Saving Old Seagulls

As Charles says you can easily pop the gearbox cap off and inspect. Seagulls are serviceable with the most basic tool kit. Possible causes: 1) gunk buildup in gearbox (old emulsified water/oil mix dried to powder over long time. Most likely) 2) drive shaft or prop shaft seized in bushing in the gear...

Easiest to remove the prop when testing in a bucket, to keep the water calm. Cooling water usually won’t come out at lowest idle, you just need to rev it a bit to get it pumping.

No standard way to adjust per se, rather a bit of gentle coercing is occasionally needed when reassembling the carb. As you say it’s hard to do much without breaking the pin or float but I’ve overcome same issue in the past with other older seagull carbs. If you have any more troubles with the Bing ...

Likely the float is not raising correctly/high enough to raise the fuel needle so that it to closes the fuel channel into the float chamber. Never needed to replace the fuel needle on an old carb myself, when I’ve had problems with fuel leakage it has always come down to float adjustment. I suppose ...

Later bracket with plastic tilt lock, skeg missing, later dome nut, no idea what’s going on with starboard side of the tank. Getting close?

Looking very nice. A great feeling getting the power unit back together!

I see an upside-down 9897 stamp on the upper crankcase half. Not sure I’ve notice a stamp there before on other motors. Is this normal for the AD range and/or others produced around that time?

Glad to hear it came back to life pretty easily. Did you clean/set points and out of interest does it still have a Bing carb?

This is normal at low rpms. See the FAQ page on the main Saving Old Seagulls website here https://saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/faq2.html#cooling It should be fine without water flow here and there. Happens all the time with clogged intakes. Seagulls run quite cool, so if you hear hissing while running ...

Is the tank leaking (pinholes etc)?

A common question with these old tanks and from what I can tell no single ‘right’ answer. There are lots of suggestions online for cleaning out old motorcycle tanks which could also apply here. Usually the cleaning process for me starts with a good degreaser, then onto removing the built up crud. I’...

Interesting! Wonder if just a spacer added at some point? To what end no idea.

Looks like a century in the background, two rebuilds at the same time?

Looking good!

Which parts will you varnish? Casings, cylinder? Have never used varnish on a seagull but understand it can help protect their finish for quite some time.

Photo would help a lot if you can post one. Carbon buildup is common and can be cleaned off, usually leaving a nice smooth surface beneath. Cleaned up piston and new rings can really improve performance. If the piston surface is actually scratched beneath the carbon that could impact performance (di...

Very much wish I could buy this! A rare model I have always wanted, but too far away unfortunately.

Looks in good condition. Hope it goes to a good home

Walker Bay? Believe one attempted round the island in bermuda this year. Emphasis on attempted :) I occasionally use an AF 40- on mine, a good light motor for the job when moving a full load of people or kit more than a short distance. Find the keels tend to wear through over time on those, right at...