Both rear shock absorbers painted with Alumablast and Vactan on the steel parts. Decided that the best way to refit the lever arm to the reconditioned shocker is when it is mounted on the bus as it will be held more securely than in a vice and also easier to handle with less weight.
Ordered SAE20 damper oil from Moss to refill the two rear shock absorbers today.
Also today I filled the reverse side of the shock absorber links with two-part Urethane to complete the bushes ready for reassembly when the shock absorbers go back on. Ordered the 5/8″ nuts and bolts for this today, had to be UNF as the only BSF available in the right length are prohibitively expensive and its not worth the time to make them myself. They can be replaced at some point in the future.
Collected repaired shock absorber from Les at Steve Price’s today. Fantastic job. Les welded up the casing, fitted new bushes and seals and repaired the broken internal operating lever. He also explained how to dismantle the rest of them, should they need doing: pop out the rear core plug, remove the seal and press the shaft out from behind. I have the old bushes so I can measure them for OD and nominal ID. However there is no play and plenty of resistance in the other rear shocker so will leave that alone for the time being.
Mostly painting road wheel hubs and drive hubs today. Applied the blue enamel to the AEC badges for the drive hubs.
Whilst waiting for paint to dry, carried on attempting to remove the waist rail lower beading – some progress. The upper rail beading seems to be willing to just pull off, probably as a result of the rot in the window pans allowing water down into the woodwork. No doubt more horrors to be found once that and the panels are all removed.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
