First job of the week was to apply two coats of Zinc Phosphate red oxide to the offside chassis rail inner face. The terminal box and griplock gland for the multicore cable has been mounted in the boot. The chassis rail inner face has been silvered and the the griplock conduit, complete with multicore cable run from the cab to the boot stress panel along the inner face of the O/S chassis frame rail. I am waiting on delivery of the correct size of P-clips to secure the conduit. I started to fabricate the cover for the wiring behind the front O/S wing as a fill-in job until I can secure the front-to-rear conduit. I managed to make the side piece and top pieces and mark out the final piece ready for cutting on Monday.
Terminal box mounted in the boot. Multicore tagstrip in the foreground.
Side rod brackets have been painted and fitted. The lower side rod extensions have been drilled, painted and fitted. Worked then turned to preparations for fitting the wiring conduit from the cab to the boot. This included cleaning the chassis under the cab floor and prining ready for silver. Drilling the rear bulkhead in the area of the lower electrical cubicle cover and fitting with the gland to accept the conduit. The chassis from the main brake servo back to just in front of the rear axle has been cleaned and rust beater applied, ready for a coat of red oxide in the coming week. The terminal box for the boot electrics has been sourced and work started on mounting the lid and the screw terminal strip.
Work has continued on the electrical side with all the wiring to the nearside of the bus from the cab now laid in, with conduit where appropriate, with the exception of the panel light switch and horn button although the conduit for this connection has been made. I rerouted the step light conduit over the bellhousing using part of the bulkhead where the gearbox cover rests to hold up the conduit. The step light is now fitted and wired up, as is the nearside headlight. I removed the remains of the original fog light and the conduit is secured and the wire there ready to fit the replacement in due course. Wiring for the nearside indicator now runs through the cab conduit where the step light wiring would have gone so a neat solution to the problem of adding to the existing wiring. In the process of fastening the conduit to the firewall bulkhead I had to remove the main vacuum exhauster pipe. This was fortuitous as it is in really poor condition and needs replacing. I also removed the thin vacuum pipe to the autovac to make up a replacement. Removal of the vacuum pipe alerted me to the fact that a lot of mud had accumulated in the chassis return flange along the redundant grease pipe so removed a lot but more remains as do the pipes, which need removing. Wiring for the nearside – horn, headlight, sidelight and panel light has been made up to length including conduit but is not yet mounted. Noted that the panel light shares the headlight conduit – at least, that seems the only logical way to do it. Started stripping paint off the offside headlight assembly in preparation for reassembly and applied a first primer coat to the bowl which was showing some surface rusrt. Finished off bits of painting in the cab today, including the front dome panel from which I had to remove a dent. Someone had previously drilled a hole so I filled it with a 0BA screw after I’d finished with the panel hammer.
Restoration diary of a 70-year old AEC single-deck bus and the trials, tribulations and adventures of our 1966 Bristol bus.
