The previous two days I spent making the ash repair section for the entrance pillar. This is completed and fitted as shown in the picture:
Entrance pillar repair.
Other work done includes plugging more screw holes with hardwood dowels and sanding these off flush. Work is now concentrated at the top of the pillar where there is a steel plate and bracket under which the pillar has rotted. This requires the removal of the drip rail above the entrance and the wired-edge panel that finishes the top of the entrance, which is extensively corroded as can be seen in this picture:
No significant progress over the last few days all though there has been a lot of work. I removed the entrance bulkhead window and the panel facing the steps the day before yesterday so that I could cut out a rotten section of the rearward door pillar where it connects with the waist rail. The steel reinforcement at this point had completely corroded away but replacement is straightforward as the end of the waist rail is intact and solid. I made a replacement wooden section to replace the rotted section but during the final cut the bandsaw blade broke, ruining the piece and I don’t have a spare blade – on order. Other work has included drilling out rotted screw holes and filling them with 6mm hardwood dowels glued and hammered in. Work at the moment is centred around making the nearside frame sound ready for repanelling, which has to be done from the bottom perimeter rail upwards.
Below is the corner plate that needs to be replaced.
Very rusty corner plate!
Close-up of corner plate and probably my thumb, showing there is really very little metal left at all.
Other demands on my time have meant little progress for a while, however Christmas shopping, car and bus maintenance and trips to the dump notwithstanding, I should be able to devote more time for a week or so.
Last couple of days had been spent removing rusty screw remains and similar nails from the body frame. All the steel flitch plates have been removed from the nearside now and there are random patches of rot that need to be cut out and replaced with new wood. I milled some out this afternoon with my router but it is not a perfect process.
Undamaged screw holes are being filled with PVA, tooth picks and dowels depending on the size of the hole. Where possible, screwing into these should be avoided except where necessary. Still trying to agree the window rubber profile with the supplier.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
