Fitted the horizontal beading below the front bulkhead windows today. This was a reclaimed piece but I’m not convinced it is worthwhile given the difficulty of getting it to look decent when it has been bent about. I cut and marked for drilling the upper piece of horizontal beading last thing and started flatting the red oxide on the bulkhead using a P400 disc and air sander. It is giving a good finish ready for undercoat.
I cut and fitted a replacement panel for the rearward bulkhead above the entrance steps today as the original has too many dents in it. However the new panel (from reclaimed material) is not as good as I thought and has some corrosion pitting so after a coat of self-etch I will have to fill and sand it.
Yesterday and today I cut and fitted the aluminium cladding to the right hand side of the front bulkhead. This included the vertical beading. I painted the reverse of the aluminium cladding and beading with the same grey paint as the wood and used seam sealer as well in an attempt to keep electrolytic corrosion at bay.
Continued refitting panelwork in the entrance vestibule area , made a new piece of vertical beading for the forward door pillar and fitted the cladding for the pillar and the window surrounds.
Stripped and derusted to the two steel covers that fit in the corner by the door and over the body mounting. These are steel and were fairly rusty.
I made and fitted the small piece of aluminium cladding that abuts the right hand side of the bulkhead window. Another piece fits below this to match up the beading but the existing piece was to badly damaged by electrolytic corrosion to use so I am in the process of cutting a new piece from sheet metal salvaged from the leftovers of 2636’s restoration. I won’t be able to do much tomorrow so this will likely be finished on Sunday.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
