Hello,
My paint sprayer suggested getting the aluminium gutter strip replaced above the platform area which has been bent and mashed over the years.
Any ideas for scourcing a replacement or getting a new one made (this seems tricky with the curved section)? I'm also interested in a new engine bonnet. The current one (glass fibre) has been pushed from the front and does not line up well.
Regards
Alan Pell

My bus number (if any): RML 2672

You can buy ali gutter, curved and straight from a body/trim supplier, but this is not the correct profile for the Routemaster, if you are not bothered it will do the job.
I have had some gutter made to the correct spec.
Straights 55" long are £33.79 each
Curved are £65.00 each

Hope this helps

Rob

My bus number (if any): RM7

Most bonnets no longer fit properly. Good luck finding a new one!

My bus number (if any): RML2532

You need to find out why the bonnet doesn't line up, there are lots of variables and possibilities.
If it has been hit from the front, the back of it may have been broken and poorly repaired, leaving it hump backed, what is the wooden stiffener alongside the engine shield like? If the bonnet is broken, it can be repaired by a GRP specialist, certainly a lot easier than finding another bonnet.
If it isn't the bonnet that is the problem, it could be the alignment of the wings that hold the central locking bar in place.

If it is the bonnet, there are lots of adjustment possibilities. The closing mechanism can be moved, the hinges on the bulkhead end can be moved all have elongated holes. The buffers on the front locking rail can be also be moved.

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RMC 1458, RM 1585 and loads of RTs

I managed to improve the alignment on my RML as per Brians comments. There are lots of areas that can be adjusted.

The association were looking into new bonnets last year but it may have been delayed by the RM60 organisation. I will ask where we are with it. It is not going to be cheap so an idea of who may be interested in one would be useful.

Please let me know here or email me at press@routemaster.org.uk if you have a need for a new, primed and ready to paint bonnet.


David Colin

My bus number (if any): RML 2276 M1001 T806

Some years ago there was a business in Brentford Middx, called Strand Glass.

One of the chaps in there actually made the RM bonnets for PRV as well as other GRP panels and fittings.

When I first went there in the 1970s and was still at school he had just made a batch of panels for LT as spares and they were stacked up waiting for collection.

I can't remember his name, but he explained how the RM bonnet was originally made ( from 2 separate moulds and sandwiched together. How the gel coat and finish was achieved and even how there were differing mould versions.

Time has moved on and Strand Glass is no more but it lives on just over the road as the Fibreglass shop.

This place has everything for all types of GRP work and the staff are really knowledgable.
They almost certainly know 'a man who can' and the small boatyards nearby have a wealth of GRP specialists.

What is needed is a good fitting bonnet from which a mould can be taken and one that can be separated into it's original components.

They wont be cheap as they use a lot of material. But are most certainly possible to remanufacture.

Anyway fyi the details

The Fibreglass Shop, 197 High Street, Brentford, Middlesex. TW8 8AH Tel: 0208 568 1645. Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm
http://www.thefibreglassshop.co.uk/

I have a resident glass fibre ex boat builder on site, he's made some corner panels for my BEA coach; it's the pattern-making that takes time.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

The reason I went there in the first place was for a school project making Kayaks and to learn more on how to make the mould.

It took us a year to perfect and make the moulds but once completed knocked out a dozen Kayaks in different colours in half a term. Some of my old school pals still have the ones they made.

Great fun but very, very messy and the smell of the resin, whoosh!!

!966/67 I did bonnet and radiator grilles in the Prep Shop at Aldenham, along with RM backs, platforms etc and the damaged ones went away to a firm in Worcester. When that contract ended and towards the end of Aldenham, LT set up its own shop at Aldenham to repair GRP panels as by that time there were a lot on DMSs Ms Ts etc

What is needed for replacements is an RM bonnet to the correct size and original specification, they all fit if adjusted properly and the front hasn't been bodged!

My bus number (if any): RTL 960 RMC 1458, RM 1585 and loads of RTs

I would be interested in a bonnet please

My bus number (if any): RML 2353 MB 306

Thanks for all your help, folks.

My bus number (if any): RML 2672