Saving Old Seagulls

As I mentioned in the thread in the wanted section, I am now the owner of my first Seagull, and first petrol outboard! I took the plunge and bought an unseen engine off the dreaded ebay, It arrived today, pretty well packed to be honest. It is a 1989 40+ SEFPC model number ( the one with a recoild start, cd ignition and clutch).

Looks ok at first sight. The only bit of damage I could see was the plastic choke lever which got broken in transit. John sells them for less than £3 so no worries there. I made a temporary one from an old credit card using the old one as a template and it works just as well. The other item I attended too was the air intake. Apparently it should have a longer rubber cowl that fits to the rigid air intake on the carb (an amal 416 apparently), but they are no longer available. The previous owner had botched it with a bit of gaffer tape and inner tube but it was about to fall off, so I bridged the gap using a piece of plastic drain tube, a bit of inner tube and a couple of tie wraps. I then went out bought some fuel, some TCW3 oil and topped the tank up with 25:1.

I strapped it to a wheelie bin, then followed the intructions carefully from here and it started first pull. Happy days. Next the neighbours came out of into their garden to see what all the smoke and noise was all about!

So first impressions are good, it pumped water really well with a pencil thick stream emerging just as described on here. It was cold today only a degree above freezing and it did take a while before I could reduce the revs without it cutting out. When I could, I engaged the clutch and gave it a reasonable run. This thing seems to have a fair bit of grunt! Being as new as I am to this, it is difficult to learn much from running an engine in an oversized bucket, but it did seem that the tick over speed was quite high. When I reduced the throttle it did seem to die, or often when I engaged the clutch on lower revs the same happened. I must admit I was a bit surprised at just how much smoke it produced too, although i think it is accentuated when running in a bin. Maybe this is just a case of getting used to the foibles of this particular motor....

After running for a while I also noticed a little dark oily sludge running down the exhaust tube, is this a worrying sign? I would like to identify any potentially expensive gremlins while I still have a return option on it.

sludge on the exhaust. Almost stops when going into gear . Noisy and lots of smoke. I hate to worry you ..... but it sounds like you have a good one. Well done.
Check to oil in the gearbox before you run it again. It should be similar to Baileys Irish Cream.

Heron Addict wrote: After running for a while I also noticed a little dark oily sludge running down the exhaust tube, is this a worrying sign? I would like to identify any potentially expensive gremlins while I still have a return option on it.

Glad you have a good engine, when it starts first pull still makes me smile.
You can buy a much older engine, even pre war, take it apart clean all the bits stick it back together and it starts first pull.

If the engine is good they will even start when not wanted to, just pulling them over gently with a little WD40 squirted through the carb to make sure there is some cylinder lubrication. Then off it goes, try not to do in the house.

The sludge in the test tank is normal, get it on the back of boat, get it hot and it will run better, you have good water flow so there is little to worry about I would say.

Post some pictures (we all like pictures)

H-A

Thanks guys

OK, here is a link to a photobucket album with a few photos and a video running in the usual wheelie bin! The video should really have had a soundtrack of Pink Floyd's "Smoke on the water"!

http://s1177.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... ry/Seagull

As I said it is a 1989 SEFPC model, there have been a few modifications as I can see. The issued plastic fuel tank has been replaced with an older brass 40+ tank, which I much prefer and the exhaust is a chromed brass one, rather than the alloy one. So it has been back-dated rather than updated, which is fine. You can also see that the rubber boot connector from the flywheel housing to the carb intake is too short and the broken choke flap. Initially I botched the air intake with good old gaffer tape, then did a better job later with some plastic pipe and inner tube, the choke is a cut-out, white credit card.

The gear box oil was perfectly described by skytoyman as Baileys Irish Cream, so that is good and the level looks ok. Should I bother changing this anyway, or leave it alone? Next job would be to clean the fuel system and tank. New territory for me so that will be interesting, not today though, I have to work on it outdoors and it is currently snowing!

Creamy mix in the box is fine, worth changing while you are at it though, as well as cleaning the cleaning the fuel system, always helps your engine reliable...

Thanks for the advice Oyster. Changing gear box oil was simple, mine takes SAE90 so that is readily available. I ordered a few bits and pieces off John today as spares. Prop springs, throttle cable, SOS spanner, gear box plug etc etc.

After work I decided to tackle the fuel system clean. Like I said new territory for me, never dismantled a carb in my life. Off came the tank, carb and hoses. I found John's exploded view of the Amal 416 carb and this made the job lots easier and gave me confidence. To be honest the fuel system was nice and clean. Hardly any muck anywhere. Gave everything a good clean with WD40 and a bit iof redex and reassembled the carb, gone dark by now, so outdoors with a headtorch ( I thought I may as well replicate the on the bank repairs, while fishing situation! ).

Put it all back together again. Primed the carb and woosh... off it went first time, big smile from me . I appreciate this is probably a very simple task for most of you, but I felt very smug as the seagull burst into life.

With this being a CD ignition, ie not a lot for me to tamper with, I now feel like I have at least a little familiarity with most of the stuff thats going to prevent starting when in use. Next job I want bto tackle is the drive shaft tube. This is one of the later ones with a black plastic coating round a steel tube. There is a bit of roughness and I dont like the idea of moisture collecting under it and corroding, I think the plastic can come off and be replaced with a few good coats of hammerite.

All in all, I think I am very slowly getting to grips withy this seagull ownership lark!

What fun! Congrats on being happy with your new toy. I am not at all familiar with that mdl but I know that once duct tape starts to dry out it sheds alot of dusty fine bits. Not sure if there is a path for it to reach your carb but in the long term you might watch for it.

When are you going to make that Bronze transom mount nice and shiney!

Heron Addict wrote: With this being a CD ignition, ie not a lot for me to tamper with,

There is a very simple solution to this, and also a way if steepening your learning curve, buy another older non runner.

That is when you will get a real buzz, when it has been restored it starts, having lain idle for decades.

Watch out, the shed soon starts to shrink.

H-A

Thanks David. The duct tape has now been replaced with something more suitable. It was only very temporary just to get going when it arrived. I havent had chance to do anything cosmetic on it yet, such as the transom mount as you suggest. I have concentrated on dirty biots! I promise I will get round to it though!

You are right H-A, I think I have already decided that when this one goes over to France I will get another to potter around with at home. I appreciate the later model I have doesn't have quite the charm, or the challenges, of the earlier models. I don't want to run before I can walk though.....I was intending to get a bigger shed anyway, in fact I have plans for a proper brick built workshop/ fishing tackle store. Working outside in the cold, with a headtorch, will wear thin pretty soon I expect

Quite a few 102's have been for sale in lancashire this year - Bolton , Wigan , Lancaster .

skyetoyman wrote:sludge on the exhaust. Almost stops when going into gear . Noisy and lots of smoke. I hate to worry you ..... but it sounds like you have a good one. Well done.
Check to oil in the gearbox before you run it again. It should be similar to Baileys Irish Cream.

Baileys usually................depends on who makes the oil...........

Local Brew from down under, makes it look like spearment (Mentha viridis)milk shake.

Penrite

We just HAVE to be different Aye?



B

I have dismantled the transom bracket to clean it up a bit and found that the collar which mounts it onto the drive shaft and the whole tilt mechanism assembly is coated in a nasty plastic dip type material. Unfortunately it now longer seems attached properly to the casting beneath. Judging by the weight I am guessing it is alloy? I presume it would be best to peel of the failed plastic coating and paint it. Just wondering as the collar looks to be also coated, which may protects the shaft from wear etc. Is it ok to simply strip it all off and paint ( presumably with some sort of aluminium primer and hammerite).

This motor has a sealed gearbox, so if the seals are good the lube should look like oil not shampoo.

But shampoo is not a major cause for concern!

david doyle wrote:When are you going to make that Bronze transom mount nice and shiney!

http://i1177.photobucket.com/albums/x35 ... 193201.jpg

There you go David. I made a start on it. Not sure if I should apply anything after polishing to keep the colour?

The collar and tilt mechanism was in a messy state. I peeled the plastic off and there was lots of alloy oxidation powder and very dirty. Awkward shape to clean too! So I will either try to polish that bit up a bit or paint it black again.

Charles, I collected the old gearbox oil in an old tin and it definitely has an oily rather than watery consistency, it does look like Baileys but it more viscous. More conditioner than shampoo, could be used to get that 1940s slicked back look I suppose Would the fact that it is that colour mean that it is still mixing with water, ie the gear box seals are not perfect?