Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 2, 2019 Posted November 2, 2019 Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship... Bought an old Seagull outboard as it was local and I was inspired by @Abarth 's spectacular glitter flake blue model. I know nothing about these things, apart from old and two-stroke. That seems reason enough. Serial number denotes a 1957-58 Century model, nominally 4hp, and first thing I did was knock up a wooden stand so I could have a decent look and see what's missing (it turns over at least)... On getting it home I remembered I had an old dinghy behind the shed. This was a bad debt recovery job, and was covered in years of grime and tree trimmings. Dragged it out for a look and water blasted it. Seems ok actually, a Reflex Funfisher model, but needs rotten wood replaced and has some cracks in the glass from tree branches hitting it that need repaired... Back to engine, made up a pull start cord and heaving on it gave no spark, suspected a shorted primary lead looking at the tape on the wire, so popped the flywheel off by the official service sheet method of lifting the thing up and clouting it with a hammer. Sure nuff, the primary lead insulation was koozed, and the condensor had seen better days... unfortunately the coil had no reading on the secondary winding, so looked into options. There are all sort of Barry fixes, and some insist it is normal to have no continuity and they work alright when the HV jumps any gaps, but I'd rather have as much confidence as possible in a 60 yr old engine out on the water. Looked at replacing with a different type of coil altogether, but found another Villiers coil that should work, though it is a bit shorter and I'll have to make some spacers... Was a mission getting old coil out. Managed to get the screws out, with penetrant, heat, tapping, more heat and a proper screwdriver, but the studs resisted all methods using two nuts locked together, so instead of stripping the nuts I got them out with vice grips. They are probably usable again, but as they're a weird cycle thread/BA mix I just tapped out the pole pieces to M5 and will use stainless studs when I reassemble it... Currently waiting for bits, so might just clean things up a bit till they arrive... Quote
Abarth Posted November 2, 2019 Posted November 2, 2019 Brilliant! Good to see another one being rebuilt. What colour flake haha? Mine’s been sitting in the garage all winter but will no doubt be put back into the water during summer. Found they like mineral 2 stroke oil way better than synthetic, doesn’t foul the plug as easy with its eco friendly 10:1 fuel/oil premix. Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 3, 2019 Author Posted November 3, 2019 Yeah eco friendly... One bit of online advice was to tickle the carb till you see rainbows on the water. That and the 10:1 oil smoke should make Greta very upset... Gave it a burst this morning. Was into it at 7:30 cos my carport gets glorious morning wood sun. Set up a chair to work in comfort... And gearbox goo, as expected. There is no seal so they run in an emulsion of gearbox oil and water... So nobody told me that damn near EVERY fastener shears off when working on seagulls... Although I got most gearbox screws out except this centre one. Resisted heat, spray and impact driver... So drilling the only option. Was a bastard to get straight as too tight to get drill in properly... And success. With this apart I discovered the water pump vanes were very worn... Same deal nearly everywhere. Not sure if i'll try to replace the buggered screws/bolts or tap out to metric. Is stainless a bad idea for galvanic reasons...? And the horribly dented exhaust tube received some very inexpert beating over a bit of old scaffold pipe... And came up surprisingly well with some scotchbrite and WD40... The driveshaft tube is pretty rusty however, will prob paint it. Enough for the day today though, will take stock and look at what bits I need/can make up to start putting things back together... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 3, 2019 Author Posted November 3, 2019 Decided to paint drive tube while weather was good. Sanded rough chrome with emery paper on the lathe, and cos I couldn't be bothered cleaning the gun, I brush painted it with Durepox, also on lathe. Lazy winning... And after a couple of coats it looks ok, both ends are in pretty good nick so left them chrome. Will see how it weathers... Quote
tortron Posted November 3, 2019 Posted November 3, 2019 Durapox is used on the Americas cup boats, so you should perform pretty well m8 Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 7, 2019 Author Posted November 7, 2019 So I should build a foil for my seagull powered dinghy then...? Here's a pole piece with M5 stud, doesn't look out of place... And the new coil arrived so I did a bit last night. It's a bit shorter so made up some spacers, used a 7/16" bolt to fill magnetic air gaps at end of rod, a tight fit so I tapped the hole to M4 so I could get them out if they got stuck.. and made a couple of plastic spacers as well, pic shows comparison to original coil... And how it looks in place (but upside down so I could see grub screws)... Problem now is the BA thread? [edit - not BA, standard 5/32"] grub screws only just touch the edge of the coil rod, and I broke one of them trying to tighten it enough to prevent the coil from turning. I'll probably tap out the grub screw thread to metric, and either screw the metal spacers to the new coil or file notches/flats in both pieces so they locate in the right position. Also have to make a brass/copper contact pad for the HT lead to connect to. Coming together though... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 9, 2019 Author Posted November 9, 2019 Cut small notches with Ali diamond dremel disc and seems to locate ok... And soldered a copper tab on for the HT contact. Snotted a bit of gasket paper underneath and it has a small dimple for the sprung HT lead contact... And finally separated gearbox cover, was really stuck on, and took some effort to get it off without fucking it. Many decades of oxidation holding it in place so big relief to get this apart... And been using the Stahlwille Whitworth spanner I picked up for 50c at a charity store. Knew it would come in handy one day... Then spent the rest of the morning tidying shit up and sorting bits in boxes. Ignition bits... Fuelly bits... And gearbox bits... So now just a case of cleaning and reassembling. Feel much more organised now... Quote
Abarth Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 Looks good man. With the carb, screw the needle in a couple of turns below when it’s flush with the slide. There’s a lot of info out there that says they should be set flush with the top of the slide. Found it ran way rich and didn’t make power out on the water till I screwed the needle down a bit further into the slide. Going wild on the paint job? Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 10, 2019 Author Posted November 10, 2019 Might dab a bit of 'direct to rust' satin black on the bits that need it... Did some things today. Stripped the Villiers carb, not too bad inside, a few previous bodges made it tricky to get apart, but they're a simple beast... And cleaned, lubed, reassembled and ready to go... And assembled the ignition too. Didn't feed the brown wire corrrectly but didn't notice till I checked old pics. Should run under the insulation plate in the points box, but soldered now so she'll be right. There's a new Villiers condenser under there too... And araldited a new felt pad to the sprung steel arm... Looks good, hope it works... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 11, 2019 Author Posted November 11, 2019 Wife gone out so back in the shed. Cleaned the engine block up but the paint pretty much fell off and was quite rusty under the grime... So 5 mins with a wire brush gave me this... and bombed it with some primer... Will paint it black if I find some suitable engine paint tomorrow... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 12, 2019 Author Posted November 12, 2019 Aaaand fucked up the paint job. Rushed home at lunch and cos time pressured I either didn't shake can enough / was too cold (unlikely) / applied too heavy an application and got a lovely crazed affect I didn't want. (potentially cos Duplicolor paint on VHT primer?) Of course I tried painting over it with second coat to 'fix it' and it doubled down the crazing. So scraped it off and will sand back when dry enough and start again. Every time I try to take shortcuts it bites me and makes more work. You'd think a person would learn... Quote
tortron Posted November 12, 2019 Posted November 12, 2019 My britool tool chest from the 50s is like that. It's a period correct coating. Just clear over it Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 12, 2019 Author Posted November 12, 2019 Could live with that actually. If only I hadn't hit it with a scraper in fit of rage/frustration... It's only a small square block tbh so not a major to clean up again. Mainly the waste of paint that graunches my cogs... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 13, 2019 Author Posted November 13, 2019 A much better lunchtime experience. I put yesterday's failure down to grabbing an old can out of the shed and not agitating it enough / not testing spray pattern before applying. Same can went mint today anyway... And some bits arrived from Simply Seagulls yesterday, should be able to assemble it over the weekend... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 16, 2019 Author Posted November 16, 2019 Wasn't going to paint the tank, quite liked the honest dents and grime, but when cleaning the inside with meths lots of old paint came off so stripped it back... Was interesting cos my bottle of Tergo strip had congealed. Tried smearing it on as a paste but didn't seem to be working, then brushed on some other stripper. Lotsa smoke and bad fumes so chucked it in a bucket of water outside and wire brushed the gunk off and scuffed it... And hit it with 3 coats of black Durepox. Deliberately left dents... Then looked at bracket setup. I'd bought a new used one as mine had a broken side tab... And after cleaning and tapping new threads where necessary it came out good for another few decades hopefully... Rapt with the new thrust block, came with clamp and chains etc for $10 from Simply Seagulls... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 16, 2019 Author Posted November 16, 2019 And just finished some assembly... And a test spin worried me as no obvious spark. Hooked it up to the drill though and while trying to hold the plug against the block got a decent belt, then after a good spin up it seems to be sparking well, even with a rudimentary points gap setting... And where I left it for the day. Fuel system to go... Got a temporary clamp holding it in place till some bits arrive and still have to fill gearbox and set points/plug gaps, but hopefully not far off a test run... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 17, 2019 Author Posted November 17, 2019 3rd pull start. All the 2-stroke goodness. Pics to come.. Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 17, 2019 Author Posted November 17, 2019 All assembled bar a few things that need finishing... Did this first, not sure what it should be but seems low...? But it popped into life on third pull. Was bloody surprised, and shut it down cos was just running in air. Quickly rigged a bucket to get some cooling water through it... And it chucked water everywhere, Bucket obvs not up to task so emptied the old wheely bin I use for scrap and it seemed to be pumping cooling water through ok... Had daughter holding it for that pic, she wasn't keen... Ran ok but had a few backfires after a couple of minutes, and stopped a couple of times. Could have been low on fuel as I only put a little bit in and had used a bit tickling the carb, plus I'm waiting on a plug cap so the connection's only finger tight, and am unsure how it likes running off choke. Really need some sea-trials to see how it's going... And should be able to see where I've been on the water if this residue is any indication... Stoked it ran though. Now I need to fix the boat to put it on... Quote
Lord Gruntfuttock Posted November 17, 2019 Author Posted November 17, 2019 Would be better with sound... Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.