Tag Archives: windows

8/9/2024

On Monday  I  finished fixing and dressing the aluminium panels to the emergency door frame, then abraded them and primed them.  Next I started stripping the vertical weather strip  that fits around the hinges.  This was pretty rusty on the back but a wire brush wheel in the big angle grinder made short work of it.  I then primed the front face and gave a second coat to the cab door weather deflector.   Whilst waiting for these to dry, I removed the cab door inner panel and, after inspection, decided to cut a new one, pre-drilling all the holes by using the old panel as a template, screwed to the new one as I progressed with the drilling.  Hopefully everything will line up square!  Before starting work on Tuesday, I collected the template for the emergency door glass from Paxton’s and took it to Dunmow glass who quoted me £70 less for it!   Gave the weather deflector strips another coat of primer, then an undercoat in colour.   A coat of top coat on the inside face and these can be fitted.   Whilst waiting for them to dry I dismantled the slam lock for the cab door.  This was choked with rust and the springs had rusted solid, so I cleaned it out and replaced the springs with a single new one from stock.  A small shim for the handle cam fixed a bit of roughness in operation, then it was thoroughly greased with copper grease and reassembled and painted.  Whilst waiting for the paint to dry on the slam lock, I investigated why the cab door was sticking and cured it by sanding off the bottom of the frame and reshaping the lower rubber guide.  It now fits as well as it is going to!  Last job was to glaze the metal frame for the very last offside window (apart from the emergency door for which I am awaiting the glass).  This fitted fairly easily, thankfully, unlike the first piece which was slightly too large.

Emergency door paneled and ready for fitting

Emergency door paneled and being prepped for priming.

26/5/2024

Started to assemble the first of the two remaining droplight frames.  With the moquette from Matt and Steve we now have enough to get started on the seats.  Attempted to fit an assembled window pan, but it was too tight so had to relieve the forward pillar and grind down any protruding scew ends.  It did go in eventually but quite a tight fit.  I noticed that I had cut the rearmost edge a bit narrow so the beading has a bit of a gap to cover.  The final droplight also took several attempts to get to fit in line with the others but I got there eventually.  The poor quality of these frames will take a lot of cosmetic improvement, inside and out, including attention to the draft-excluder rubbers at the top of the windows.  However, it has to be said that the fitting of the final droplight is a milestone of sorts.  Final job of the week was measuring up the remains of the plain window on the offside, opposite the entrance door.

19/5/2024

Started the week by assembling and chroming the two remaining droplight frames.  This took a long time due to having to seal the edges of the frames properly with black sealant.  By the end of the week they were not quite finished but next week should see both the remaining droplights installed.