Saving Old Seagulls

Thanks for letting us know John it helps a lot to get the resolutions to problems posted as others can then search them. Guess your water was taking a short cut! just goes to show how easily you can be misled even on a motor as simple as a Gull! I have everything crossed this is the end of your prob...

I have actually SEEN a diesel outboard ( the guy I fairly recently bought the box of 170 bits off had one ) Can't remember the manufacturer, sorry, but it was B-I-G and probably weighed more than my boat looking at it. Pretty certain I'd have remembered if it was a Perkins so maybe it was a Carnati?

So, what happened?

Speaking as one who has now missed both Thames meets due to being elsewhere in the country I wanna know!

Hi John, I notice the part numbers for the main bearing bushes are the same for both the forty and century series so this implies they are the same, however there are differences on the older engines which is why they should not be run on 25:1 If new bushes were fitted they should be line reamed, ju...

Hi John, I COULD keep my hand on the crankcase for as long as I liked, only the head was v hot, barrel was ok to touch too. Admittedly I didn't run for 30 mins, it was about 15 ( to the mooring and back with a v short break on the boat ) but I don't think it was getting any hotter. Yours does sound ...

So, brown sauce makes you talk funny then? Seriously I have heard of it being used as a cleaning agent but not as a de ruster. Gotta say I am of the opinion that the rust is gonna get you in the end, especially when you are using bare metal in a warm, wet possibly salty environment, all you can do i...

Dunno what the knob does but its 'On'

Go on, twiddle it, you know you want to .........

I'm sorry but the quotes are correct, opening quotes should be like that and different to closing quotes, its only in these days of pooters n' stuff we have started to make do with one character for both, bring back Copperplate handwriting and fountain pens I say. Much preferred all the silliness th...

OK John, On saturday I went out to my mooring using the trusty 40+, It was quite a warm day and I deliberately gave it some welly. My crankcase was what I would describe as 'very warm', I could certainly keep my hand on it for any length of time, comparing it to water baths we used to have in the la...

To be perfectly honest with you I think I would be looking for a replacement block. There is a strong possibility the motor will have overheated at some time and could have distorted the block, even welding it could have done so too. If the motor is down on power and everything else seems ok, have y...

Well there you go and some sensible tips! I think in general most people have the idea of adding more oil to protect an engine not realising it leans the mixture out. ( Not heard of it on 4 strokes though Ted :-) ) this isn't helped by more modern practices, My M*riner 2 strokes instructions say run...

Strange design! I think, going back to the original question that the needle position doesn't make much difference due to the taper on the needle and / or design of the jet carrier. I was just sitting here wondering how on earth the carb could cope with such a range of mixtures when it dawned on me,...

Agree with Michael, but would add that I strongly suggest a new properly gapped plug if you haven't already, and to clean and gap the points

.... and the paint ...........

Interesting. Pardon my ignorance ( never had a chance to look at one of these carbs ) but I note it has what is basically a similar setup to a villiers or a 416 even, but the body seems to have a second 'barrel' but without attendant jet etc, whats that all about then? could that be something to do ...