Still unable to do much at the start of the week, but towards the middle of the week I was able to start preparing to spray the wheels with primer. I mixed the pain tthen laid out five wheels and wire-brushed the deeply pitted remaining rust. I then sprayed the inside face with zinc phosphate red oxide, applying two coats. I gave the five a scond coat after 24 hours and then started on the remaining two, wirebrushing then a single coat ot red oxide.
I was able to work out what I had once they all had been painted. Two skinny ones for the front, two more of the same patterm but fatter, for the outer rears, two of a identical but different from the others for the rear inners and an odd one for the spare.
Not much achieved this week. Acquired a spare tyre. Retrieved the wheels from Marcel the sand blaster and moved the tyres around to accommodate them in the front shed. The black cellulose paint for the wheels arrived on Friday but I’m still too unwell to do anything with it yet. Hopefully next week.
Started the week in the boot, permanently installing the boot light and wiring as far as the junction box for the switch. In between I moved the spare wheel rim to the front shed for pickup to be blasted and also gave the cab door window another couple of coat of primer, flatting in between. As I had run out of pclips, so couldn’t continue wiring, I turned my attention to the offside inner wheelarch lining, priming it ready for silvering. Next, I stripped the remaining brown paint from the cab door and prepared the woodwork for primer. I also stripped the remaining paint from the aluminium parts of the cab door. The small section of wind deflector over the offside curved window was stripped next, then primed on one side. I also gave the cab window frame a final coat of primer, ready for undecoat. Having a little time to spare, I cut back about a foot the erroneous bit of beading from behiend the emergency door and made a replacement piece. This needs to be drilled and fitted when an odd hour is available. The wheel rims were collected from Treadfirst at Shire Hill on Thursday, having had the tyres removed and disposed of, and delivered to Marcel at Terriers Farm, Thaxted, for sand blasting. I also acquired a spare tyre from eBay for £50, so that was handy. Returning to electrics, the six-way junction box for the boot turned out to have two 0BA brass grub screws missing and when replacements arrived I had to turn them down, using a slotted nut as a collet, as they were slightly too long. The last job of the week was to cut the holes in the rear waist panels for the arrow-shaped left and right indicators. The bases for these can be installed ready for wiring, once the panels have been primed and painted.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
