. These left the UK in early December and arrived safely down under two days ago.

The clear park light / indicator lenses are a 400E only part and I was lucky enough to grab a pair of NOS ones as well as a NOS indicator stalk. Its always such a pleasure when it comes in its original box which has somehow survived for almost 60 years.

 

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  • 11 months later...

Last time I worked on the Thames I'd left the main gear shift mechanism temporarily fixed in place with just a front mount and the rear flapping in the breeze.

So, first order of business was to knock up a rear mount.

Grabbed a scrap piece of square tube and slapped it between the two chassis rails. Poked a few holes, chucked in a few bolts and its now firmly in place.

Not the prettiest looking thing, but its functional for now.

I'll put some lipstick on it at a later stage if it ends up becoming a permanent fixture.

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Okay, so with the gear shift mechanism in what is hopefully it's forever home, my attention has now turned to the remote gear stick.

First up was to figure a way to mount this pared down gear stick to the radiator tunnel:

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