making the most of a dry opportunity

Pop-out windows

Whilst the bus was getting the broken clutch cable replaced, the guys at Resto Classics very kindly let me use some covered space to tackle a couple more outstanding jobs I had to do. With their previous help, I had managed to replace the front windscreen rubbers, rear tailgate window rubber, both sets of rubbers for the cab doors and all the side fixed glass rubbers. However, there were still two final window rubbers that needed replacing, the two rear pop-out window rubbers!

The inside frame body seal rubbers were actually missing off the two rear pop-out windows (might help explain an earlier leak!), and although the frame to body rubber was in reasonable condition, it made sense to get this changed at the same time. That way I will then know everything had been done at the same time!

the early stages of some minor rust areas in the pop out window recesses — the early stages of some minor rust areas in the pop-out window recesses

Rust removal

Once the pop-out hinges and catches had been unscrewed, it was then easy to remove the two pop-out windows to see exactly what condition everything was in. With the frame removed, I was happy to see that the window frame recess itself was generally in great condition. However, there were some small areas of surface rust that would need some attention first before new rubbers get fitted! At least I was in the right place to get it all sorted.

minor rust areas cleaned up and bare metalled

The first stage was to borrow a grinder to remove all traces of the surface rust and to take the affected areas back to good clean bare metal.

metal area treated with Granville Heavy Duty Rust Converter — The freshly exposed metal area treated with Granville Heavy-Duty Rust Converter

Clean and prep

Once bare metalled, the prepared area could then be treated with Granville heavy-duty rust converter. It’s odd stuff in as much as you brush it on thinly as a light blue liquid, but within a few minutes, it starts its chemical process and begins to dry and change colour to a dark midnight blue/black colour.

protective top coat of paint to complete the process — a protective topcoat of paint to complete the process

Once it’s fully dry, the area can be overpainted with a tough metal topcoat for additional weatherproofing and protection. With the metal of the inside frame of the rear pop-out window protected, it was time to repeat the process on the opposite side of the bus.