25/8/2024

First job this week was final painting of the emergency door window frame, this is now complete and awaiting glass. Next job was to cut the steel strip for the leading edge of the door; I had to weld a short piece on to the material I had in stock to save buying more steel but this was no problem.  Next, I painted the emergency door wooden frame with primer.  Whilst that dried I trimmed and drilled the steel edge strip, using the rusty original as a template.  I then used the new strip to drill the holes in the emergency door frame then painted the frame side and fitted the strip to the frame.  Next I cut the aluminium panel to size for the lower emergency door cladding, including the edge folds.  This has to be wrapped around the steel strip edge, a bit tricky.  A trial fit of the panel enabled me to mark out the cut-out for the emergency door handle and bezel.  I then primed and painted the steel edge strip.  When that was dry, I started to fit the external cladding, with a layer of waxoyl between the steel and the aluminium.  I had pinned the top and bottom edges by the end of play.  The glass for the last offside window was finally ready so we were able to collect it from Dunmow glass, an experience that leads me to think we will not buy glass there again.  I finished most of the aluminium work on the emergency door by the end of Saturday, the penultimate piece is cut and folded but not yet attached.  That will be the first job for next week.

18/8/2024

First job of the week was to apply cosmetic filler to the weld on the emergency door window frame then rub this down and prime the whole frame, sealing the weld and paint the rear grey.  The weather has been very hot this week so the number of hours worked was reduced, though it got cooler as the week went on I still felt progress was slow.  Having completed the window frame cosmetically to my satisfaction I continued working on the wood frame of the emergency door, removing the remains of the corrosion left by the panels and removing the felt panel insulator.  I removed the two rubber guide bases to use as templates for new rubbers and started to remove the hinges for repainting, marking the middle one with an M.  Work ended there due to the need to prepare the MW for a trip to Lodges on Sunday 18th of August.

Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.