Week 1 of the Major restoration has been done.
This week Jordan was joined by the family who help get this underway, We started with the removal of the first few seats at the front of the bus giving us the extra room to get the railway sleepers off the bus and stacked at the side of the vehicle ready for someone to collect them and take them over to TDTT. once these was out the way we was able to stack some of the seats at the side. While Jordan was removing seats Natalie made herself useful and removed the bells and poles from the seats also taking apart the disabled area on the bus opening the area up.
One of the poles can not be removed due to really bad welding and some screws that look like they been in the floor since 1999. We also have a set of seats that have been welded and we are unable to remove them but no trouble for my friend the trusty angle grinder. We didn’t have it with us this week so first thing to do next week is to get them out one way or another creating a large blank canvas for us.
The next now on the list is to get some of the flooring up, However before we can do that we need to get a little bit of storage and move all the seats to that location so we can see what we are doing and just have the tools on the bus.
There is so much to do at the moment and as there really isn’t any cost with it we can do this quickly, Once the strip out is complete that is when things will slow down quite a bit as we will be stuck waiting on funds to become free to do jobs,
Once this flooring is out we will have quite a bit of work to do on the mechanical side of things like Air Tanks and pipe work this will all be explained soon as we have the floor up. As well as painting and protecting the chassis ensuring the vehicle is around for the long term future without any major issues.
All the work is depending on funds it will all get done but at what speed is something only you the views can really help with. We have started a gofundme to help with funds but we have many different ways that you can give a little bit of money to help the progress move quicker link at the top of the page.
We are also welcoming help in many ways so if you physically want to buy a part we need and have it sent to us we welcome that and please just get intouch via Facebook or Email at Admin@mancbuses.com We know many people might not just want to give money and by us allowing this it gives you reassurance that what you have sent\spent is going on the parts you want to help with. We will shortly publish a list of stuff we need.
This by no means is us saying we want you to pay for this or we can afford it, If we couldn’t we wouldn’t be doing it we just don’t have the full funds in one go so taking it all bit by bit, We are just welcoming the help as it will speed up the processes and the restoration.
On another note we did have the engine idling somewhat and are pleased that the engine is not dead however that’t the end of the good news there, We are going to have to take the head off and inspect the engine as its just not right cylinder 6 doesn’t seem to be doing anything so that will need looking at and we need to check the cylinders for any issues.
We look forward to week 2.
As always We do thank you for all the support and nice messages we get regarding our vehicle and us. Along with all the members that help keep this going with the monthly membership too us. If you can give anything or afford a part we need and want to donate please do we are thinking of a way to say thank you to everyone who helps with this restoration on the completed vehicle we have many ideas how to do this but we will set something in stone nearer the time and all those that have given already have been noted for something.