First job was to removed the remaining wheel, which took most of a day but included some clean-up in the bus shed. This was necessary as Ian is coming to collect it next week. I then turned my attention to the rear seatback again, screwing on the last of the steel plates that stiffen the frame and seal the seat. I then prepared a piece of beading to trim the interface between the seat fabric and the steel plate. I used a secondhand piece for this, which is of poor quality but won’t be visible under normal circumstances. In an attempt to improve it I filled a fiew of the dents then primed it. A fair bit of time was spent cleaning inside the bus in preparation for fitting the seat back. I then turned my attention to the “parcel shelf” which fits behind the rear seat back. I removed the remains of the original fabric, pulled out all the old tacks and filled any holes, repairing splits along the way. I could not make a new one as I had no suitable wood and also the front edge is bevelled to suit the angle of the rear seat back. Final job of the week was to sand it down and cover it with blue fabric to match the seat backs. I’ve ordered some piping for the edges.
17/11/2024
A good start to the week was made by welding the new channel into the cab door window frame. I also painted the edges of the last metal plate for the rear seat back and found a suitable piece of beading to finish the job neatly. Next job was to fit the second hinge to the emergency door, – I had been awaiting the correct size screws – and then hang it back on the body. I then was able to fit the window to it, thus completing all the offside windows except for the cab door, which I turned to next, welding in the short channel for the fixed pane, finishing the welds and then applying a coat of primer after checking the glass still fitted! Final dust and leaf removal from the roof was also carried out, then I turned my attention to finishing the roof repair over the entrance door with P38.
10/11/2024
Continued cleaning the roof, more than half had been cleaned by the end of the week. This is a slow but necessary process if work is to continue at some point. Further illness interrupted this process but I managed to fit the glass into the emergency door frame and started to fit the hinges but ran out of screws. I also started cleaning the inside of the bus and the seat frames. I also fitted two of the steel plates to the rear seat back and trimmed the third to fit. The final act of the week was to collect the remaining seat backs from Ifor.