Final trimming and fitting of the repair section I made yesterday was carried out this morning. The repair section was fitted and screwed and glued in place after some fettling of the slot into which the boot floor bearer mortises.
Attention then turned to removing the remains of rusty screws from the the overlap section where the side meets the rear corner. I cut to length (64.5in) the long length of timber for the nearside rail and proceeded to start creating the rebate for the boot floor using the circular saw and a jig made from another timber. I made the horizontal cut in both offside and nearside timbers this afternoon and prepared the first timber for the vertical cut tomorrow.
Today was a fruitful day. This morning I completed removal of the steel flitch plates in the nearside of the boot and ground down the remains of those bolts that I could not remove in order to provide a smooth location for the new steel, when the time comes.
I then sanded all the loose paint and dirt off the underside of the boot floor and crossmembers ready for painting when the framing has been repaired in this area.
Finally I cut out the rotten lower section of the third siderod rearwards from the wheelarch and cut and shaped a repair section ready for fitting.
Today’s major task was the removal of the corroded remains of the steel flitch plates that connect the boot floor cross members to the uprights. This was not completely achieved but should be tomorrow.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
