As ever, the delights of the King Alfred running day eluded me - but why bother with riding a nice, warm bus when there are the frigid delights of aluminium sheet and rusty nuts and bolts to enjoy? Anxious to do something that counted at the start of SM106's 40th anniversary year, I took one of Ian Barratt's offcuts and made a new panel for the rear of the front n/s wheel-arch, which needed a clever fold at the bottom, so the 'ship' had an outing as well. Happy with that, I went on to cut to size the lower panel ahead of the exit doorway but that was too long to fold on the ship and had to be taken home for attention. Then it was serious drilling time, using the old 'St Richard's Hospital' panel as a jig. It went rather well, I thought, and I didn't break any drills. After that I had a go at the radiator, to free the fan and casing from the matrix, but I was stuck with two nuts on a stay-bracket which wouldn't budge. So it goes............

For a diversion, SM106 received her first ever official visitor over the New Year when we welcomed Stuart Boxall, whose enthusiasm was partly down to deja vu. SM106 was on his short-list for purchase when a teenager, but was eliminated due to the entrance-step conversion. I have some sympathy with his opinion, but it proved the spur to renewing the crustiest bit of the bus.

Drilling the new panel, using the old as a jig Photo © J.Wilkins

Fitting the new skirt panel Photo © J.Wilkins

The cold weather has been a considerable disincentive, but bodywork beckons. A source of great disquiet has been the state of the rear window/emergency exit. The RM835 Group had replaced most of the wooden framing, comprising straight pieces in the rear and curved quadrants under the quarters, but mention has already been made of the damage sustained to the offside rear during transport from Northchapel. The new, but damaged, panels have been removed for a while so that the damage could be examined, and repaired as necessary. The curved, upper quarter panel was offered up and drilled using the old window trim as a, template, and new window trim that has been in stock or newly-cut put in place. A major difficulty is the upper set of screws that hold the gutter moulding, which have been placed too close to the edge of the wood, which has split. This is a common theme at both ends of the bus. The wood is mostly in very good condition, but there is nothing there to put new screws into for much of the length. Unfortunately, it will be necessary to dismantle part of the rear destination blind box to gain access to the fixing screws. Glue and clamps were applied to the broken, lower wooden quadrant which sustained most damage, and both quadrants re-attached with new screws. Finally, the skirt panel from between the doors was taken home for bending, which had to be done in the time-honoured fashion as Len's folding machine would not take the length. It took a good hour, but the result bears scrutiny. It will be trimmed for height and installed on my next workday. Also at home are the newly cleaned-up headlamp and air-inlet trims from the front dash, awaiting paint and re-attachment. So much to do!

The skirt panel was soon attached temporarily, as it is still necessary to get at the chassis for cleaning and painting, and it makes the area between the doors look very tidy and 'finished'. Warmer weather is required for painting etc. The battle with the remaining original wood in the emergency exit aperture then commenced in earnest. Drilling out the rivets holding the trim piece that forms the rear blind box was insufficient to free it. As usual, the shank of the rivet prevented the GRP sheet from dropping and it is very difficult to drill right through without the bit wandering off and damaging the GRP instead of the rivet - especially as most of them appeared to be monel and very hard. Eventually the sheet came out and exposed the horrors of the corner boxes, the offside of which is an air duct for the rear saloon heater. A thick layer of dirt and rather optimistic spider web covered the shelf which makes the floor of the blind box, and only four of seven screws would undo to release the wooden cross-member. The remainder had to be attacked with a chisel to start the head and then saw it off with a padsaw. Not funny in such a confined space, but eventually the wood came down and has already been deliverd to the joiner in Colwyn Bay for replication. Lots of moderately rusty steelwork was also exposed by this operation, so there will be plenty of preparation and painting awaiting the start of the 'season' in a few weeks time. Access in this area also allowed a more determined attempt to remove the seized-up winder mechanism, which has obviously seen little use for many, many years.

Removing the rear blind-box cover Photo © J.Wilkins

Fettling the quarter panels and number-plate box Photo © J.Wilkins

The panelling around the rear quarters and emergency exit window is an area that I have dreaded getting into. Before gaining experience of panelling generally this was daunting, now it is just rather taxing. The profile of the quarters is complicated by the inward taper of the body sides, and similar rake on the rear windows. The quarter panels (blue in the picture) are thus sections of a cone and not a cylinder. Beneath them is another tapered section (silver) which runs horizontally across the number plate aperture, and thus runs off downhill when it turns the corner to the nearside below the window. I am sorry to say that the previous owners (or their agent) made a complete mess of this nearside piece and did not make it long enough to tuck under the the panel beneath the side window. It was a shame, but it had to go - and a new piece was cut and offered up which explains the clean silver colour. It is quite a 3D puzzle trying to project the line of the beading around the quarter panels, but I reckon it's OK. There will be grief because I do not have any thin, original beading so there will be mismatches where old and new meet. Some filling will also be required to a couple of screw holes which were in the wrong place due to the mis-placed panel. The remains of some rusty screws were drilled out of the topmost former under the gutter - no possibility of new woodwork there - and the holes plugged with dowel. Then the nearside quarter was offered up, adjusted for overlap and drilled using the old side-window trim as a template. Making sure that screwholes were within the panel dimensions is important here, so holding it in place with clamps and blocks was essential while it was adjusted. Little triangular fillets were also cut out to fill the gaps left by the window pan profile, so that the panelling does not undulate excessively as it runs across the various bits of pan and trim. Eventually it looked more like the back of a bus should, and I went home satisfied.

Vic Chivers always maintained that the best, affordable paint that matched Lincoln Green was a shade sold as Rural Green in the Cover Plus range by Woolworths which was made by Macpherson. He used to buy large quantities by arrangement with the manager of his local store, I believe that is what he used to paint MB90 for Chris Sullivan, and it looked very good under the red brick dust which adorned the vehicle when I saw it. In the late 1960's I bought a small tin of it from Woolworth's in Fort William to paint the trailer that I made for my bicycle (it's a long story), but never used. The other day I needed some gloss paint for another project, and decided to use it up. I gave the rather rusty tin a good shake and left it to warm up. On opening it hardly needed stirring, but it was given a good mix with my usual stick, which coincidentally had last been used in a 5 litre can of HMG LCBS green for SM106. When compared, the two colours were very similar, although 'my' shade was almost imperceptably darker and more 'transparent' while Rural Green had a very slight grey opacity which made it look aged. Remarkable - so Vic was right! Now we no longer have Cover Plus, or Woolworth, but Macpherson are still going strong. The project? A coolant tank for the diamond blade of my rock saw..............

New wood for the gutter and window pan Photo © J.Wilkins

Some of the filth from the radiator Photo © J.Wilkins

My friendly joiner delivered the new upper wooden rail for the emergency exit window at the end of the week, so I was keen to try it out. I was also keen to cut some metal, so set about the rear bay on the nearside, which is above the engine side access flap, and has fewer overlaps. It did not take long to trim to size and drill for fixing using the old panels as a jig. I has horrified when I pulled off the plastic film to discover a cluster of small dings in the sheet, but I shall not do anything about them in a hurry. Just shows what can be hidden! The new wooden rail fitted nicely once it had been trimmed for length. I was anxious to ensure that it sat snugly on the metal angle that forms the base of the rear blind-box because the old one showed signs that the rivet heads had not entered the rebate properly, so I chamfered the edge of the new piece in that area. When the metal window pan was offered up, there were a few mm more clearance in the aperture than previously, so part of the problem with the old wood splitting was because it has not sitting as high as it should. It's a nice thought that she will be a better bus in some respects that originally! The radiator beckoned, as things were going quite well - so I took out my angle-grinder and set about the heads of some bolts that refused to undo. Even headless they did not give up without a struggle due to corrosion of the aluminium around the steel threads, even though they only passed through the casting. Soon the matrix was free from the fan and shroud, and the true horror was revealed. About 1/3rd of the height of the rearmost tubes was completely caked with road dirt, and when I turned it over to knock off the muck that I had dislodged a load of white limescale emerged from the bottom hose connection. Given the constant complaint about overheating, one would expect a certain amount of attention to obvious details like cleanliness. Despite the cold, I had worked up quite a sweat by the time I had wire-brushed the muck off the headers and shroud, and given the matrix a good going over to break up as much filth as possible. Pressure-washing, now that the tubes are mostly clear of mud, will be the next step.

Aligning the flange with the rib - note the two-spanner trick Photo © J.Wilkins

The new rib awaiting drilling for fixings Photo © J.Wilkins

After a break for half-term (teachers run in the family) in Yorkshire it was good to have a session with Maurice, who has been working in the background for ages, on and off, to correct the curved rib extension that holds the rear end of the exit step threshold. The curved lower bodyside is one of the features that makes a potentially ugly, square box more graceful, and this is provided by extensions below the floor to the 'top-hat' profiles which form the basic skeleton of the body. Naturally, they are weak and prone to damage from impact, and most have been replaced at some point by cutting off the rib as high as possible and bolting in new sections. Making a curve in a complex profile like this requires special equipment to roll the curve while holding the profile to prevent buckling and distortion - not something that is easy to find today. The RM835 Group had sourced a replacement profile, but it was bent and not curved correctly. Heating, cajoling, swearing and controlled aggression were required to form it into a curve which matched the body, but now it is drilled at the top and bolted into place. My angle-grinder was out again, cutting off the rivet holding the lower cross-piece which supported the saloon blower, which was already detached at one end and it was also necessary to drive out the remains of the rivets from the flange on the threshold support and form it into shape to match the new rib extension. While Maurice was getting on with that, I cut, drilled and fitted the panelling in bay 6, including the folded skirt section behind the wheel-arch. A later, mid-week session was spent offering-up, trimming and drilling the upper panel in bay 5. All basic stuff, hard work but suddenly we have transformed the n/s rear from derelict hulk to pristine shiny metal. The different surface finish on the panels from different sources makes an interesting contrast, and is somewhat surprising.

Yet more holes to drill........ Photo © J.Wilkins

The empress has a shiny, new skin Photo © J.Wilkins

Another tiny, but satisfying item arrived during the week in a cardboard tube from a small, Mediterranean island nation. In their enthusiasm to go all politically correct with their bell-pushes, Blue Lake removed completely the cord and its supports from the rear saloon ceiling. They were a dangerous protrusion, of course. I now have a complete replacement, frayed braiding and all, and it will be treasured. Thanks are due to my intermediary on the island for the service of recovery, packing and posting. It was an interesting hunt for the holes that the parts screw into, as there are many due to the removal of all the grab-rail sockets etc.

I am trying to avoid 'time-wasting' work on cosmetic stuff like the interior, but in the area of the rear window pan, which I am trying to replace in order to complete the panelling and re-fix the gutter moulding, there is a great deal of steel framing and stress-panel which needs cleaning and painting before it is covered up again. Not essential, but VERY desirable! Interior, cosmetic panelling fits inside the curved, steel corner panels and slips into a rebate in the window pans in such a way that it cannot be re-assembled once the emergency window is fixed. An unholy jigsaw puzzle, the upshot of which is that all the surrounding must be painted before the windows are re-fitted, and of course, the steelwork must be painted before the new woodwork is installed. Despite another frosty night, the weather was fine and dry for a start on this vital work, so the angle-grinder was fitted with its wire brush and off we went. The first discovery was that the channel under the window pan is aluminium, not steel (that why it's not rusty) although the stress panel onto which it fixes is definitely steel because it has rusted under the grey plastic interior trim. Condensation, I guess. Since the job had been started by the RM835 team, it was obvious that it should be finished, so first my stock of seat cushions and backs had to be relocated and then there were a large number of rivets to drill out. The remains of the old Rexine were exposed during this exercise, and it was useful to see how the job fitted together. By lunch time the side and window aperture work had been painted, and after lunch the steelwork of the emergency window aperture was tackled. Finally, some primer was put on the new wood, as well as the old bit which ran along the front edge of the rear destination blind box. I hope it was worth the effort, and maybe it was a good omen to see the sun shine through the garage door for the first time this year!

The first paint of the season in and around the window apertures.... Photo © J.Wilkins

... and the emergency window framing. Photo © J.Wilkins

Making and painting all the parts which must be assembled to complete the quarter-panels has taken a number of sessions, and I finished the n/s interior trim in Dark Chinese Green, which was wrong as it looked odd against the light grey of the plastic trim which slots into the moulding on the window pans. After Easter, however, it was possible to re-assemble the emergency window pan at last and screw it in place with a number of small countersunk wood-screws. The trick with the interior trim is to put the rearmost side-window in place and slide the trim around the corner to engage the slots with the 'horns' on the trim, then slide the emergency window pan obliquely along the wooden frame to engage the other 'horns' as it slips into place. Then, with the pans loose the whole assembly can be jiggled to a comfortable fit and fixed properly. The picture gives you an idea what I am on about......Then it was a most unpleasant task to clean up the gutter moulding and lower roof area ready for painting and re-fixing the gutter and side window window pan. I rather wish that the RM835 Group had drilled out 9 more rivets and taken the gutter down completely, but I couldn't bring myself to do so. I imagine that clamps and cussing will be the order of the day - and I have to find a pop-rivetter with a narrow nose, as mine hits the gutter when it approaches the job and is thus useless. While the grey paint was out earlier, I finished the inside of the emergency door, and took a short break to polish the pull handle and rods - prompted by the enquiries of Dick, owner of SMS678. Subsequently he found a stock of new, chromed, exterior handles at Cobham Open Day for £8 each, and purchased one on my behalf. Well done, that man!

A home-mixed grey applied to the interior trim. Photo © J.Wilkins

The emergency window pan is installed. Photo © J.Wilkins

Weatherstrip for the saloon glazing has been the 'elephant in the room' for a long while, but now with the body coming to fruition, it has become more urgent. No support has been forthcoming from any of the 'Swift Owners Club', the only vehicle which appears to need rubber is SMS753, which being an MCW body has different rubber. Competitive quotes have been sought from COH Baines and Mannerings, and the order will be placed shortly for a minimum of 120m, which is twice what I need. It will be an extraordinary luxury to be able to re-fit the windows when the time is right.

Progress has slowed to a crawl again, because all sorts of issues keep cropping-up in the battle to put the back-end right. Stripping paint and mastic off the nearside gutter, then putting primer and undercoat on it was a horrible job. Then I found that my pop-rivetter wouldn't come close enough to the gutter to insert the rivets, because the blunt nose fouls the rain channel section - something I recall now from previous attempts in that area. Then there was the aluminium flashing strip that seals the dome onto the window panelling, which had to be cut to width and inserted, and the fact that it is very reluctant to tuck under the dome on the offside. The fit of the new quarter panels is tricky, and as the flashing is played with, so it work-hardens, and it will have to be taken away and annealed eventually. There are GRP repairs to make to the registration number box and I have discovered that metal plates have not been fitted to the wooden rail below the emergency window to carry the plunger mechanism for the security alarm. While the GRP kit was out, I have also done some patches on the rear blind-box, which will also be painted with cream undercoat before it goes back. I have taken the opportunity to remove the glazing from the registration number box, as it will make the painting much easier, and it is in any case rather scratched, opaque and mucky with old paint. The decision by the owners of SM114 to paint their box green is odd to me, but at least there will be something with which to tell the buses apart! SM114 looks quite superb, but Alan tells me that they have another couple of years work to get her up to scratch. I found that Ian Barratt had a piece of panel cut almost to size for the run across the rear which carries the reversing display, so that has been fettled and hung in place. The more metal the better! I was disappointed that I was unable to find a better display lamp housing at the Transport Festival - 106's is missing, presumed rusted away, and the one salvaged from one of the scrappers by Maurice is fairly bad, but at least intact sufficiently to use as a model. Finally, the 'parcel shelf' behind the rear bench seat has been cleaned-up and given the usual three layers of paint. It looks much better, but there is still a great deal more to do.

Work proceeds on the trim beneath the window.. Photo © J.Wilkins

..and the nearside quarter panel. Photo © J.Wilkins

The curved panel at number-plate level on the nearside was re-made a while back, but it has now been cleaned-up, painted (in cream undercoat because it carries the yellow livery detail) and installed with the fettled number-plate box. An aperture has been cut in the panel below the emergency window to install the reversing legend lamp, and holes drilled ready for installation, creating an altogether pleasant, 'finished' look to the rear end. Work around the rearmost window pan has now culminated with rivetting back the gutter, and manufacture of new trim strips for the top and bottom. I also had to re-make the rear cutout trim because the one I cloned was wrong in not fitting properly against the outer lip of the window pan. It probably was made in a hurry at some point after the 'big bang' when the rear corner sustained a dent which can still be seen today in the cantrail. Repairing that can be left to a rainy week when we are back on the road..........

The desire to finish something has become overwhelming - and discussion of window rubber with Mannerings (who are now committed to production of the new weatherstrip for the saloon glazing) turned my thoughts to the cabside area, which was very close indeed to being ready for final assembly. Putting a finishing coat of paint into the wheel arch area and down the rib at the rear of the cab, and drilling the panels to match the holes in the rib were the only obstacles, so out came the wire brush and angle-grinder. The outboard part of the forward chassis cross-member and the front and rear of the fuel tank were covered at the same time, and attention given to the steel inner panel beneath the emergency door (which was rebuilt by Ian Barrett). After a good thick coat of red oxide on that lot, the emergency window trim-strips were primed and undercoated. At the next visit, the oxide was given a coat of aluminium paint and attention turned to drilling the rear edge of the lower skirt panel - for which I have no template. I had to bite the bullet and measure off the hole positions on a piece of card and transfer that to a length of moulding curved to shape and then drill through that and the overlapped skirt panels (one of them is only small and curved to fit the front of the wheel-arch). Fortunately, with a little fettling, it all went together although the holes were rather oversized from constant re-use, and I could think about the wheel-arch trim. I have three of them awaiting re-fitting, and they are not easy to tell apart, what with front/rear/offside/nearside options........As my chosen item didn't want to play at all happily, I had another attempt with the only other sensible candidate and discovered that I had been using the wrong one. The groove in the moulding was cleaned out by rolling a 1/8" stone-cutting disc around the profile, which probably eased it a bit as well. Then it started to go better, apart from where Ian had used a bit too much mastic under the outer panelling. Final fitting was deferred until I was less tired - have you tried painting inside of the skirt panels with the bus standing on flat ground? If so, you will appreciate my point - and the mounting plate for the chassis lubricator has a wicked edge which pokes into me whenever I go under that area.....The following morning an unexpected package arrived, containing a trial length of window rubber. Suddenly, things are happening!

Drilling the short moulding to match the rib. Photo © J.Wilkins

The lower cab side panel fitted securely at last. Photo © J.Wilkins

Good news! The new window rubber works a treat. The guinea-pig was the emergency door, which was painted years ago and has been awaiting the pukka weatherstrip after the abortive attempt to use another style at Paul Brophy's suggestion. It was a great feeling after such a long time to feed the rubber into the groove in the window pan and see the cosmetic interior bead forming in the window aperture. I had chosen a warm day, and the new rubber was easy to work with some soapy lubrication, so the glass was soon installed (after a good clean) and then the fun started. I could only use the insertion tool to put the locking strip in along the straight runs, the groove was just too tight around the corners, but after a lot of sweating and cajoling with a plastic, cycle tyre-lever it all went home. Mannerings actually offer guidance on how to do the job, which Baines do not, so I worked hard at stuffing a good extra length of weatherstrip and filler into the openings to make sure they don't shrink and gape with time. It looked lovely, smooth and black and not grey and cracked. The final payment has been sent off, so after our holiday we should have 120m of weatherstrip to play with. AND if you are reading this and need PRV weatherstrip from the early 70's, PLEASE get in touch as I have enough for TWO SMS type buses on order and I only own one bus. The rest of the recent work has been to get the mastic out and fit the wheel-arch trim, then cut to length, prime and fit some mouldings over the lower cab side area. It looks a treat. A short afternoon was finished off with a trip to the site of the new garage, where there is progress too. The grass is growing - but also the thistles and Ragwort, so a hot and far from happy hour was spent keeping that in check. My TK-owning neighbour wants a field in which to practice with his vintage mowing machine, so it's over to John to finish that job. I shall be talking to a company this week to start the process of building the new garage before we leave for a fortnight on the Isle of Mull. Who knows what we will find when we return?