Popular Post Flash Posted November 4, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 4, 2021 I spent the last few mornings fine tuning the floor shifter in an effort to reduce the size of the hole that I need to cut in the Thames floor to the absolute minimum. Ended up cutting off the factory "gate" shift lever from the Tarago mechanism and fabricating one that enabled me to further reduce the size of the hole. With that all done it was time to butcher the Thames, so I marked out the cuts with a sharpie and spanked it with my jigsaw. There's no turning back now. I've still got to do some final trimming and tidying up of my brackets and welds as well as sorting out the angle and length of the gear stick. I'll also need a rubber gaiter to cover up all of the mess. Thanks for looking. 16 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 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. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 So what to do ..... I can't bring the gearshift any further up the tunnel as I need the cables under the floor to clear the radiator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 6, 2021 Author Share Posted November 6, 2021 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. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Flash Posted November 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 21, 2021 Over time the poor old Thames has turned into a bit of a storage shed the biggest items being our pool loungers which is a pain in the arse. Being red there is just no way that we can leave them out in the elements, so muggins here has to lug them out and back in every time we feel like lying by the pool. 5 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Flash Posted November 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 21, 2021 So the week before last I decided to do something about it. Looked through my pile of scrap and left over building materials and proceed to build a little storage shed which is right next to the pool. It's cunningly disguised to look like the fence that I built a few years back. 12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Flash Posted November 21, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted November 21, 2021 Now the back of the van looks decidedly spacious. And that's my excuse for not having worked on the Thames for the last few weeks. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Flash Posted December 4, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 4, 2021 In between everything else I've been selling off a lot of unneeded parts from the donor vans. The week before last I had an oval track racer asking about the front stub axles, hubs, disks and calipers off the L300 Express. He races a Cortina TC and apparently they are a pretty sought after modification. Who would have guessed hey ? Anyhoo, I figured if I was going to sell them off I needed to get the rest of the van ready to depart as they are a pain in the arse to move around once they no longer roll. So Mrs Flash and I pushed it around to the main carport - which we now refer to as "The Surgery" - and I pulled the front out as well as the last small bits and pieces of value. Racer boy dropped around and parted with some cash, so everyone seems happy, including our neighbors who will be pleased to see the end of my mini scrap yard. The parts business has been a time consuming sideline, but on the up side I've managed to cover the purchase price and towing fees for all 4 donor vans as well as getting all of the parts that I needed for our Thames at zero dollars. All it's cost me is a bit of time and effort and a mangled finger which is thankfully now fully recovered A few photos of Betsy who is now patiently waiting for my mate Trevor to take her away to the crusher. I just hope we can move her with all of the crap that I have loaded into the back. My next update will hopefully feature some work on the Thames for a change. Thanks for looking. 15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted December 7, 2021 Author Share Posted December 7, 2021 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted December 7, 2021 Author Share Posted December 7, 2021 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: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Flash Posted December 7, 2021 Author Popular Post Share Posted December 7, 2021 Okay, so in my eagerness to share my updates I missed out some crucial information that pertains to the last photo in my previous update. Allow me to elaborate: The new position of the gear shifter solves two issues that I had encountered with my previous version. The first issue is related to the original angle of the cable holders which I had to point downwards in order to clear the radiator. Now that I have moved the shifter out of the tunnel and further forward I can now run the cable holders a lot flatter as the cables now happily clear the radiator core. This has significantly reduced the added friction in the cables due to the unnatural angle that I was running the cables at. The second issue that I had was the length of the throw on the gear stick. This was due to me having to attach the cables to the mechanism very low to the pivot point of the stick in order to get the mechanism as high as possible in the tunnel. Now that I have heaps of head room in the new location I have been able to attach the cables a lot further up from the pivot point which has significantly reduced the gear stick throw. Photo of the new setup attached to my "test bench" , oh and I was also able to glue back the original gate shift lever that I had previously cut off. Next step is to fabricate a new ball joint holding bracket for the gear cable as I've had to change the angle on the existing bracket and its currently only held in position by one bolt. Thanks for reading. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted December 8, 2021 Author Share Posted December 8, 2021 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted December 8, 2021 Author Share Posted December 8, 2021 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. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted December 10, 2021 Author Share Posted December 10, 2021 And Betsy heads off into the sunset. Goodbye my old friend. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted January 28, 2022 Author Share Posted January 28, 2022 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. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Flash Posted January 28, 2022 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 28, 2022 In other news many of you will remember the green Mitsi Starwagon that gave up its front suspension for the Thames. Well the engine and 5 speed manual gearbox from that van made their way down to New South Wales and have been given a second lease on life powering along this bagged Commer van. Mick the owner took the Commer along to this year's Summer Nats where it drew heaps of attention. Looking at this photo its hard to believe that there are a set of wheels lurking under there somewhere. 16 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Flash Posted January 24, 2023 Author Popular Post Share Posted January 24, 2023 Holy heck! I've been mucking around on the Mustang for well over a year now and all this time the poor old Thames van has been patiently waiting in the corner of the shed. So, while I'm waiting for some more Mustang parts to arrive, I thought I'd give the Thames a bit of loving. Pushed it out into the sunlight for a quick bath and whilst I had it outside, I managed to sweep up a year's worth of dust bunnies that had covered the shed floor. Tomorrow I'll get back on the next iteration of the gearshift mechanism. Hope I can remember what I was planning to do. 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted January 25, 2023 Author Share Posted January 25, 2023 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. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 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: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted January 26, 2023 Author Share Posted January 26, 2023 Grabbed a bit of scrap plate and took to it with my grinder of angles and my hole poker and I ended up with this fine bit of kit: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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