This morning’s progress was slow, mostly spent cleaning up under the back of the bus following the recent demolition work. I did manage to drill the holes for the through bolts in the repaired corner pillar, these bolt through the steel curved corner reinforcement, both gusset plates (one either side of the pillar) and the pillar itself.
Later int he day I cut three gusset flitch plates from the remaining 2mm Zintec steel, one pair for the corner pillar and the third for the pillar that has the boot closing panel attached to it.
Today has been the first really warm day of the year and I was able by lunchtime to complete removal of the rotten steel gusset flich plates around the boot OS side pillars, ground the remains of the bolts flush with the bearers and, where they could not be removed, with the pillars.
Next I sanded the bearers and the underside of the boot floor ready for painting with aluminium paint, which I completed before the end of the day, then I applied a coat of red oxide to the steel curved corner pieces.
Final job of the day was to apply a coat of grey topcoat to the corner section so it will be ready for fitting when I have made and fitted new steel gusset flitch plates to the first OS pillar.
Most of today was spent fettling the repair section I made yesterday to get a good fit, both to the bearer and to the existing good part of the side pillar. I managed to get it screwed and glued into place by early afternoon. The rest of the day was spent removing the steel gusset reinforcement from the third OS pillar towards the front, which is also badly rotted and needs repairing.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
