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BPH 106H SM106 Restoration 2013 |
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The New Year proved very busy socially, so it was not until mid-January that I was able to get back to the bus, by which time the unseasonal warm weather had receded. Touching the aluminium with bare hands was uncomfortably cold, and any form of painting was out of the question. So, for two successive weekends I played indoors, and found that with the windscreen in place it was surprisingly sheltered and hospitable (no heating of course). Two projects have progressed: the driver's locker and the luggage pen. Most of the screws that secure the cosmetic GRP of the locker to its plywood structure were removed long ago, But the row under the front edge have lost their heads or become filled with paint. Removal is necessary because it is impossible to prepare for re-painting in-situ, and the extent of preparation is fairly severe because it has been painted very badly without any preparation and the last coat of paint is flaking and breaking up - meaning that it must ALL come off before a new application of magnolia. Damage has also occurred from impacts with a ticket machine, meaning some minor GRP repairs as well. At least it is mostly flat surfaces, so it was reasonably quick using my old orbital (palm) sander, which had the added benefit of keeping my hands warm! After a final wash off it was hung up to dry on the washing line at the back of the workshop ready for later attention.
While I was delighted with the almost perfect fit of Keith's luggage-pen handrail, the problem was that it was actually wrong in a couple of ways, and impossible to correct by simple bending and straining. The fitting of this rail was a bit of a mystery, because it is impossible to get a screwdriver straight onto the fixing screws of the central support with the tube in place - so I reasoned that disassembly was the key, but that in turn made me think that pop-rivetting the tube to the end-supports is impossible with the tube in place. I suspect that the pop rivets are not original, but were added only when the orange grip was installed. And then I realised that they are unnecessary, because the bent tube cannot turn on the end supports anyway. Think about it. Fitting was therefore a doddle, and the geometric imperfections were ironed out by trimming a few mm off each end of the tube to get the end-supports in the right places while maintaining the same position for the fixing rivets in the central support. The overall shape was then corrected by bending the tube to a slighly more open angle - no it was NEVER a right angle! I then had fun drilling out and re-plugging the fixing holes for the bars that close-off the rear of the pen, but when I came to install them I found that one was heavily modified and with the remains of no fewer than 8 pop-rivets in various places, quite unsuitable for re-use. Off to the stores, and the manufacture of one new bar assembly from an MCW seat-back stanchion ex MBA541 which uses the same sized tube. Cutting and working the stainless steel tube is hard work, but slow hand-tools are best. Never touch stainless with an angle-grinder, as it just heats up and goes blue without cutting significantly. The (cheap) tube is welded, and not seamless, so any spigot that enters the tube fouls the residual tube-seam, meaning that some way has to be found to ream-out the tube. I did it with a rat-tail file and a miniature grinding wheel on a short shaft. Hard work keeps you warm in this weather. After a few trials and hand-filing the tube to the right length with square ends I finished with a lovely piece of work, which was a snug fit on the tee-ends and soon installed. I decided that rivets could be omitted because I couldn't turn the tube by hand however I tried, although the purchase afforded by the ends made it possible, though not easy. It is necessary to rotate the ends into alignment anyway, as they are not parallel due to the rake on the rear of the luggage pen. A cup of tea and a vigorous rub with Autosol soon brought the bars and handrails to a bright finish. An hour or so saw all the pop-rivets inserted to secure the capping, and a set of countersunk brass screws holding the interior trim down onto the raised floor with its new Treadmaster lino. "Lovely old job", as somebody used to say in my youth (actually, I think it was one of the fitters on mechanical assembly at ICL's 1/3 Factory in Letchworth). After lunch I just had to do an 'outdoor' task. Too much time has been spent on cosmetics recently. A niggle that is holding up the nearside panelling is the lack of a template to drill the beading or the panels to fit down the rib behind the front wheel. Blue Lake had put a piece of galvanised steel sheet in bay 2 here, and it was held by sheer luck, as it bears no drill holes on its leading edge! And no template either - so it goes........Thinking rationally, I considered the possibility of the holes being on Park Royal's standard pitch of 3.5 inches, and dug out a piece of beading to try for size. BINGO! All I had to do was index it from another hole a bit further up that was in the right place, and shave a bit off the trailing edge of the wheel-arch panel for a proper fit. I think it was more luck than good judgement, but it was not long before all the necessary holes were drilled, and I can look forward to progressing some paint, rivetting this lot up for good (lots of reclaimed beading to clean-up, yuck!) and putting some glass back. Bus-like or what? Time to tidy-up and take the very patient dogs for their treat - a walk in the woods at Dolgarrog on the way home. Half-term saw me delivering more window-rubber to users, a 1964 Leyland Panther Cub ex Manchester and a former Ribble Atlantean/PRV NRN 397P. We wish them every success, and it's great to see the mould being put to further productive use.
With a new objective of completing the near-side panelling between the doors came a new challenge - the forward return for the exit door aperture, which has seen some work already. The original is a shocking mess, with about half a kilo of filler and a carpet trim strip (you know, goes in the doorway to cover the join) to maintain some semblance of the correct shape. As with the entrance, I have new parts, which is a relief because it is not simple. Because of the bodge at the lower end, the moulding for the front edge seam is short, but immediately recognisable for what it is, so I am able to be certain that the panels overlap the return and not vice-versa.Trouble is, the internal cover trim for the door wiring needs painting and the forward exit partition needs preparation so there was only one thing for it - remove the forward door leaf and pivot pole. There was resistance, but I know enough to be sure how it works, and it didn't take very long to separate the pole, actuator pivot and bottom bearing. Then, in a separate campaign the glazing was removed from the partition so that paint-stripper could get to work on the last of the grey which the Clydemaster Crew had left behind the door. It was hairy to prise the glass from the old rubber, but there is no chance of new rubber and new glass would just be a nuisance to source. However, all went well with a gentle, persistent assault. The secret weapon was a wallpaper scraper - very versatile - and the usual one was soapy water to get everything moving. Stopping to take stock led to the realisation that the trim is missing from the rearward corner of the door and it is too long for me to bend-up on the 'ship', so I shall have to get it made up off-site. As there is a lot of preparation to finish before paint-time, the present cold weather is not too much of a brake on progress - and the weekend of 3rd March saw the first patch of sun appear through the garage door and play briefly on the towing-hatch panel. Moving on with the offside, the sheet hung on the bay behind the exit was detached and some work done underneath. The air-intake for the rear saloon heater is at high level, below the window, but the fan intake is at floor level, so the normal panel supports are replaced by slim bars that span the bay and rivet to the sides of the vertical top-hat sections. That way, the air can flow between the stress panel and the skin. I realised that I knew where they were, so they were dug out and rivetted in place. Then the missing panel support was located. A new part has been fabricated by Ian Barrett, but not yet fitted, so there was a bit of fettling to do. Originally the supports (which are approximately 1.5" angle with a similar mounting flange) were rivetted, but after the work on the support for the blower motor, bolts are used for fixing. I thought it a good idea to keep that separate from the bodywork, so a rebate was cut to clear the bolt heads, and now I just need to drill a few holes to fix it into place independently. After painting of course. With Spring in the air (well nearly, anyway) I though it a wise investment to purchase Nitromors and a couple of new brushes for the frenzy that will break out soon.
A frustrating and dirty session was spent under the floor behind the exit door, where the rear saloon heater fan is located. It became separated long ago from its bracket on the body structure that can be seen in the picture above (in grey above the workbench). The air-inlet hose and the fan assembly block very effectively any access to the rear riser and chassis area, so it had to come out. In the event, a bit of angle grinding and hacksawing through the fixing bolts was enough to release it, but access was not easy or comfortable and I was very unhappy by the time it came out. The pictures show how the area can now be cleaned up and painted, and work on the chassis can proceed rearwards. While I was in the area, more consideration was given to the condition of the Checkmate plate of the exit step-well, which is very corroded and still sports its very resistant yellow plant-paint. No decision has emerged yet, but I am very tempted to have a go at taking it out - after all if it proves impossible to disengage, it will show that putting a new one in would be similarly difficult. New rivets would not be the worst outcome of such an assessment. After a well-earned lunch, stripper was applied to the forward exit-bulkhead and it soon became obvious that the new methanol-only formulation is not as effective as the old stuff with chloromethane, even though it is advertised as BETTER. Beware environmental campaigners! Eventually the job was done, but I think mostly it was good old elbow-grease and emery paper. If the weather warms-up a bit we are ready for wire-brushing the framework and some primer - but there is not much sign yet. Entries for the Llandudno Transport Festival are almost complete, so there will be plenty to do in the next month, on and off the buses.
Very obvious in the picture above is the bundle of air-pipes which go up the trunking to the door actuator. Clipped into the pipe run is the replacement wiring to the fan motor, which replaces the dangling wire seen with loose terminals. Clearly the minutae of the 'thermostatic' ventilation system proved to be too much for the later operators! Rust is evident but not particularly serious.
Cold weather and family engagements over Easter have kept me away for nearly a month, but the sudden arrival of Spring meant that action could not be postponed any longer. I have been mulling over the state of the exit step-well for a good while, but decided that the corroded and yellow-painted state of the checkmate plate is just too awful to endure. Paint stripper, as it is no longer effective, does not seem to be a good option. So, I decided to see how difficult it would be to remove. Putting rivets back would be an option if it proved impossible, but actually it was more or less a breeze, taking only an hour to complete! Although it proved possible to disengage the metalwork with the hindmost door-leaves in place, I took the plunge and removed them as well to make more space. Unfortunately, it did not prove possible to disengage the pivot pole which had seized on the actuator spigot. So it goes. With more lovely, electrolytic corrosion exposed it was out with the angle grinder and a wire brush and before the end of the afternoon I had applied the first paint of 2013. At least a month behind schedule, but that's just how it is.
Subsequent activity over recent weeks has revolved around preparation and painting of the exit bulkhead, with a brief diversion to another area where progress has been less than startling - the battery frame. A bit of new panelling will be required there, but the key point is putting some paint on its exterior, which is completely inaccessible once it is installed because of low clearance below the floor and close installation by the engine. This also highlighted the fact that I still had not replaced the stuck nuts on the flywheel tie-rod. Now I have a new angle-grinder they were removed very quickly and the threads cleaned-up a bit. Later the same day my neighbour, who is doing up an MG Midget on his drive, produced two new nuts the correct size from his goodies-tin! He still finds it a mystery why nuts that size are there because they are bigger than any used on a Midget or Healey (his real enthusiasm). Back at the bus, priming and undercoating the bulkhead took place one weekend, another undercoat the next, and a topcoat the following Friday. In between whiles, an afternoon was spent repairing and filling the damage to the GRP casing of the driver's locker. GRP work is great fun, and very therapeutic. Saturday 4th May was the start of the Llandudno Transport Festival, where the shuttle bus service was graced by no less than two Routemasters in original condition, RM40 and 2180, looking and sounding spot-on. On Bank Holiday Monday, I was able to leave the field to marshall itself for a while and take a turn at conducting on RM40. It's a real privilege to look down on the occupants of mere cars from the sanctuary of the rear platform. We were blessed with fine weather throughout and the eclectic fleet operated over 230 trips carrying around 28,000 passengers.
Although finding time for SM106 has been difficult recently due to frequent weekend engagements, time has been found to make progress on a number of fronts. The exit bulkhead has been painted properly with two top-coats and the glazing has been replaced. To say that it is improved would be an understatement. The floor bearers around the exit step-well have been cleaned up, and painted throroughly. The battery frame has been painted with two coats of silver and re-installed - a very fiddly job requiring the insertion of no fewer than 16 quarter-inch UNF bolts while lying on the ground or crouching alongside the gearbox. Unfortunately, during the process of elevating and positioning the battery frame, one of the chassis lubricator pipes became entangled and broken. Not a serious problem to fix, but it did seem to be rather light and lacking in the essence of lubrication, so I do hope we don't have a seriously dried-out spring shackle-pin. Games like lubricators are still some way down the restoration track. The tie-rod to the fluid-flywheel casing has been re-assembled with new nuts and a set of rubber bushes collected from the spare engine and radiator (yes they are the same) supports. The metal box section that covers the pipes and wiring by the exit door area has gone away to David Williams for duplication because I cannot expect to make a good job of the bending over such a length. And finally, I have cut the basic shape out of Checkmate aluminium to manufacture the new exit step-well. I even used some scrap to make a little model which was used for bending calibration. The step-well casing has to fit the hole in the body exactly, and bending causes dimensional changes that are not easily predicted. However, by marking two parallel bending lines a known distance apart and performing the bends the outside measurement can be related to the original distance between the lines. The growth is a function of the deformation of the metal and its thickness, and it turns out to be 3mm in the sample pictured - so now I know exactly how far apart the bending lines must be to replicate the existing box shape. I only get one shot, because the material is now obsolete and essentially irreplaceable. No pressure, then. The beading has been replaced in the front wheel-arch and a bit of fettling done to the panelling and mouldings. The only fly in the ointment has been the stubborn refusal of the rearmost door support pole to part company with the actuator spigot. "So it goes", as Kurt would say (or maybe "so it stays"). The real surprise during the rather long campaign to re-hang the battery frame was that both dogs, having been somewhat unhappily housed in the upper saloon area during the morning, decided that they would rather curl up under the engine and watch what I was doing from close quarters. It's a good job the whole area had a good sweep and clean before I started the painting in the area! I have not seen much of the resident Swallows this year, and I have missed their incessant twittering and chirruping. They are definitely in residence, but I assume they are quiet while brooding now that the courtship is done for this season. Good luck to them, I say, as it beats me how they find their way back to the Conwy Valley from Africa each year.
Next weekend is the "Etape Eryri" cycle race, in which my son David is competing, and the weekend after that is Maurice's 80th birthday party. "Celebrate with a weekend work-party on the bus", I hear you say. Some chance! |
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