Started the week by fitting a new castellated nut to the rear N/S shock absorber shaft, to  replace the wheel nut that was on there temporarily.  That took much longer than it should have, as I had to straighten the thread with a die nut.  The next job was to spray some silver on various parts under the bus that needed it, including the N/S chassis which I primed last week.  I then turned my attention to the matter of replacing the main vacuum pipe, which was in very poor condition.  I decided to retain the ends, which screw onto the exhauster pump and the main junction to the vacuum reservoir and front brakes, and add a flexible hose section in the length above the chassis member.  I started cutting the lengths of new copper tubing and a length of flexible hose, then soldered on olive rings to provide a seal for the hose on the horizontal lengths of tube.  Next, I silver-soldered the sections of pipe together.

A fruitful week.  I started by finishing of the bush for the front damper lever arm drop link.  I press fitted it to the pin using a vise and socket then tapped the pin gently into the hole.   I drew the pin and bush in by screwing on the nut until the bush pin was properly seated and the bush was flush with the arm, then undid it so I could fit a washer and split pin.  The lower bush of the drop link fits into a bracket under the front spring.  Inserting the lower bush pin required some fiddling with the bush end, turning it one way to get it into position, then gradually easing it round until the pin located in the hole in the bracket.  This was because of the lack of space between the end of the drop link and the axle.  However, once the pin was in the hole I was able to draw it through with the fixing nut.   The next job was to fit the clamp bolts to the front wheel bearing nuts.  After that I secured the speedo cable to the chassis.   The route puzzled me at first, but I soon realised that the cable has to pass the outside of the chassis frame from the speedo, then between the spring and frame member and along the inside return of the frame to the gearbox.    Next, I greased the O/S steering joints.  A painting session followed, finishing off the destination blind box so I can lubricate the winding gear, then priming the O/S damper link.  Whilst I waited for that to cure, I cleaned a section of the N/S chassis frame and gave it a coat of red oxide.    The final job of the week was to paint the O/S damper link silver.  I also completed the silvering of the steering drag arm and some other odd bits in that area.   The only parts of the chassis remaining to be painted are the tubular cross pieces and the unreachable sections behind the vacuum cylinder.

Started making the bush for the front damper arm, turned it to size and drilled a pilot hole. I needed a boring tool to finish it off but in the absence of such a thing  I  decided to drill and then hone it instead, so  ordered the correct size drill.  In the meantime I set about making and fitting a blanking plate for the heater outlet on the radiator, which is not used at the moment.  I also corrected the fit of the top hose at the same time.    As the final job of the week, I greased the rear brake pivot shafts and the propshaft rear joint, and all the spring hangers and pivots.