Tag Archives: wheel housing

23/10/2022

Reflecting how the pace of work has slowed, it’s over a month since the last entry.  However work has proceeded in the cab and around the front end generally.  All the paint that needs to be removed from the cab is gone; the metal sections of the floor have all been  painted and are ready to be refitted, the top faces in primer only, ready fro the brown that is used throughout the cab.  Two major jobs have been done, removal of the radiator which took me and Ian about five minutes and then removal of the incorrect, too large (ex-Matador) engine cooling fan.  This defied all attempts to remove it in the normal way with a puller, including application of a great amount of heat.  Cutting away the majority of the fan followed, to gain access to the central boss which I carefully ground along the top of the key way.  Thinning the boss with the grinder enabled it to be split away from the shaft and the remains pulled off.  This revealed that the fan is a primitive form of viscous fan with friction material between the aluminium fan blades and the steel drive boss.

Back in the cab, the windscreen frames have returned from the chromers and look fantastic.  A large amount of filth has been cleaned from the front offside chassis frame, pedals, gearchange box and steering box in preparation for priming and silvering.  Once this has been done the floor can be reinstated and replacement fabricated for the rotten step plate.

At the back, the offside rear wheel housing cover has been painted and reinstalled, although it seemed satisfactory and all the holes lined up with the (new) mounting bracket, there are some gaps visible internally which will need to be attended to with rubber strip.  A new wooden  cover was made for the steel mounting bracket which showed how badly the steel cover fitted and the gaps between the two were sealed with dum dum ready for painting.  The original wooden cover was refitted on the nearside at this time too.  Both were painted before fitting but will need final finial finishing with paint.

Whilst the radiator is off, the opportunity has been taken to clean the front of the engine and treat with Vactan some of the surface rust on the steel  pipework.  This gives a tidy, durable finish without the need for further painting.

20/9/2022

Whilst waiting for the windscreen frame to return from the platers,  I removed the wooden section from the rear of the cab floor and have sanded off all the paint in readiness for new paint.  The vertical seat support that was bolted to this has been removed and partially repainted.  I made myself ill for a few days by exposure to fumes from the zinc phosphate red oxide primer I was using so abandoned that for now and work has moved to the offside rear  wheel well.  I made a new steel angle bracket to support the wheel well cover and fitted that today after painting it over the last couple of days.  The wheel well cover has been stripped and painted ready for fitting when the paint has hardened.    I spent yesterday and today making a replacement wooden cover for the missing one that fits over the support bracket, using the nearside one as a pattern.  I gave it a thin coat of red undercoat as a primer.  It is ready to fit when the wheel well cover has been installed.

1/1/2022 – Year summary for 2021

The last two weeks have seen the completion of repairs to the O/S frame, the last of the rusty screws and nails removed and the holes dowelled.   The last of the new flitch plated have been fitted.   The repairs to the cantrail have been sanded level and the rest of the frame sanded and prepared for painting.  The unpainted woodwork has been primed and the a start made on painting the whole of the exposed frame with grey top coat.

As it is the first day of the year, a summary of work completed in the last twelve months is appropriate.

The nearside of the bus from the entrance rearwards has been structurally completed, all windows panels are in place and beaded.  The rear corner panel has been cosmetically filled and finished in undercoat.  A new mudwing and liner was fabricated and installed and the wheelbox cover stripped, painted and refitted with new mountings.

The roof has been completely stripped of all paint and repaired where necessary to make it watertight.

The roof over the entrance and nearside front wheel has been repaired and is ready for cosmetic finishing, including a new valance over the entrance steps.

A new rear number plate box was fabricated and installed, along with new bulb holders and wiring for the stop and tail lights. The boot doors have been refitted and primed.

The destination box glass has been removed and a replacement obtained.  Some repairs have been made to the wooden frame that supports the glass.

The entrance step light was repaired and repainted ready for fitting.

The boot was finished internally with new lino.

Work has now commenced on the offside with all windows removed, frame repairs completed above the floor and the frame partially painted.