Slow progress today.  I was able to remove the forward facing flitch plate from the body bearer aft of the wheelbox.  As for the rear one I will be making a larger replacement.  Haveing cut off the bolt heads and nuts holding the flitch plates in place, I decided that it would cause more damage to extract them so levelled them off with the surface of the wood.  There is plenty of room to drill new holes for fixing bolts and as the bearer is showing signs of minor splitting the old bolts will help to keep everything in place.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up all the accessible wood and the top of the chassis.  Last job was to apply a coat of Vactan to the bearer to chassis clamp bolts and the top of the chassis.  I considered replacing these as they are quite rusty, but obtaining replacements of the correct size is looking difficult so they will do for now.  The woodwork can be primed tomorrow and the chassis top and various other exposed metal bits can have a coat of red oxide too.

Timber to rear of wheelbox

Looking rearwards from above the axle

Looking forwards from above the axle

Continued with cutting new timber sections for the rear N/S wheelarch until my bandsaw blade gave out.    Turned my attention to the  corroded flitch plates that attach the body bearer aft of the wheelbox area to the vertical side rod.   In order to make this easier and to gain access to damaged framework, I removed the inner wheelarch cover, which came out with comparative ease.  It is secured to a bracket under the seats over the wheel box.  There is a steel plate attached to the top of the  cover which also came away easily.  This has pyramid plate treads attached to it and is rotten.

Having removed the wheelarch cover I can now see that it will be fairly straightforward to remove the remaining wheelarch timber.

After that, I removed the flitch plate from behind the body bearer and then it was finishing time.

When I make the new flitch plate I will extend it further along the bearer toward the middle of the bus as the bearer could do with some reinforcement on this area, although it is thankfully not rotten.

Not much done today owing to having a day out, but on my return was able to remove the rearward top section of the wheelarch framing.  This is badly rotted so was fairly easy to remove, however the forward one is going to be much less easy and I am tempted to repair it in situ and leave it as it is.  This may not be an option as the inside beading is pulling away from it where the screws have all rotted in their holes.  I will investigate further tomorrow.