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OKR
Jan 20, 2021 7:37:21 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 20, 2021 7:37:21 GMT
Hi Jeff On my parcil shelf I could have cut out totally new bits and that would have saved me quite a bit of time but I wanted to try to retain what was there. I did not remove the rail. I found the hidden rivets and just removed the cardboard parts. I say cardboard for want of a better term. I think it is slightly better than card. Not much though! I covered my one in leather because I got some cheap off cuts from ebay. The best thing I found was spray contact adhesive to stick it on. Then I riveted it all back together. It was a pig to get the driver side section back in. Not sure how the full length one would go. Where there is a will! The lights are great. I can highly recommend doing it. It is way easier to see in the car. Feel free to copy the idea. I made my own lights as I have a 3D printer but I am sure you could find suitable ones. To me having a crack yourself is part of owning a car like this. There are some things that do require a good level of understanding for safety. I have been messing about with things like this all my life. I will have a go at most things but it is not for eveybody. I have messed up plenty of things to get to this point. Some have cost a bit too! Nick I've been revisiting your parcel shelf and now I'm really inspired. Being a MK1, mines full width so could be a bit more to consider. I quite fancy buying a roll of millboard from Woolies and using the old one as a pattern. Did you leave the bottom crash rail in place? Looking at the WM, the steering column and parking brake have to be released if it all has to come out. Yours looks great, especially with the lights. I think I will copy that idea if you dont mind. Jeff
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OKR
Jan 20, 2021 14:56:50 GMT
Post by tonymark3 on Jan 20, 2021 14:56:50 GMT
I did mine with millboard from Woolies Trim. Took the old ones apart and traced round them. I reused the bases as they were OK. Originally covered in black leather cloth I re covered in red vinyl i had spare from repairing seats and other trim. Well worth the effort I think.
If you’re going to take all the shelf etc out you might as well bite the bullet!
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OKR
Jan 20, 2021 16:26:04 GMT
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Post by jeff on Jan 20, 2021 16:26:04 GMT
Tony and Nick. Yes, I've just found the hidden rivets. Looks like reasonable access from underneath. I think I'll go that route too.
Like you, I've been doing this sort of stuff for the last 50 odd years and will have a go at most things. Lots of welding when I was younger and fitter. All sorts of projects and rebuilds some better than others. I started off as an apprentice bus mechanic with Birmingham Corporation transport on those creaky old ist generation post war Daimlers. Nothing was left to chance and it built a good set of life skills. Also if you dont know for sure, ask, and if you do know share it with others and that why I love this forum. Also if it looks unsafe it probably is. The only thing I've never been any good at is final bodywork. Filler and paint etc. In fact I'm useless with anything wet or sticky. Just ask the wife!! 🤣🤣
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OKR
Jan 20, 2021 19:21:52 GMT
Post by tonymark3 on Jan 20, 2021 19:21:52 GMT
With regard to your old buses etc I worked as a bus conductor for a while in Oxford . We had old AEC jobs with vacuum brakes that stopped sometimes. AEC Matador ex army tow truck. Some awful Bristol Lodekkas. They were all freezing! Tony S
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OKR
Jan 20, 2021 20:35:58 GMT
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Post by jeff on Jan 20, 2021 20:35:58 GMT
Yes, we had 2 ex RAF AEC matadors. Birmingham tended to stick with pre select Daimlers. We also had some Crossleys a lot of Guy Arabs but with Wilson pre select gearboxes. We had a big batch of Leyland PD2's The single deck versions could fly as they had the same 9.6ltr engines.
Those old half cabs could freeze you to death in winter or boil you in summer. The engines ran cool so even after fitting cab heaters didnt help much.
I was a very proud boy, standing on the platform wearing my blue boiler suit on a test run. Happy days.
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OKR
Jan 23, 2021 0:58:48 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 23, 2021 0:58:48 GMT
Tony has a point as you are going to do some electrical it is probably worth biting the bullet! On my car because the shelf was falling apart I just squashed to get it out. When it was repaired I didn't want to squash it so it was much harder to get back in. Interesting that you both worked on the old busses in one way or another. I remember riding them to colledge back in the day. Good fun hanging on the pole on the rear platform leaping off before it stopped! My dad was a waterman/lighterman and worked on the tugs on the Thames. Occasionally he would take me to work. One time I was in the wheel box steering with dad and the skipper, next minute I turned around and I was on my own steering the tug towing 3 massive barges! Same sort of feeling Jeff. I was probably 12 or so. Seems crazy that I did it these days! Nick I did mine with millboard from Woolies Trim. Took the old ones apart and traced round them. I reused the bases as they were OK. Originally covered in black leather cloth I re covered in red vinyl i had spare from repairing seats and other trim. Well worth the effort I think. If you’re going to take all the shelf etc out you might as well bite the bullet!
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Jan 23, 2021 1:38:22 GMT
Post by 1800heap on Jan 23, 2021 1:38:22 GMT
Nostalgia set in so I dug out a picture of the tug Cemenco taken and printed by my mum. She was in to photography back in the day. It is taken at the Wandsworth depot in London next to a cement barge. Sadly the old tug was scrapped in 1992 I believe. Nick
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Jan 24, 2021 4:36:54 GMT
Post by dave1800 on Jan 24, 2021 4:36:54 GMT
While we're on nostalgia and buses, I recall two events from my youth that demonstrate just how much things have changed. I was living in a Midland Red serviced area of what was then Warwickshire. It must have been around 1953 when I was 4 years old my parents took me on a bus and when it reached a short steep hill at Widney Manor it ground to a halt before it reached the top. The driver reversed down the hill, completed a 180 degree turn at the bottom and reversed up the hill. My father explained that it was an old petrol engined model, presumably completely clapped out shortly before it was withdrawn.
The second event is a bit clearer as was around 7 or 8 and I went to visit my aunt in Buckinghamshire on a Midland Red coach. Around two thirds of the way up Edge hill it also ground to a halt. The driver asked everyone to get off and he proceeded to complete the drive to the summit with some of the passengers giving a push! No health and safety considerations in those days, those pushing were enveloped in thick black diesel fumes.
Later experiences with Midland Red were less eventful although trips to London on the M1 express coaches were interesting with only the occasional Jaguar and Aston Martin overtaking them when there was no speed limit. My last experiences before moving away from the area were with the Midland Red (BMMO) D9 double deckers going to school that were quite innovative being very light and powerful with a monocoque construction, independent rubber suspension and a unique sound. The early prototype even had front disk brakes! In fact the sound was so distinctive when I was in Victoria, London in the early 1980s it drew my attention to an open top D9 being used for London tours.
Sorry this is going off topic!
David
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OKR
Jan 24, 2021 7:21:24 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 24, 2021 7:21:24 GMT
All good David it interesting. The WHSO's would go nuts if it happend these days. You have to get a permit and write a book for everything. Sometimes we take longer with the paperwork than the job!
Nick
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Jan 24, 2021 9:29:30 GMT
Post by andrewa on Jan 24, 2021 9:29:30 GMT
Thanks for sharing the picture of the tug - I always wanted one and just that size or a little bit smaller. Was brought up a few hundred yards from the river in SW London and spent most of my formative years either on or in the Thames. Always wanted to become a Waterman/Lighterman but apart from wishing, never did anything about it and I sort of recollect it that in the early '80's it wasn't easy to get a start unless you knew someone already in the business as it were. Although live on the South Coast now until recently had a share in an old river boat on The Thames - it sort of gets in your blood - bit like 1800's! Cheers Andrew
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Jan 24, 2021 10:06:14 GMT
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Post by 1800heap on Jan 24, 2021 10:06:14 GMT
Hi Andrew It sure does get in your blood. I would have loved to have been an apprentice. Especially after going with dad. The old tugs seemed like they were alive. I remember my dad telling me he was going to play a trick on the engineer. We peeked through the engine room hatches standing on the deck and we could see the engineer asleep in all that noise. Supposed to be looking after the engine. My dad did a high pitched whistle like an , he was pretending to be a sqeaking bearing. The engineer was awake instantly trying to locate the noise from the engine! This was to the great amusement of dad! The engineer called him a few choice words then saw me and toned it down! It was a 5 cylinder 750hp diesel from memory. A massive thing. There was no gearbox to go astern you stopped the engine changed some timing levers and started the engine backwards! Fantastic engineering. It even had a telegraph which rings a bell and has a pointer in the engine room to tell the engineer what to do. No direct engine control from the wheel box! It was a great skill to maneuver the tugs with that kind of delay. Sadly even with both my dad and grandad having been watermen it was a dying trade and nobody was taking apprentices. I suppose that is why I have ended up a rowing coach as both of them rowed. Grandad won the 1934 doggets race another thing that gets in the blood. Nick Thanks for sharing the picture of the tug - I always wanted one and just that size or a little bit smaller. Was brought up a few hundred yards from the river in SW London and spent most of my formative years either on or in the Thames. Always wanted to become a Waterman/Lighterman but apart from wishing, never did anything about it and I sort of recollect it that in the early '80's it wasn't easy to get a start unless you knew someone already in the business as it were. Although live on the South Coast now until recently had a share in an old river boat on The Thames - it sort of gets in your blood - bit like 1800's! Cheers Andrew
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Jan 24, 2021 10:38:28 GMT
Post by andrewa on Jan 24, 2021 10:38:28 GMT
Ah the rowing.....went to St Paul's so rowed for 6 years there then went to a polytechnic that didn't have a rowing club so we started one - sort of affiliated to Thames Tradesmen then continued to row with TT after that. Eventually gave it up as it was reasonably serious commitment - 5 days a week and work and life were getting in the way. Unfortunately I have continued to consume 5000 calories a day ever since so I don't think I'll be getting back on the water in a fine boat any time soon! Coat and Badge a serious achievement - did they really give out the coat, the badge and the readies to the winner? Grandad was merchant seamen and before that stevedore in the docks in Liverpool - the only momento I have of his, is his home made cosh from his days on the Mersey! Have vague memories of going out on pilot boat with him in the '60's but docks were already massively in decline by then. Cheers Andrew
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Jan 24, 2021 16:28:13 GMT
Post by tonymark3 on Jan 24, 2021 16:28:13 GMT
Before we all get a rollicking for going off topic. I was conductor on City of Oxford Motor Services bus no 934, which was an old Regent decker with vacuum brakes. We were in traffic , slightly down hill where the Cowley Road meets the Plain. Harry Kingcombe driving. Inching forward and continuously applying brakes, Harry ran out of vacuum and rolled into the back of a Ford Popendicular. Guy was livid as the petrol filler was crushed. Wanted to know how he was supposed to fill up now! Tony S
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Jan 24, 2021 17:32:36 GMT
Post by andrewa on Jan 24, 2021 17:32:36 GMT
What a classic - and by another co-incidence boat lived at Osney whilst I owned her - and I've now got a Bristol (but not a bus). Cheers A
PS On my 1800 I did have the rail out and went through speedo, heater, wiring etc etc - it is a worthwhile exercise if you can face it and once it's done it should be good for another 50 ish years.
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Jan 26, 2021 2:21:14 GMT
Post by 1800heap on Jan 26, 2021 2:21:14 GMT
Don't get me started on rowing Andrew! Sounds to me like you need to get into some masters rowing once Covid problems ease up enough! Then you can eat your 5000 without any problems! Anyway some interesting tails! I better return to the subject. In the interests of registering the car in Oz I have done some research into the Australian design rules (ADR's) that apply to the car. Back seat belts, front headrests and I found another one, ADR10 which is to do with steering wheels. Would you believe my steering wheel is 10mm too small at 340mm. Bummer so a new boss and 355mm wheel is now fitted! 350mm being the minimum side. It is actually a good thing as I can see the indicator lamps in the right and left of the speedo now. The rear seat belts done too as luck would have it the fixing points are there already, so just a matter of getting suitable belts and bolting them on. I also decide to replace the front belts as a precaution due to age . Also the fronts now have the Australian standard mark which the inspector will appreciate I hope! Nick
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