All posts by Nigel

28/12/2025 and year summary for 2025

Effectively the last post of the year.  Started the week by cleaning the advert panel and seeking Rebecca’s opinion on the way to proceed.  I also painted the lower pipe connection for the rear  brake servo with several coats of silver.  Attention turned then to the chassis where the servo is mounted; the primer having cured for a few days, I able to apply two coats of silver paint.  This job is now complete and ready for the servo to be reinstalled, the first job of the new year.

As this is the last entry of the year, a summary of work completed in the last twelve months is appropriate.

The wheels were painted in black.

The horizontal beading was fixed to the offside and the emergency door.  Also the beading around the O/S front wheelarch and other small pieces of beading.

A new front mudwing was made for me by Geoff Brown, in several pieces, welded together by me, painted and fitted to the bus.

The cab door sliding window was completed, partially painted and installed.

Two battery boxes were made and installed, along with refurbished battery cables and an isolator switch.

The electrical control box in the cab was refurbished and connected up to the new wiring.

The rear brakes were were attended to and the large servo removed and refurbished.

21/12/2025

Work continued on the rear brake servo and preparations for refitting.  The area of chassis where the servo is mounted and the rear mounting bracket were thoroughly cleaned and degreased, then given two coats of red oxide.  The servo itself received a coat of silver, just to smarten it up, and my wife sewed a hem on the gaiters, inserting a long cable tie as a drawstring.  I fitted these and the rear (short) brake rod, then wired up the forward brake rod end so the servo is now ready to fit.  It was too damp at the end of the week to finish painting the chassis, so I took the metal advert down from the front bulkhead for Rebecca to restore.

14/12/2025

First job this week was to make new gaiters for the rear brake servo.  These are now awaiting the attention of the seamstress.  After that, I touched up the paint on the cab door window with undercoat.  Progress slowed a bit then, but some scraping and cleaning of the chassis and mounting bracket for the servo was carried in preparation for paint and the servo forward mounting block through-bolt was cleaned and made a better fit in the servo.   A little relief of the servo appears necessary, too, to ensure that the block allows a little adjustment of the servo horizontal position.  With the arrival of a 1/8″ WW spanner as I able to remove and dismantle the distributor valve, which was stuck solid, so I gently freed it with a combination of BDX and carb cleaner.  I was unable to fully withdraw the piston, as the rubber end seal at the rear had enlarged slightly with use, but the seals appear in satisfactory condition and the piston moves freely.   I made a new end cover and valve mounting gaskets, then lubricated the valve with DC4 silicone grease and reassembled it to the servo body.  Last job of the week was to make a 3.5 mm spacer for the adjustment lock nut on the valve operating rod in order to correctly set the clearance at the valve body as stated in the manual.