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Flash's 1965 Ford Thames


Flash

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Radiator also in the dog box on my van so something else to contend with as I also want to fit a/c for daily driving. Gets pretty toasty here in Queensland and the sliding vent windows in the doors aren't the best for cabin airflow. Looks like there may be space to relocate the radiator up against the front grill if I was to find a long narrow radiator. Gent in the UK runs a Rover V8 with a standard Thames radiator, but daily temps are way different to what we experience.

Pic of the engine box:

 

Thames engine bay.jpg

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Looks like front mount rad would be a much better option. Rule of thumb is that the intake in the grille only needs to be about 1/3 the area of the rad (as long as it is ducted and sealed reasonably well) so don't feel the need to chop massive holes in the front for cooling air. You can also pull air from under the front bumper if required. But looks like your original grille opening will be sufficient. You are only trying to cool about 100 horses, so not a huge task in the scheme of things!     

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Certainly won't have any issues with it lower than the engine. Most race cars run like this due to the low nose. Just need an expansion/header tank, but this can be located pretty much anywhere, engine bay would where it is easily accessible would probably be the ideal place?  Bleed from top of the rad back to the expansion tank (small hose, say 6-8mm ID) and main hose feeding to the water pump intake side if possible.   

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Thanks for the additional guidance Browndog. I'm still in the "hunting and gathering" phase of the project - hunting parts and gathering info. Earlier this year I joined the UK based Ford 400E Owners Club and have just placed an order for some NOS indicator and stop light lenses and a few other small bits and pieces. Luckily I don't need too much more to complete the exterior restoration. 

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  • 1 month later...

1x Hiace and 2x L300's - that's dedication! :) 

I think you might find the stud patterns are the same on the Hiace and L300, which would mean you could fit a nice set of Ford 12 slots! ;) 

How does the front and rear axle widths compare to the Thames?    

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Dedication is a polite way of putting it Browndog !

My next door neighbour used a slightly more colourful term when he saw yet another scruffy looking van pitching up yesterday. Waited for him to go out before I parked it right up against the shared fence. Don't think he is going to be too happy, but it was the only place left to park it ..... the joys of suburban life.

Yep, L300 and HiAce share the same Ford stud pattern as far as I can tell. 12 slots seem to be a popular choice here. I've seen pictures of two OZ based Thames vans that have been fitted with 12 slots.

I've yet to remove wheels on the donors to take my own measurements but from the info I've managed to find on the net the L300 has a front track of 1449mm compared to 1346mm for the Thames. HiAce rear is 1445mm compared to 1397mm for the Thames. Should close up the fender gap a bit more and if need be I can move to 7J rims over the current 6Js. I'm not a fan of the current look where the wheels sit way in from the fender lips. From the brief measurements that I have taken I reckon I should be able to dial in some low with the stock L300 front end just by the way it will be positioned. If I need any more low I can source a set of dropped stubs from the USA where the L200 utes were Dodge badged. According to what I have read I would need to swap the L200 stubs left to right to retain the forward control steering setup. 

The Thames rear axle currently sits on the underside of the leaf springs. So to get matched low at the rear the simple option would be to mount the Toyota axle on the top of the leaf springs and convert the back from the Thames hydraulic arm dampers to shocks. Or keep the axle on the underside of the Thames leafs and get the springs re-radiused.

Half of me thinks that I should consider going to a 4 link rear setup with coil overs which would allow me plenty of flexibility with the back ride height in the future. When I did the Bedford I stuck to the original single leaf springs which I had to have re-radiused when I fitted the dropped spindles and although it looked good I was pretty stuck with the ride height after that.

Would be keen to get some input on a 4 link rear setup from anyone who has done this as it would be my first time.

Or there is always this bagged UK van that has been seriously modified for ultimate slam.

80360846_2589053541182204_5035863705909198848_n.jpg

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Option 4 seems like the easiest/cheapest way to go. Could you maybe put efi or throttle body injection on to save room, a lot of fafing about though. Or another option could be a right angle from the manifold to the front or back and put a su carb on? Anyways, keep at it, like where you’re headed with this.

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26 minutes ago, Otodat said:

Option 4 seems like the easiest/cheapest way to go. Could you maybe put efi or throttle body injection on to save room, a lot of fafing about though. Or another option could be a right angle from the manifold to the front or back and put a su carb on? Anyways, keep at it, like where you’re headed with this.

I like the way you are thinking - an SU on either a right angle adapter or a pipe manifold should be able to be tucked in somewhere.

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33 minutes ago, Mof said:

Can you turn that upper gear lever 180 and have it above the box?

Thanks, interesting question and a good prompt for me. At this stage I'm not sure exactly how each of the lever's function as the gear linkages in my complete donor HiAce are currently disconnected. I really need to connect up the linkages and watch the action of each lever as I shift through the gears. I' really need to get on to this. 

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2 hours ago, CUL8R said:

+ 1 for the SU, someone else beat me to it. 

That or you could run a right angle adapter and have a sidedraught sitting "ontop" of the motor...

Thanks, I really need to do more homework on the SU option. 

Good suggestion regarding the right angled adapter too. I need to try to dig up some dimensions for the "off the shelf" adapter to check that it will clear the rocker cover.

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The upper lever shifts in to gear, and the lower lever shifts side to side across neutral. 

It'll mean your gears will be kind of backward, 1st and 2nd will swap places, and same with the rest. It is possible to correct that with some linkages, and I'm sure you could figure it out.

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8 hours ago, Mof said:

The upper lever shifts in to gear, and the lower lever shifts side to side across neutral. 

It'll mean your gears will be kind of backward, 1st and 2nd will swap places, and same with the rest. It is possible to correct that with some linkages, and I'm sure you could figure it out.

Thanks for confirming. Yep, how I'm going to run the linkages is still a bit of an unknown at the moment. I'm thinking next thing to tackle is the steering setup and then the gear linkages last as they will need to clear everything else. Started a bit of work on the steering yesterday. Got the Mitsi Express rack more or less into its final position, pulled the boots off to double check that the rack end pivot points line up with the upper and lower arm pivot points on the older generation L300 front end, but things look a bit off to me, so as a benchmark I'm going to put the rack back into the donor Express to see just how the original pivot points line up.

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