Saving Old Seagulls

heres another "c" that i restored a couple of years ago.
i wish i'd never sold it now, a lot of time and effort went into that one.
the things we do eh!
enjoy

A very nice restoration. Mag disc might be a little later but the writing has more character. I wont mention the water pipe I'm surprised you took so long to find us on this forum.

Re my 'B'. I don't think we can gleam too much info from mine as it has been mangled over the years. Clutched leg..... wrong (could be C or AC, straight exhaust three nipples)
Carby.... villiers wrong. Block with welsh plugs.....wrong. Tiller handle.....brass yay! Tank.... brass with screw cap?? Magneto.... flat top villiers, no writing. Possibly original, does have larger than normal nut though. Plastic water line...wrong.

thanks hugz

yes agreed there would seem to be a lot of "mangling" going on with a lot of seagulls not just 102's.
c1404 has a few "missmatches" on parts. (i think a forum member now owns this one) brass tank with screw top cap,later clutch lever,plastic water pipe(wrongly fitted oops!),and seagull"patent" carb inlet to mention a few.

The further i get into this resto the more i am uncovering previous "bodges". you'll see a bit later when i get to the magneto.MANGLED indeed!

I hope you can all see that through the ravages of time there is a LOT of parts swapping going on, so the only part that seems to remain "true" is the serial number!

I'm enjoying this

jon

hi all

busy weekend for me.
pulled the crackcases apart and gave them a really good clean up (lots of heavily burnt oil stains everywhere) the piston is shot and buggered.(very badly scored and pitted)
the lower crank bush had almost self destructed from heat stresses. there's a bit missing on the top (you'll need to look closely) but i've managed to swap it for another better one so all good.

i've also been doing a bit of polishing and painting.
what do you think?

so at the moment we dont have a piston (well i do, its just not the right one though)
original one is the SD type with no circlip on the gudgeon pin, the 'standby' piston has the circlips.

top ring on the original piston is seized in place and will only come off if i break it? i'm not worried though as the original piston is absolutley buggered.
it would be nice if i can get a period replacement. i wonder if Jan might have one? or anyone else for that matter.

Apply some gentle heat with a blowtorch, to help loosen that seized ring.

hi adrian
i'm not bothered about the piston or rings. they're both shot to bits anyway.the piston skirt is slightly melted in places?????
evidence of a LOT of excessive heat in this engine already (remember the block) it was only a matter of time before it would have seized up totally.

i think i got to this one just in time?

jon

villiers ignitions?
funny things these, one minute they're working, the next they don't. hmmm
original on the left, replacement on the right. exact match. hurray
original flywheel has definitely seen better days. the magnets on this one keep hitting the coil cheeks with an almighty kerthunk!
the motor has probably fallen over at some time(not in my ownership i might add) and distorted the flywheel. you can't see it in the photos but there is quite a severe dent on the side of the flywheel that would suggest impact of some sort and also there is evidence that someone has tried to remove the flywheel with a puller? shock horror, not the thing to do with one of these?
any way, the replacement is good to go so i will be using this.
its got all the nice things like brass points box, lock nut on the points (fiddly little watsits to set up) etc.
i've started to gather some pretty "choice" parts together now. 8 com plug, non supressed ht lead, a decent plug cover that's not cracked/damaged, a plain magneto cover that shows a little "patina" as does the replacement flywheel. just a bit more cleaning and polishing left to do and the ignition system is done.

j

the easter bunny came early this year for me?
a nice little box of parts from the netherlands (thanks JAN)
nos piston rings, nos gudgeon pin as per SD, and replacement piston.

so now i've put the powerhead back together. seems pretty good. nice "bouncy" compression measured at a smidge under 50psi at the moment. (not that this means a lot at this stage because the motor hasn't run yet! compression will probably rise a little once the rings start to settle down)

so far, so good. no real problems yet.

Good results, well done!!

I see a gap between the stator plate and the crankcase. Is this happening because of the position of the dimple? In addition, is there a ring in the center of the stator plate or just the casting?

hi stelios
yes a very small gap between baseplate and crankcase. remember the old ignition was very badly distorted but even the original ignition was like this.
there is no spacer or adapter ring in the baseplate (i know what you mean)
so the small gap probably is due to the position of the dimple in the crankcase, in other words, not quite right but not too bad to matter too much.
the baseplate is nice and tight and does not "wobble" so this should be ok

jon

Yes the tight fit is a matter especially in that point when an engine has been dissembled and reassembled sometimes.. plus the corrosion.
Good that it doesn't wobble.

Nice job Jon, I can't comment on how original it looks now compared to when it was first put together in the seagull factory, because I haven't a clue about such matters but it certainly looks nice and shiny, and I am very jealous of your core plugs/ welch plugs (having only the pressed in plugs on my own 102's). Well may she run for you.

Cheers Pat

thanks pat
BUT the block is not quite right. it should have the earlier hex head plugs instead of slotted type. i'm still looking for a good replacement, but this one should do well enough.
unfortunately the plugs are not interchangeable (if only it was that easy?)
i'm afraid i am a bit anal when it comes to original and authentic with my motors. IF IT AINT RIGHT then i start to lose interest a bit, until the right parts come along (eventually).patience is a virtue so they say.

jon