Having primed the corner timber section yesterday, it is now waiting for a coat of grey. It can’t be fitted though until I’ve repaired the first side pillar going down the offside. So today the first job was removing the remains of the steel reinforcement that connects this pillar to the body bearer under the boot floor.
Next I made a hardboard template for the side rod, one which was the complete piece from the first horizontal down to the boot perimeter rail for references purposes. Then I cut out the rotten section and made another template that was just the repair section for this piece.
I then cut out a repair section from 2″ x 3″ Iroko ready for further fettling tomorrow.
Today I finished the corner timber and prepared it for fitting. I drilled the holes for the 5/16″ bolts that hold it to the steel reinforcement and added some screws to supplement the glue for the individual pieces that make up the part. I then gave it a coat of primer.
I cut away the heads of the through fixing bolts to the rearmost offside side rod in preparation for replacing the rotted sections of this and in order to coat the reinforcement with Vactan ready for painting.
Looking towards the front along the boot perimeter rail showing the extent of the rot and corrosion
Not a great deal of obvious progress today. I added the last section to the corner piece and that should be ready for trimming and drilling tomorrow.
Whilst the glue set I continued repairing screw holes in the rear framing. I will have to address the horizontal beam under the rear window before too long. But for now there is plenty to do around the boot floor and doors.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.