The life and times of a 1969 Franklin Mini

[grandad]

Part 1 Background:

Allow me to introduce you all to Franklin Mini Number 179-9.
AKA “The Pumpkin”
Most likely built late January, 1969.



This van has been in our possession for over 15 years. We originally purchased it when we decided that a family with 5 kids was going to attempt to live on a building site using two caravans and sheds and outbuildings instead of a house.
This van was previously owned by a lovely old couple who had bought it new and used it for family holidays. (No children)
The husband had converted the rear fold down couch into a permanent bed using treated pine decking. They’d then bought a good quality Sealy Posturepedic innerspring mattress in caravan double bed size. He also recovered the floor in new vinyl.
The wife had lovingly handmade curtains with matching cushions, bed valance and doona cover.
It came complete with a full canvas annex in almost new condition.
When not being used it was stored in the garage so was incredibly clean and downright cute as a button.

Not for long.

Its original use was for our two girls, then 9 and 10 yrs old. They shared the double bed and big brother, then about 15 yrs who used the front single made from the dinette. He was there in case the girls woke up through the night with a fright.

After we moved to a property just outside of Bendigo, the two older boys used it as their bedroom. They played Rock, Paper Scissors to see who got the double bed.

The annex was slowly destroyed by a combination of Central Victorian sun, wind and two teenage boys.
When the older boy moved out, his younger brother moved to the double.
When he in turn moved out the eldest girl moved in so she could study for her VCE in private and get a good nights sleep.

At some point in its early life, the kids dubbed it “The Pumpkin” and it’s been “The Pumpkin” ever since.

When eldest daughter moved out to go to Uni, it sat neglected and unloved for a few more years until I decided it might as well go. By this stage, all of the original cuteness had long gone. It was in a sad and sorry state with windows that wouldn’t open or lock and showing the wear and tear of 10+ yrs as a teenager’s bedroom/hangout.

When I mentioned my plans at a family gathering the kids almost formed a lynch party in my honour at the thought of “The Pumpkin” no longer being in the family. No, this was obviously not acceptable.

Number two son, now married with two girls of his own put his hand up and offered to buy it. It was just before Christmas so that year we wrapped up the keys and gave him and his wife The Pumpkin as a Christmas present.

He and his older brother set to and repacked the bearings, put new light truck tyres on it, repaired a couple of broken windows and bought a bunch of struts so every window could both open and close. His wife stitched up some new curtains and scrubbed it to within an inch of its life.
His eldest daughter slept on the dinette single and the baby in a portacot in the middle of the van. It must have been quite an exercise to get past the cot if one decided to stroll outside in the middle of the night. They had several good camping holidays until it became obvious the two girls had outgrown the van.

He then gave it to big brother who continued to use it as extra accommodation for friends who wanted to stay over. He was also now married with two kids of his own.

Eventually however, even he saw there was no real purpose in keeping it any longer.

More to follow

[grandad]

Part 2: Fast Forward to today:
I’m in my sixties, staring pension age down the throat. Kids have all grown up and have kids of their own. Wife has left and I’m broke and by myself.
Making plans for my senior years and the concept of this “Grey Nomad” thing has definite appeal. I’ve seen parts of Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Brisbane from long ago. Never seen the outback, never been to WA. I spent 7 days only in Tasmania decades ago. It’s time to see some of this country.
I started researching what kind of van I can buy for what kind of money and started scouring every kind of forum and Blog associated with caravans and caravanning in Australia, including this one. It was here I discovered “The Pumpkin” was officially a Vintage Van.

Browsing some of the reconstruction stories on this forum and several Blogs I learnt how older vans were constructed. A timber frame, 4mm ply on the inside and cladding on the outside. Cross spars across the roof. Ply on the inside of the roof, aluminium on the outside. Work from the inside out.

Studying teardrop sites I discover the same basic construction. (I toyed with the Teardrop concept for a while before deciding that wasn’t the way to go)
It occurred to me with a few of the rebuilds of a vintage van at what point does a “Restoration” become a “Building” of a new van? What part of the van is actually many decades old? Why not just build a new van?
Indeed, I found instances of people doing just that to get exactly what they want in a van. No attempt at anything vintage, just a way of getting what they wanted.

My mind started to wander into the area of building a van from scratch. What would it cost?
Quite a bit.
Windows can run around the $300 each mark. A new 3 way fridge is into 4 figures. Same with a new stove/cooktop. I didn’t cost the cladding but several builders stated it was one of the biggest costs in their job.

I had been offered The Pumpkin back and planned to sell it to help finance the build.
Number 1 son couldn’t bring himself to sell it either, but handing it over to another part of the family was acceptable to him, regardless of what may happen to it after that.
At least it wouldn’t be him who sold it.

Then I got it up here to my place and looked at it. I’m afraid I was having the same doubts the kids had had way back when. The Pumpkin is part of the family. I shudder to think what memories the kids may have had of what may have gone in the thing growing up, (Don’t think I really want to know) but when I looked at this sad and sorry old girl, I found I had my own memories tied up in it as well.

Plus, I had discovered something interesting while studying eBay vans.
A 10’ van like The Pumpkin almost always has a two seater dinette at the front, a double bed crossways at the back, a kitchen bench approx 1200mm long and a small wardrobe opposite.
A 12’ van mostly has the identical layout except the dinette now seats 4 people.
A 14’ van has the identical front layout but they spin the double bed 90 degrees so it now runs lengthwise and you can get down both sides.
It’s not until you hit 16’ that the usable size of the kitchen and storage space actually increases. And then, not by much.
There are exceptions of course, but on the whole, this seems to be the pattern.
Vans with front kitchens and modern vans with the door at the back are two exceptions to this rule.

The Pumpkin is a 10’ van. Ok, 10’6” to be exact. It has the most economical use of space you can get. Plus, if I get far enough back from it, and squint a bit through one eye only on a dull day, I can still see the cuteness I saw umpteen years ago in the old couple’s garage when I first laid eyes on it.

So, I decided.
I’m going to rebuild The Pumpkin!!!
She and I are going to circumnavigate this country together.
Time frame for the rebuild is 2 ½ years maximum.
Budget is whatever it takes to get what I want. In the end, I do plan to sell the house to buy a suitable tug and finish the rebuild if I have to, which I no doubt will to finance some of the larger items like solar panels, batteries, inverters, satellite dish etc etc

[grandad]

Part 3: Plans for the Rebirth of “The Pumpkin”
When starting out on the restoration or rebuilding of anything, be it a caravan, car or house, I believe one MUST have firmly implanted in your minds eye a picture of exactly what you’re aiming for. If you’re not sure, don’t start the process until you do.

It doesn’t matter if all the details are there yet, or even if you’re not 100% certain of how you’ll go about it, so long as you have confidence in yourself to solve any problems that come along as they come up you’re good to go.

It also doesn’t matter if the picture in your mind changes as you move along.

It’s in describing my end goal that some of you may decide neither The Pumpkin nor I belong on a vintage van site. If that is the case, so be it. My goal in that case will be to have offered up some info and maybe parts to assist somebody doing a faithful restoration. I really don’t believe that will be an issue with many however.

I played around on Google Sketchup for months prior to any work starting. I now have a scale drawing of the shell and chassis of a Franklin Mini that I can spin, turn upside down, take apart and put back together again in exactly the order I want.
The inside of the van will look nothing like the original.
There will be no dinette or table.
Instead, I will scratch build a comfortable 2 seater lounge just inside the door under the front windows.
This couch won’t extend the whole width, but rather stop at the depth of the existing kitchen cabinet. This is 430mm from the far wall.
The kitchen cabinet will extend at a lower level right up to and under the front window. The top of this section will be a place for a reading lamp, a clock maybe and whatever book I’m reading at the time.
Access to under this new cabinet will be from the outside via a new access door.




The rest of the kitchen will be much the same layout as the original but with a stove including an oven instead of the little two burner Tudor that was supplied originally. (I therefore have a working Tudor cooktop available if anyone needs one)




A lot of my favourite meals require an oven.

By the way, the original tiles have already arrived in Canberra and will soon grace the floor of a 1969 Franklin Freeway that lives there.

The bed is in the original location but mounted a little higher than usual to give me greater depth for storage underneath. Some of this storage will be sealed from the inside and accessible through another accesss door outside to house two batteries.
These will be located at the diagonally opposite corner to the fridge so as to help offset the weight of the fridge in a balanced van.
I’ve pinched an idea from the Airstream people in the USA and will keep the existing 30 litre galvanized water tank plus add a second, larger tank with separate fillers. These will be located slightly off centre so as to juggle the weight of the 3 heaviest items in the batteries, fridge and water to balance the van from side to side and put a bit more weight on the tongue. The tongue is far too light at present.
The idea behind the two tanks is that the smaller one is for known to be safe drinking water only. It feeds a separate tap at the sink. You never fill this tank unless you are completely satisfied the source is safe.
The second tank can be used if the water is good but also if the source is a bit unknown. In this case, it is only used for washing up and an outside shower I wish to incorporate. In practical terms, in Australia, this unknown source may be bore water at some places off the beaten track.

The area of the existing wardrobe space will remain roughly the same but the layout changes. There will be a scant 3” to 6” maybe of hanging space in one corner and the rest a series of cubicles or cubby holes for folded clothes. I only have one or two jackets to hang up. Everything else is folded or rolled before being put away. There will also be a second door adjacent to the main front door on the side of this robe area which will open to a shallow pantry.

The style of finish inside is very difficult to describe. It won’t be modern. My eldest daughter and I browsed around our local Jayco dealer looking at modern vans. Didn’t like any of them. Most of the vintage look interiors one sees here are what I might call the “Diner” look. Black and white checkered floor with pastel colours on the cupboards etc. Very attractive but not my style either. Although I really like looking at those vans that have a theme. Maybe Betty Boop or Rock ‘N Roll or a strong colour. I like looking at them and marvel in their creativity but not for my own van.
My look is a cross between the Victorian era with rich brocades and deep colours crossed with a slightly Bohemian look.
My favourite colour is red so you can count on a shade of red featuring greatly.
It won’t be a look that many will like but I’ll be pushing up daisies when, if ever this van goes to a new owner. So I’m not really concerned with resale value and therefore what anybody else likes.
Has anybody here used wallpaper in a van? If not, there soon will be.

I’m a student of Wabi Sabi, which is basically decorating or furnishing a space to aid in reaching a Zen state. Yeah, I know. I’ve just taken a very sharp turn to the left. Hey! I’m a child of the sixties. Make love, Not war. Peace brother!
Basically it means being in an environment that pleases you. You should wake in the morning and spot something that relaxes you and makes you feel good to be awake and alive. What that will be will be different for every individual.

The outside will retain the original shape but will be repainted with all the dings and scratches healed. Still white but probably some of the new whites one sees with a very faint metallic or pearl finish. Sorry, but I’m not keeping the gold anodized trim. It will be the Mallard style with an insert of a contrasting colour. The stripe will remain but will be in whatever colour the Tug turns out to be, or silver if the tug is white.
I’ll take that gold trim off as carefully as I can so maybe somebody can use some of it.

I may slightly modify the extreme curves front and back for a tad more storage.
Like this example



This idea is not firm and may not happen.

On the front, I will use a graphic a gentleman on this forum kindly supplied me to put a fresh Franklin sticker where it belongs.


But on the same location at the rear, will be the words…The Pumpkin.

Also on the rear there will be a graphic I found on a royalty free site I frequent.
There’s a local airbrush artist I can use to recreate this on the van






Overall, the look I’m after is a vintage shape in modern colours.
In the same vein as a fellow who lives up the road from me. He drives a 1929 Ford Model A. The body is stock standard. Full mudguards still present. Bonnet in place and no chopping, sectioning or channeling. But…it’s painted a candy apple red with pearl red flames and carries modern alloy wheels. Under the bonnet is a modern 289ci Ford V8.

It was discussions with him that actually settled my mind on the exterior treatment. He pointed out that just because I live in a period home…(a 1800’s miners cottage)…doesn’t mean I have to live with an outside long drop toilet. His words exactly…”Be truthful to the spirit of the era, but don’t hesitate to make the execution 100% you”

There’s also somebody on this forum that also has a mini and across the back he has painted the words…1966…VIN…. Franklin.




I like that. Just not sure exactly where and how yet.

Last detail of the goals in mind.
I believe Franklin built the drawbar too short. I’ll change that. Plus, we experienced a bad condensation problem in our years with The Pumpkin being a bedroom. The kids would often wake up to a roof saturated with drops of water. I’ll have to fix that by adding another skin with some insulation.

Oh, and I’ve learnt that the little shelf with a single support in the middle is a Franklin trademark almost. Not sure where yet, but I’ll endeavour to keep that.

So that’s what I’ll be building.


Next…deconstruction starts. We discover that “Vintage doesn’t always equal quality”

[humpyboy]

G'day grandad, and welcome, sounds like you have it all worked out,will be looking forward to more pics as the rebuild progresses.

[Roehm3108]

Hey grandad and welcome to the forum. Nothing wrong with your writing skills!! Don't tell me our writing laureate Reddo will finally have some competition

As older members on this site already know, my first introduction to vintage van restoration was on a Franklin Mini, long before this site was even created. Loved that van and had some great trips throughout coastal and central Qld in it. Even took it across the Developmental Road from Atherton to Hughenden (the shortcut way!! ;D ;D ;D)

Good luck with your plans, and we look forward to the continuing saga of grandad's resto. I once met a guy who was on his second tiem around of going "round the block" and all he had was a Propert folding van. Coincidentally that van ended up being bought and restored by our site member 'smiles" and is still going strong. So that makes your Pumpkin a BIG van by comparison

Enjoy the experience

Ray

[Don Ricardo]

G'day Grandad,

Thanks for telling us the story of your Mini. It's a great read, and I'm glad you've chosen to re-build it. Much better than it mouldering away in a paddock somewhere (or worse)!

As already indicated, there are lots of people on the forum who will look forward to reading about the re-build as it happens, including me. And please - lots of pics as you go.

Don Ricardo

[grandad]

I apologise. I failed to properly introduce myself. My name is Jim. Grandad is what I am, not who I am. My bad!

Am I alone in thinking that the quality of workmanship was better in “The Good Old Days” when people took pride in their work?
I know that’s certainly what I’ve always believed.
I know my first mentor in woodworking/cabinet making would never have tolerated “That’ll do!” “Good enough!”
In fact, his favourite expression was “Job right!” Either expressed as a statement when he’d finished something to his satisfaction or as a question to me as I walked back into the factory after completing a job somewhere.
Heaven help me if I couldn’t answer “Yes”

Since none of the original cabinets were to be reused I started in with tearing everything out. I learnt my first fact about the construction at the Franklin factory.
The sheet of ply on the ceiling was fitted first or perhaps after the cabinets had been dropped in. Either way, the tops of the cabinets were then stapled down through this sheet. They certainly didn’t skimp on staples either and doubled up with some adhesive. It became obvious that these cabinets form an integral part of the whole body and served as the main bracing for the body. Without any cabinets, the only diagonal bracing was the front and back window frames.

Tip number 1 to future restorers of a Mini.
The cabinets are integral to the structural integrity of the whole van. Don’t skimp on them.

There was one fairly pleasant surprise when removing the cabinets. Underneath one, in a spot sealed from the outside since 1969 was this little item. Obviously a workman had dropped it there and not seen it. It was lost to him for the next 40+ years.



It’s almost brand new.
I think I’ll frame it and hang it up somewhere in the van. It will be a good conversation starter.
I also found a few 1/8 inch drill bits. Quite badly rusted. I’d say used to drill for pop rivets.

I had previously stuck my head under the van and confirmed what I had already known from past years. The chassis was badly rusted. This would have to be rectified.

I had read on these forums of other people using angle grinders, wire wheels and wire brushes with rust converter on their own vans. Perfectly feasible but I wasn’t convinced I could get right inside all of the “C” channels which make up the chassis.

I had also read the words of one gentleman who stated that he had never seen the body of an aluminium clad van successfully removed from the chassis without damage.

It was my plan to have the chassis and suspension sandblasted so I’d have to provide good access top and bottom.

Armed with this knowledge I decided to remove the floor to gain access to the chassis.
Once the cabinets were out, I could see the floor had been put in abutting the side walls, not underneath them as is mostly the case with say teardrop construction.
Goodo! Let’s rip the floor out.

Confession time!
Have you ever done something and then thought to yourself’ “Good grief man! You’re an idiot. You shouldn’t be allowed out on your own.”

This is what happened to me. I very carefully removed the floor so as not to damage it so I could reuse it. It was an odd size impossible to replace in one piece from an 8x4 sheet. I successfully lifted it and then realized it wouldn’t fit through the door.
Hmmmmm
I could have put it to one side in the van but instead I grabbed a saw and cut it in half. Told myself I was better off with a new floor anyway.

The Pumpkin had a couple of areas of rot. Caused in the main by copious quantities of water from condensation running down the roof and front and back walls.

Here’s one example of what I faced.


Pulling the rotted paneling out front and rear, I then learned that these sheets had been put on from the outside prior to the aluminium cladding. To get the last bits out I’d have to reverse this and removed the cladding.



Hmmmm. Could have kept the floor after all and removed it when I removed that paneling.

Tip number 2: The floor won’t fit through the door. If you’re not removing any wall material, prop it up inside the van for later.

Once the floor was out I could get a good look at the chassis and suspension for the first time.



I could also see why the van sat so low and how easy it would be to raise it.



On every occasion that we had ever hooked the pumpkin up to a vehicle, the towbar on the car was considerably higher than the van. It always towed with its bum down near the road. I had planned to fit 14” wheels to help raise it but now could see it also had a block between the axle and the springs plus it had a dropped axle. Should be easy to raise it to whatever height I want.

But the main thing I saw was with what and how the chassis was built. I’ve built a few trailers in my time. Each one, a bit better than the last. But even the first one is still in service today, albeit…looking a bit sad.

The chassis on the mini uses small dimension “C” channel. Only the drawbar is 2.5mm wall thickness. Everywhere else it’s either 2mm or even 1.5mm.
I was in a quandary. Everything I had ever learned about trailer chassis design was absent in the chassis I was looking at. By all rights, it couldn’t be considered adequate for the job, assuming “Adequate” only was your end goal.
Yet, here it was, having successfully survived 40+ years.

Was I, and every source I had ever known wrong? Or did Franklin build their chassis to a weight rather than a strength? If this chassis is everything I believed it not to be, then every Franklin on the road should have fallen apart or broken years ago. Yet, that is not the case.

Quite apart from the material supplied to the workmen, their actually workmanship was decidedly average to be kind.

Here’s an example



A bit hard to see but the weld arrowed looks like a child has piled up silly putty instead of a nice, neat and strong bead. The welder had just kept going over the same area blowing holes and leaving them and piling weld on top of weld. There’s no doubt there is good penetration. Its only 2mm wall thickness. You could penetrate that with a Zippo.

The flat section that supports the outside step had to be horizontal but what he was welding to on the chassis was a good 20mm away from where he wanted it to support the flat. No problem, just build up an extra 20mm of weld. She’ll be right! Cracks caused by heat stress? Never heard of it!

Plus, quite apart from the specifications for the steel members that the fabricators had been given, or the welders welding skills or lack thereof, there was also a basic design flaw.

For as long as we’d owned the pumpkin, the door had always scraped on the top left corner looking from outside in.

The frame was never square. I could now see why this was.

In this picture below, you can see the chassis stops short of the edge of the door by a good 250mm. That means the wall to the front of the door is supported only be a small dimension piece of Crapiata….sorry, Radiata Pine.



Over the years, anybody sitting in the seat nearest the door was slowly pushing that wall down.
As an experiment, I shoved a piece of 20mm RHS in place and lo and behold, the door closed nicely for the first ever in our ownership.




The last item I wish to mention is that bracing under the drawbar.



The use of that webbing was accepted practice in 1969. I can’t fault Franklin for incorporating it in their vans. But the use of such webbing is now quite controversial. It has been shown that if not properly executed the heat caused by the welding process can actually cause a fracture at that point. It’s something even professionals now argue about.

I’m going to err on the side of caution and use a thicker wall thickness rather than any bracing. I mention this so others may be aware its not a cut ‘n dried practice.

Oh, one last little item that I still haven’t decided if it was very clever, or shoddy practices.

The mini has timber cross braces running perpendicular to the side walls to support the internal lining.
Heres a pic of the ones I mean.



Ever wondered how they’re attached to the walls?
Easy, cut a wedge from some flat steel, drill a couple of screw holes in it, lay it on top of the timber and use a hammer to drive it through the wall ply. Then just fix it off with a couple of screws.
Clever?



So that brings us to current day.
Knowing that sandblasting will reduce the already thin wall thickness, and seeing how a slight variation to the design can vastly improve things, and knowing that I wish to be able to traverse mile after mile of corrugated gravel roads at 100kmh I want supreme confidence in the chassis of The Pumpkin.
Something I certainly do not have at present.

So the booking with the sandblaster has been cancelled and I’ll build a new chassis,
That much is certain.

The only thing stopping me right now is the little argument going on in my head about what size to use. Every time one side of my brain considers using something like 100x50x4mm RHS for the drawbar, the other side argues back that quite clearly what I currently have was reasonably adequate for the past 40 years and I should downsize to something a bit smaller.
Plus, I’m trying to get straight in my head what ramifications will result from using substantially bigger sizes in regard ride height and clearance between the floor and ceiling. Especially since I already plan to reduce the headroom by 25mm in putting a second….third???...skin in.

A question please. Has anyone here pulled the inner lining off the side wall of a Franklin Mini?
Is there a frame in there?
I can see a frame at the very least around the perimeter of the wall, but there is no evidence of any screws, pop rivets, nails, staples or any other fastening device in the centre of the wall.
Is the wall a composite build of cladding, polystyrene and ply? Or is the ply and cladding glued to a frame. Knowing this would help greatly.

Or, is there a better part of the forum in which to ask?

Cheers
Jim

[grandad]

Apr 7, 2013 21:11:50 GMT 10 humpyboy said:

G'day grandad, and welcome, sounds like you have it all worked out,will be looking forward to more pics as the rebuild progresses.

thank you Humpyboy.
I have just enough worked out to be dangerous I think.
Heaven forbid I should ever start a new project knowing exactly what I'm getting into. Where's the fun in that?
Cheers
Jim

[grandad]

Apr 7, 2013 21:42:52 GMT 10 Roehm3108 said:

Hey grandad and welcome to the forum. Nothing wrong with your writing skills!! Don't tell me our writing laureate Reddo will finally have some competition

Hey Ray, thanks for your kind words. I've been accused in the past of verbal diarrhea. Never answer in a sentence what you can take a page to do.

As older members on this site already know, my first introduction to vintage van restoration was on a Franklin Mini, long before this site was even created. Loved that van and had some great trips throughout coastal and central Qld in it. Even took it across the Developmental Road from Atherton to Hughenden (the shortcut way!! ;D ;D ;D)

Did you have any issues with your Mini? Did the short draw bar annoy you?

[grandad]

Apr 7, 2013 23:49:14 GMT 10 Don Ricardo said:

...... And please - lots of pics as you go.

Thanks Don,
In other forums I have frequented there was one simple rule.
"No pics?...It never happened"
I'll obey that rule here. Thanks again.

[Roehm3108]

Hi Gramps!!

I don't have my little Mini any more, but I really loved it. She was a 1963 model from memory. certainly had no insulation sandwiched between inner and outer skin. When I bought it, it had 10 inch rims on it and the axle looked pretty so-so. I replaced it all with 12 inch rims, as that gave the best clearance without the risk of tyres rubbing/hitting the wheel arch. Never found the short drawbar to be a problem.

Problems?? A bit self-inflicted I have to say. Was in a bit of a rush to finish the resto and get moving. Screwed on the back outer panel where it wraps under the van, but obviously didn't seal it well enough. Got to Hughenden after about 250kms of gibber track, opened the door and the interior of the van was red from ceiling to floor. The dust had got into every cupboard and all our gear. Had to go into town and buy a vaccuum cleaner and suck it all out, wash everything at the laundrymat and everything ended up well. You live and learn ;D ;D ;D

[barkpaint]

I cannot wait to see your wonderful ideas come to fruition. cheers, Heather

[grandad]

Apr 8, 2013 19:36:41 GMT 10 Roehm3108 said:

Hi Gramps!!

Cheeky!!.....and thank you. I read your post last night and it brought a smile to my face and gave me a chuckle. Good way to end any day.

I don't have my little Mini any more, but I really loved it. She was a 1963 model from memory. certainly had no insulation sandwiched between inner and outer skin. When I bought it, it had 10 inch rims on it and the axle looked pretty so-so. I replaced it all with 12 inch rims, as that gave the best clearance without the risk of tyres rubbing/hitting the wheel arch. Never found the short drawbar to be a problem.

Problems?? A bit self-inflicted I have to say. Was in a bit of a rush to finish the resto and get moving. Screwed on the back outer panel where it wraps under the van, but obviously didn't seal it well enough. Got to Hughenden after about 250kms of gibber track, opened the door and the interior of the van was red from ceiling to floor. The dust had got into every cupboard and all our gear. Had to go into town and buy a vaccuum cleaner and suck it all out, wash everything at the laundrymat and everything ended up well. You live and learn ;D ;D ;D

Are there any photos of your Mini here or anywhere?
I'd love to see them.

The red dust is a real issue.
I've seen it discussed in several places on the net. Plus, both older boys have worked in some very remote parts of the Aussie outback. They speak of it in great detail.

I came across a thread on another forum of a guy who apparently solved the problem by pressurising the van so air pressure moves from the inside to outside. I'd have to go back and re-read his thread to refresh my memory but basically its a scoop on the roof pointed to the rear of the van which then feeds into a very fine filter. A fan forces the air through.
He has a pic on his thread of him holding a tissue outside his door lock showing the pressure inside the van blowing the tissue away from the lock.
The only change he would make if he had it to do again, is to make the filter accessible from outside.
Its a fascinating read of a guy building quite a large off road van from scratch. Lots of good info.
If you or anyone else is interested, HERE is a link to his thread.

Cheers
Jim (aka Gramps) ;D

[grandad]

Apr 8, 2013 21:50:17 GMT 10 barkpaint said:

I cannot wait to see your wonderful ideas come to fruition. cheers, Heather

Thank you Heather,
I hope you can be patient though. Its going to be a while before I get to the creative/fun part of the build.
Stay tuned

Jim

[mezmo]

Hi Grandad/Jim,

You're reconstruction journey will be interesting to
follow !

I'm amazed at what you are discovering when doing
the demo of failed materials ! I never would have guessed
that the chassis is so attenuated ! I understand the concept of
cantilevering the outward curves to gain a larger body
for more space on a shorter chassis - but - wouldn't you have
thought that they'd at least would have made the front end of
the chassis at least end/at where the front edge of the door'd
be ? Boggles - doesn't it ? Are you considering adding at least
that much more chassis/cross support when you reinforce the
tongue ? - That should sure help with the door binding problem.

I can see where the little van grows on one. The profile shape is
cartoon cute [that was a compliment]. I'm sure you'll be happy
you remade it for your needs once you are finished. You'll literally
be traveling around your land living within many of your family's
memories, so-to-speak.

Good luck with your efforts.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

BTW - Both the old and new caravan [travel trailers] construction over
here is about on par with what you are discovering in yours over
there - there's a lot to be improved upon in my view. Building fast and
cheap isn't the best philosophy to follow, but it seems to be the most
prevalent practice.

[grandad]

Thank you for your comments and best wishes Norm,
I agree with your description of Cartoon Cute.

Yes, I will be extending the chassis proper another 300mm to the front and 200mm to the rear.
The front extension has a twofold purpose. Obviously to stop the door sagging but also because I want at least most of the weight of the new sofa and occupant supported by steel chassis. Not an aluminium sheet attached to softwood by ½ inch screws.
The rear extension is….because I can.

I took the van down to a local business that manufactures trailers. Not travel trailers. I wanted some advice on steel sizes.
He too was horrified at the welding and offered up the thought that my van’s chassis was put together on a Monday morning after a hard weekend or very late on a Friday just before knock off time.
He also spotted some other construction faults that I hadn’t noticed.
But at the end of the day, regardless of how we may feel about the steel used, he commented that he hopes his trailers are still in use in 40 yrs time. A fair call I believe.
All the same, he helped me come up with a better design.

Regarding the actual design of the chassis.
It’s all too easy sometimes for me to be too critical. I’ve been pulled up on it many times.

Over my life I have had a fair bit to do with mass produced items.

99% of all items manufactured, start off as a prototype. These are handmade one offs. They are usually tested to destruction before the final design is handed over to the factory boys.
Once an item hits the assembly line, faults fall into three broad categories.

The quality control process of pulling random items off the assembly line for testing shows up what they call Production Faults. These are faults that show as a direct result of how they are put together on the assembly line. They will never occur if put together by hand.
In the case of cars for example, a memo is sent out to all service departments outlining the fault and how to fix it. Most of the time a customer is never even aware of it.

The next one is a warranty fault. These occur within the warranty period and will show up only after it is in the hands of the consumer. These cost money so the design is quickly changed to prevent them.

The last category is where the fault only shows up after many years of use. These are faults the manufacturer seldom gets to hear about and this is the kind of fault that chassis design is.

It wouldn’t show up until the van was maybe 10 yrs or more old, by which time the model is no longer in production, assuming the manufacturer gets to hear about it all.
This door would have passed the prototype stage, and the quality control stage and the warranty period.
Maybe I’m being too harsh on Franklin. There are lots of other areas in this van that demonstrate good design and practices.

Cheers
Jim

[willow5075]

Wow what a great history, looking forward to sharing your journey!

[grandad]

While final plans for the new chassis are being firmed up, I thought I’d start on removing the front and back sheets of ally. They’ll need to come off when I lift the body.
Plus, I’m dying to know how the walls are constructed so I can have it clear in my head how to rebuild them later.

So, armed with more bravado than knowledge I attacked the rear of The Pumpkin with various weapons of mass destruction.

Remembering that my reason for documenting this rebuild was because I had been unable to find any detailed information of how a Franklin Mini was put together I’ve tried to photograph as much of the progress as I can. I’m going into more detail than many will feel needed but I’m aiming this thread at some unknown future soul who is considering repairs to his or her Mini.

There are totally different size screws used for attaching the cladding to the body, to another sheet of cladding and to attach the windows to the cladding.
One of the most useful tips I ever heard was to always have a box of sandwich bags in the workshop.



Just write on them where the contents were used …….



And at reassembly time, everything is laid out for you.



Removing the windows was pretty straight forward. A bunch of small screws came out pretty easily and into the pocket for bagging. I found it best to work from the bottom when breaking the seal. The top seal held the window quite nicely until I could work my way around and then able to use two hands to hold the window. A bit of a wiggle and the top seal breaks and the window is in your hands safe and sound.

I was rather taken by the black framed windows on some of the early Viscount Pop Tops when I was searching eBay.



Hmmmmm…Can you powder coat aluminium? Apparently you can. No idea whether it’s affordable yet but I’ll find out when all the windows are out.

Once the first window was out, I discovered more rot.



What I laughingly refer to as my tablesaw has a bung switch on it. Looks like I better get that fixed. I can see I’m going to need it.

The cladding is nailed to the window frame. All of the little nails they used are all now very rusted. They didn’t want to budge from the cladding. It’s what happens when steel comes into contact with aluminium. Trying to pull the full rusted length of the nail through the cladding was an exercise in futility.

I developed a method of attack that seemed to work.

First, slide a Wonder Bar into the gap to pull the nail and cladding away from the window frame.



Next, reach in with a pair of side cutters and snip the nail off from the inside.



If you give the stub a bit of a wiggle, it will break the bond with the cladding and come out easily.

Franklin used smaller pieces of flat cladding on either side of the windows and in between. I got mine out with no damage but they’d be a walk in the park to replace if one bends while wresting with it.

The sealant that Franklin used under the gold anodized trim was brilliant. It’s still soft and pliable after 40+ years. It mostly scrapes off easily. I started bringing out a sampling of the many solvents I have in my inventory and stopped at turps. Brilliant. Cleans off with no effort.
This left the cladding on the back exposed to see how it was fixed to the walls.

Pop rivets!!!!
That’s promising!
A steel frame maybe? Or aluminium perhaps? I know Viscounts are known for aluminium frames but Franklin??

I started drilling them out working my way down the sheet to the bottom. At the leading edge under the van, it is nailed to a piece of timber bolted to the back of the chassis.

You can see the front one here. The rear is identical.


My method of attack was ill advised. Starting at the window edge and moving from one side to the other threatened to let the sheet fall away at an angle and maybe put a crease into it. I was lucky. Holding it up with one outstretched foot and hopping back and generally entertaining the neighbour with my advanced calisthenics I managed to get it off with no damage.
But next time, start at the bottom dummy!
It will be supported through the whole exercise.

So, Tip number 3: When removing the front and rear sheets of cladding, start at the bottom edge attached to the chassis and work your way up to the window frame.

Once the rear sheet is safely in the back yard…..



I started in with cleaning the leading edge of the wall to see what I could see.



Definitely aluminium. With the serial number of the van on it.

It seems every time I remove a component, I find the serial number on it. Obviously all the bits and bobs were made specifically for one van. It must have been like a big jigsaw puzzle at the end gathering all the parts and putting them together.

But an aluminium frame? I had to dig further.
I’m quite prepared for the eventuality of remaking the walls. And the internal wall paneling is decidedly average along the bottom. So throwing caution to the wind and therefore committing myself to rebuilding the walls I started nibbling away at the edges.



Nup, not a frame at all. A bit of very think guage aluminium sheet in a “C” shape.
Looking further at the top of the wall, one can see it again.



I stopped here for a moment to ponder this new development.

This very thin strip of cladding is all the front and rear sheets are attached to. The wall cladding comes away from it with a bit of effort. I’d say its glued to the inside of the wall cladding when the wall was installed. Over the years the bond isn’t all that flash anymore.
The internal plywood is pop riveted to it every so often. Much better but still not super heavy duty.
In the original layout of the van, the only kind of load at the front is the feet of people sitting at the dinette. No big load.
But at the rear it supported the double bed.
Both the front and rear sheets were nailed to the window frame. Remember those rusted little brads that I used the side cutters to remove?
They probably were responsible for 90% of the load strength in that sheet. At least they were positioned in the shear position.

So, tip number 4: The purpose of the front and rear sheets is to keep the sun, rain and muck out of the inside of the van only. They are NOT load bearing. Particularly 40 odd years down the track. Any load on them must be minimal and spread evenly over as much of the surface as possible.

I’m going to have to scratch my head a bit more and work out how to transfer the load of the double bed at the rear and the couch at the front to the walls and chassis.

I’ll figure it out. Just not sure how at this stage. Completely tearing down the walls and introducing a full timber frame is looking more and more likely. I can’t see a way around it at this stage. But, give me a while to think on it.

I’ll close for today with a bit of sad news. Remember the fellow I spoke of earlier who taught me my trade and had the favourite saying of “Job right!”

He passed away today a little past 2 pm. He was 77 years old. He was a good man, and something I hadn’t mentioned, my first father-in law. So if you’re having a drink tonight, do me a favour please???
Tip your glass to the memory of David Bradbury. May he rest in peace.

Thanks
Jim

[Roehm3108]

Here's to David Bradbury! Just happened to have a glass of red beside me! That underlapping rear panel is what gave me the grief sucking up all the red dust on my van, Gramps, so REMEMBER TO HAVE IT WELL SEALED when you put it back

Don't you just LOVE seeing what's under the skin of some of these vans

Ray

[First Glass - Tory]

Hey Jim (Gramps),

Love your story telling and seeing the journey your on.

Love the design work / stickers that your going to have and a statement caravan "Pumpkin" when your finished.

Keep up the great work and by the way "Welcome" is a great bunch of helpful & friendly members on here, who are so willing to give such good advice and insight to their caravans, rebuilds, etc.

Good luck
Cheers Tory (Torrich)

[grandad]

Eureka! It may not sound like much but I've finally got a definitive answer to what sizes of RHS to use on my new chassis.
Basically the choice came down to either 75 x 50 x 3mm for the drawbar and main chassis where the springs attach and use a truss underneath for added peace of mind, or increase the wall thickness to 4mm. Upside is, no need for trusses but it adds 32kg to the weight of the drawbar.
After much toing and froing I decided to ask a fellow I know who owns a trailer factory that is known for superior quality products.
No hesitation in his answer. Straight up after asking the question he stated 4mm wall.
He added....."3mm will probably do the job. Adding trusses may or may not improve things but 4mm is the ultimate job.
Do I want do do an ok job? or do it knowing it will never break?
If the latter, 4mm is your answer. The added weight down low will also make your van more stable at speed."
So thats it. Done deal.
I trust his judgement.
I've got a job on which will probably keep me tied up until Wed and then a funeral on Thurs.
Come Friday, I buy the steel and over the weekend I can start welding.
I'm a very happy camper.
Cheers
Jim

[humpyboy]

Hey Jim, Job Right?

[grandad]

[Franklin1]

G'day Jim,

Fascinating read so far! As you say, it will surely come in handy for other owners of Franklin Minis in the future.

I posted some info in the other Techo thread where you asked about the walls and the edge sealing tape.

Keep the story going! ;D

cheers,
Al.

[grandad]

I posted some info in the other Techo thread where you asked about the walls and the edge sealing tape.

Please follow THIS link for the info referred to above.