16th. A great day! With the help of local auto-mechanic and AEC enthusiast Geoff Bolton, we connected up batteries, shorted out the starter switch, and the engine burst into life on the second pull! After a few minutes of white smoke it settled down to smooth tickover and sounded (to my ears) excellent! The next job is to get some HT bolts to connect the prop-shaft which at present is turning idly when we put it in gear - but obviously the gear-linkage is also working.

No sign of Bob the blacksmith yet, but I have faith...

19th. Measure up frame for timber infill. Want to concentrate on pillar to side of door, then first nearside panel. But also measure up for large vertical timber which emergency door should attach to.

Clean engine cover with Flash.

Don't seem to be able to get Finnegans No. 1 paint. Is it still made?

Geoff has delivered 8 litres of engine oil, and I put 4 litres in. Dip-stick now shows half full.

First window pan removed.

I also decide to remove the window-pan from nearside bay 1, and it comes out reasonably easily. Thank goodness the pans on this coach are aluminium, not steel as on an RT, and the one I have removed is in perfect condition. I clean it up.

I have tied luggage labels to all the pieces of timber and metal I have removed, and am contacting a local cabinet-maker to see if he can help me out with some ash to fabricate new pieces.

Bay 1 now looks VERY bare!

This picture shows the gap where the window pan was. The pan is a tight push-fit between the blocks, and is then held in place by small screws through the edge of the frame into the timber uprights and horizontals. Very simple!

I am careful NOT to remove the next window pan, so that I can make sure the new timber in bay 1 juts out to exactly the same extent as the old timber in bay 2, otherwise the windows will not align.

25th. Visit "Bob the Bus" (currently restoring RT2291 and an RM!) who generously lets me have some good hardwood timber from a load he brought at auction (7 tons of it - he got carried away!). It is not ash, but birch and beech. Very usable.

Birch timber, offered free!

24th. Still waiting for the blacksmith to attend to the stress panels...

But, in the meanwhile, I remove further rotten timber from the near-side (I reckon about 90% of the timber will need to be replaced, except for the floor). I also wire-brush and hammerite most of the nearside steel sections that are likely to survive - and perhaps one or two that will be replaced.

26th. Visit local cabinetmaker, who orders my first consignment of ash planks (to be used below the windows on both sides).

Chase Bob the blacksmith (again...)

27th. Call a friend away from his gardening to help me lay out the panels on the nearside. We put timber in the uprights, pin it in place temporarily, then tap a couple of nails into existing holes in the panels to hold them. It confirms that the upper panel for bay 2 is broken (where attached to hinge for opening panel below) and will need to be replaced.

Squinting along the line shows that the side is very straight, and the curve on the vertical timbers lines up correctly so that the panels will flare attractively. There is no flare at the back of bay 3, though, where the panel meets the rear wheel arch, so panel 3 is flared at the front only.

I also believe that I will need to put some additional support behind the opening panels to ensure they stay flush and dont' rattle. The supports may have been in the orignal, but I just have to guess. I also have to decide whether to join the uprights with a horizontal timber piece at the base, and whether to add a timber piece to strengthen the hinge between the upper and lower panels.

28th. Cut out another timber vertical section from my new stock of birch timber and prime some of the timber I have cut.

Prime the 3 vertical timbers for the lower nearside, and some horizontal timber for bay 1.

Chase Bob the blacksmith...

29th. Cut a length of timber to make the post at the side of the door. This is an awkward-shaped piece that will need several attempts. Since I don't have a bandsaw on site, this means several trips to and fro.

Try out new portable generator, which allows me to use power tools.

This view is looking down through an access hole in the floor to the gearbox underneath.

29th (continued). Remove hardboard/lino from bulkhead behind cab, so that I can start preparing metal to receive new vertical pillar which will support the emergency door. This is a substantial pillar, about 5 ft long, by 5 inches by 2.5 inches. The old wood in this pillar is totally rotten and crumbles away when touched.

This view of the pillar behind the cab shows that the right-hand side has completely vanished and the left-hand side is not too healthy. It takes only about 2 minutes to chip out the old rotten wood, leaving the metal to be hammerited.

Timber has been removed from the cab pillar. Note the tapering side.

30th. In preparation for rebuilding the wooden pillar behind the cab, I remove metal fittings from the cab area. The pillar in the cab itself is reasonably sound and I will leave it for the moment.

I am trying to keep in mind two important lessons from this game:

• Rebuilding an old bus is not a one-off process - it is a continous effort
• Don't try to rebuild every piece on the bus. Do what you have to do make it sound and roadworthy, and expect to redo certain areas later.

30th (continued). Call on Geoff to collect a new set of HT bolts to connect the propshaft to the diff. Unfortunately, after crawling underneath with considerable effort (I'm getting too old for this!) I find that the bolts are fractionally too large - I guess the old ones were imperial and the new ones metric. Crawl out again, spitting out rust and debris. But at least I have established that I can reach the propshaft and replace the bolts when I get the correct fit.