Flash's 1965 Ford Thames

[Flash]

Carby hat - Chapter 5

Gave the tubular bit a haircut and then chucked a wee bit of fibreglass about the place to fix the two parts together.

I'll give it the rest of the day to dry and will crack into the next stage tomorrow.

[Flash]

Carby Hat - Chapter 6

Fine-tuned the top section of the tube and also made a start on the lid.

I need to head into town to get some more resin so I can mate the lid to the main body. May as well get some more mat too, so I can lay down the second layer.

 

[Flash]

Ticked off a few more small jobs today.

First up, I wasn't 100% happy with the King Springs currently fitted to the front of the van. Can't really describe the issue, but the ride just didn't feel right. It's almost as if the front felt a bit loose every time I hit a small bump.

So, first thing this morning I took half a coil off the original Mitsi springs and chucked them in. Front now sits slightly higher than with the Kings, but it's still got a bit of a rake going on, so I dig it. Took it for a squirt around my local test track and it feels great.

I was expecting to have to take the springs out for a second round of trimming, so unfortunately didn't take any photos of the trimmed ones, but I did shape the coil end as per the originals and also spritzed a bit of satin black on the bare steel before putting them in.

Sunlight made for a crappy photo, but hopefully you get the idea.

[Flash]

I then removed the passenger side door latch and gave it a bit of a birthday.

The latch is spring loaded but was sticking open which was bloody annoying when trying to close the door again.

Pulled the mechanism apart, gave it a good degrease and a liberal coating of lithium grease. It's not perfect, but it's better than it was.

While I was at it, I took a photo of the interior just to show off the fresh paintwork on my new gear stick surround.

When I first purchased the van, I wasn't a big fan of the upholstery colour scheme, but its slowly growing on me.

[Flash]

Interior - Chapter 1

I'm still plugging away at my fibreglass carby hat. It's slow going with just a little bit of glass work each morning followed by long periods whilst I wait for things to cure.

In between that Mrs Flash and I have commenced the planning of the interior.

I've probably mentioned this already, but the plan is to build a double sided couch that will fold down into a queen size bed for overnighting. Something along the lines of the rock 'n roll beds that were popular in the splitty window Kombis back in the day.

The forward facing couch will be located directly behind the front seats and will provide a convenient place for our dog to relax during road trips. The storage compartment under the front couch will contain the engine battery, a second house battery, a voltage sensitive relay and a fuse box with associated wiring for all of the ancillaries that will run off the house battery. With a bit of luck I can squeeze in the jack, wheel brace, jumper leads and an emergency tool roll as well.

The rearward facing couch will provide a convenient seating place when we pull over for a morning cuppa or a lunch break as well as a chilled-out spot to enjoy sundowners at the end of each day's travel. The storage compartment under this couch will contain folding chairs, our little gas cooker, a jerry can of water and place for towels and togs and a few changes of clothes.

As a starting point I've taken some measurements and put together a rough schematic showing a bird's eye view of the layout. Hope the drawing makes sense.

 

 

[Flash]

Interior - Chapter 2

As part of the interior fit out, I'm hoping to add some weight so I can get rid of the concrete pavers that I am currently carting around in the back and at the same time give the van a feeling of substance as it currently feels a bit like driving around in a coke can.

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before, but the previous owners restored the van to use as a promotional / delivery vehicle for their florist shop.

As they were planning to transport flowers in buckets of water, they wisely had the factory original wooden floor in the rear cargo area professionally waterproofed. It was a good idea, but unfortunately, they gave no thought to any form of insulation or sound deadener.

Much as it breaks my heart to cover up the rhino line, our plan is to start off by laying down a second plywood floor with some acoustic material sandwiched between the two floors. I'll stick the sound deadener to the underside of the new ply so that we leave the rhino liner unmolested.

I can then fix the timber structure for the couch bases to the new floor thus leaving the original floor untouched.

[Flash]

Interior - Chapter 3

So now that we have outlined the general plan layout wise, our focus has turned to aeshetics and the overall theme of the interior.

The previous owners chose an internal colour scheme to go with the British heritage of the Thames, hence the red, white and blue.

As I've mentioned before I wasn't a fan of the colour scheme, but over time its grown on me and the plan is to continue with this theme. 

Here is a little sample picture that I stole off the net showing the colour and style of the vinyl coverings for the squabs.

 

[Flash]

Interior - Chapter 4

Expanding on the overall colour scheme and style as outlined above, we are thinking of incorporating some touches from a typical mid last century American diner and with that in mind you can't really go past the typical checked vinyl floor.

Trolling around on the net we couldn't find anyone who supplies the white and black floor tiles in anything smaller than about 300mm x 300mm. At these dimensions our concern was that the checkered pattern would make the inside look absolutely cramped.

Then yesterday while I was in Bunnings getting some more resin for the carby hat I happened to stroll down their flooring aisle and stumbled upon nirvana.

Its 305mm x 305mm sticky backed vinyl tile but each tile consists of 4 smaller black and white checks. I immediately grabbed one to take home to show Mrs Flash.

This morning we laid the sample tile loose in the back of the Thames, just to get the feel.

Much excite!

So, it's off to Bunnings to grab two dozen more.

[Flash]

Interior - Chapter 5

On Friday nights we usually go for a cruise in the Mustang followed by a burger and chips down at the beach. But this Friday we decided to take the Bongo for a run into town to fetch some extra floor tiles and the timber we need to build the sleeper couch. Burgers and chips in the Macca's carpark aren't a patch on the beach, but sometimes you just have to make sacrifices for the greater good.

Anyway, the plan is to use 17mm form ply for the floorboards and also for the bed base as its much smoother than standard ply. For the structure I'm using standard interior framing timber. So that's what we loaded up with at Bunnings together with some batten screws and a handful of hinges.

First step on Saturday morning after unloading the Bongo was to create a cardboard template for the floor which I then replicated in formply. I've started off with a single 2.4m x 1.2m board which is a bit cumbersome, but I'll eventually cut this in two once I know exactly where the couch will start. I'll then slide the portion under the storage box to the left and fill in the gap on the right. The reason for going modular is easier removal of the structure in future if needed.

Next step was to begin planning the layout of the supporting timber for the bed base / storage boxes. The cross braces are temporarily clamped in place. Their final positions will be fine-tuned as the couch takes shape.

Today I started cutting the rest of the formply sheets into the required sizes and I finished off the morning by fixing the two backrests together. I've used 3 fairly meaty butt hinges which should be up to the task.

More tomorrow.

[Flash]

Woke up to a wet and windy day, so Mrs Flash and I decided to brighten things up by getting the rearmost portion of the floor sorted.

We are both really chuffed with the result.

The plan is to run a 25mm polished aluminium angle along the sides and step. This will neaten up the edges and at the same time it will hold the new floor down.

 

 

[Flash]

I've made a bit more progress on the sleeper couch base. All three supporting frames are now assembled and painted.

I'm looking forward to fitting them tomorrow.

[Flash]

After three days of cloud and gusty winds we woke up to an absolute pearl of a day. Great weather to be outside putting the Thames sleeper couch together.

I set up a little work bench and spent a few hours carving some mounting brackets out of some aluminium angle.

With those done it was time to fix the various wooden components together.

I made short work of the base frame and then fixed the first three hinged panels in place.

I've still got to fit the lid on the front dog shelf and the back box side, so that is the plan for tomorrow.

 

[Flash]

Well, that's the storage box completed, and the floor chucked back in.

Dog shelf next.

 

[Flash]

And that's the dog box done. I've split the lid into unequal lengths. The two batteries will live in the smaller box behind the driver's seat.

A few more brackets and stuff to fit tomorrow and I'll crack into the cushions after that.

I think I'm going to outsource the upholstery work as it's a focal point and needs to be perfect. 

[Flash]

In other news Mrs Flash dabbles a bit with paint and canvas and earlier in the week she whipped together this little cartoon image for me.

Thought I'd share.

[Flash]

I'm still putting the finishing touches to the sleeper couch. Mainly more hold down brackets to prevent rattles out on the road.

I also came up with a cunning little latch to keep the dog shelf lids from flapping about.

The latch needed to be low profile to avoid creating a lump in the mattress, so I carved a round indent in the ply and fabricated a little swivel piece out of an aluminium off-cut.

Works like a charm.

[Flash]

Today's exercise was to populate the new battery compartment that I have created under the dog shelf.

First step was to wrestle the two batteries into position to work out the optimum layout. The house battery is one that I have removed from my modern Bongo van. It's a 98 amp/hour jobbie that weighs a whopping 26.5kg.

More weight = less suspension bounce = good.

I rummaged around my scrap pile and came up with a rectangular offcut that has already been galvanised and powder coated - winner.

Sliced it up into 4 equal parts, poked a few holes and chucked in a bit of stainless threaded rod, a few nuts and some spring washers.

The result doesn't look half bad.

All that is left is to source a voltage sensitive relay and a fuse box which I will mount on the side panel next to the smaller starter battery.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Flash]

Loaded up Mrs Flash and the hound and took the Thames out for a squirt around our local test track to get a feel for the difference now that she has some weight on board.

Very chuffed with the results. She feels nice and solid now and way quieter inside. The extra weight has dropped the ride height by another 10mm and I reckon she is sitting spot on now.

It got the stamp of approval from Mrs Flash and our wee dug, so its onwards and upwards.

[Flash]

Okay, time to start work on the seat cushions for the new sleeper couch.

We have two queen size foam mattresses in stock at the moment. The one with the purple/grey cover is 150mm thick and the one with the red cover is 100mm thick.

After a test fit and a quick family discussion, we are going to go for the 150mm jobbie. We reckon the side profile of the chunkier one will look more in keeping with the 50s American diner look.

So, the plan for tomorrow is to cut the foam up into the appropriate sizes for each section of the couch.

[Flash]

This morning we sliced up the foam mattress with an old bread knife and then Mrs Flash brought out her trusty sewing machine and made up some temporary covers out of the old mattress one.

The temporary covers will do until the upholsterer does his magic.