Work over the last few days: painting then fitting repair section to forward entrance pillar. Next, cutting and shaping a new, slightly wider pillar for rearward entrance pillar lower section, to accommodate the steel reinforcer that the entrance steps sheet metalwork is partially hung from. The pillar has a curved profile to the inner edge to allow the aluminium cladding to wrap around correctly. The first piece I made I copied from the only good lower side rod and didn’t realise it needed this profile and a rebate for the reinforcement, so I will use the first one I made further down the bus. All good practice!
Gave it a good soak in preservative.
Welded a swaged end into the piece of exhaust flexi to join the down pipe to the exhaust.
Primed the repair section for the forward door pillar.
Drilled the mounting holes in the mahogany planks for the steps. I also drilled some packing strips for underneath the planks. Soaked the whole lot in preservative.
Played around with paint colours today. An 80/20 mix of brick red undercoat and gloss black gives a good brown suitable for the boot lining plywood.
Fitted steel work for entrance step bay today. This required a few extra holes. Still some screws to fit.
Made a joining plate for the forward entrance pillar lower repair section and sanded the repair section to profile. Etch primed the joining plate which should be paintable tomorrow.
Cut the forward door pillar ready for fitting the repair section and drilled the mounting hole through the steel plating for the entrance steps. Cut the over-length countersunk bolts to size for mounting the repair section.
Drilled the repair section and soaked it in preservative ready for priming when dry.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
