Having laid the lino, which still requires some internal finishing around the edges, I was able to fit the steel sill (manufactured some time ago) and finish hanging the boot doors and getting them lined up nicely with good gaps all around. This necessitated shimming the top and bottom hinges and sanding yet more wood off the bottom of the doors where they were striking the sill. I also had to make some modification to the door locking mechanism in order for it to fasten correctly at both the top and the bottom. The top edges of the doors were very uneven and the gaps equally bad, so I built up the top surfaces with filler and sanded it back to a good shape. Not the best of solutions but should be ok.
Boot doors aligned and gaps made good
I also completed assembly of the step light, with the exception of the brass hinge pins which still haven’t arrived.
Work this week has mostly been to do with the boot. The rear doors had their inner panels fitted, primed and painted. The door lock fittings were cleaned up and painted black. The boot light has been refurbished and repainted. This all in preparation for completing the boot when the weather is a little warmer I can lay the new lino.
In parallel with this I have been preparing to make the new mudwings and inner wheelarches. The material has arrived and yesterday I made a cardboard template for the nearside opening.
Progress has been slow again recently but I did manage to temporarily fit the missing NS window frame with a view to establishing accurately the position of the upper waistrail beading.
I spent some time measuring and establishing the needs for wiring conduit for the front and rear lights, which has now been ordered.
I fabricated and painted a new drip rail for the boot doors from J-section.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
