Work has continues down the offside with cleaning and oxiding the chassis as far as the cab. The fuel tank has gone away to Hartlepool Radiators for refurbishing and most of the cab fitting and sections of the floor have been removed in preparation for repair and for painting the cab. Two new dynamo output cables have been installed and just await the terminals soldering so the dynamo can be reconnected.
The windscreen wiper motor has been removed and serviced and is ready for a new coat of paint.
The access door for the destination box proved impossible to remove without a lot of effort and in fact all it needed was a bit sanding off the frame to ensure it could be fastened closed.
Work this week has been concentrated on the chassis under the cab, painstakingly cleaning of hardened and congealed grease and filth. The chassis as far as the shock absorber has been treated with Vactan and is ready read oxide, as is the lower part of the cab rear bulkhead. Hopefully by the end of the week I should be able to spray silver onto the chassis.
The long gap in recording progress has been due to other commitments and some some minor illness. However work has been going on, concentrated around the cab. The following items have been removed to allow access and restoration of these items: the headlight assembly, the driver’s seat, the wiring cubicle and combined control box and main switch unit, the interior light switch bank, bell and flasher unit panel (above the driver), and the horn and cab light/step light switch. A lot of the aged wiring and redundant wiring has been stripped out of the cab, the indicator switch remains. Some replacement high-current cabling to feed the lighting switch panel has been ordered. Two new sidelight units were obtained (very expensive!) which means I have a spare now. The access panel to the destination box will need to be removed as the hing is sagging and it doesn’t close properly. The windscreen wiper motor remains to be removed too.
The plan forward now is to get the fuel tank dispatched for refurbishment, the cab floor repaired, the cab painted and the chassis painted in the area behind the fuel tank.
I have been stripping down underneath the cab this week, including removing the mudwing which is the wrong type. This gave access to the main power and battery cables and the cab bulkhead which has a lot of surface rust but is not rotted through anywhere. This work was preceded by removal of the battery boxes from the offside, both of which need to be replaced as they are excessively corroded. Originally there were four 6v batteries fitted in pairs either side of the gangway. It is my intention to continue to use a pair of 12v batteries and it would make sense to fit them on alternate sides to balance out the weight, I have yet to remove the nearside boxes but the two that are now redundant will have floor plated over and the box covers retained for storage.
Other work has involved correcting some poor work done by the previous owners – trimming the bolts on the offside front springs/rear hanger to prevent them binding on the chassis and replacing the felt washers on the ball joints and various missing split pins and washers. However, the cold weather and health problems have prevented me from completing work under the cab for now so today I dismantled the first of the rotten offside half-drop windows with a view to preparing the parts ready for installation in the new frames I made last year.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
