Saving Old Seagulls

Yes, the pin can be tapped out with a small piece of bar and if its not damaged it can be reused. When refitting don't forget to peen it over so it cant fall out!

The gearboxes are identical I believe, so you can just swap the complete unit across. Not sure about the prop though, the century might be a slightly coarser pitch as its a more powerful powerhead.

Any further progress on unsticking that piston?

Keep at it, hot/cold cycling can help. Can you get it hot and put it in the press again?

Very neat job, invisible when painted I suspect.

Did you get one? If not there is one here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BRITISH-SEAG ... Sw0XldPJ4h

Another way is to use a jubilee clip fitted around the driveshaft tube, however this can scratch the chrome if you are not careful!

I personally think the FV and FVP to be one of the best and most interesting seagulls to strip and rebuild, along with SDs and early 102s. Great little engines, and of course some great knowledge about them with jeremys in depth research.

Interesting subject, firstly re the piston, could it be that the same pistons were fitted to other villiers engines? Such as stationary, lawnmower etc? Worth checking? I’ve been thinking about the issue of cylinders, could an option be to cast an aluminium blank, Then machine the bore to create wate...

Tiller mount bracket looks correct for a later FV, it replaced the cast in stub in the centre of the crankcase. Not many of those brackets about!

Why are you using grinding paste? You should be fitting the bush to the crankcase by heating the case and freezing the bush. Then if the bush is too tight for the crank to fit then it should be line reamed to size. The bush is designed to be fitted to the crankcase and the crankshaft should rotate w...

No stainless or plain steel are fine.

I'd suggest looking on ebay for the correct carb, as setting up the one you have might be tricky. To attach photos see this screenshot:

I have the same lathe, in the UK several sellers market them, mine is a Chinese made Chester lathe. Works well for small items.

Yes, I can imagine somebody producing those on a capstan lathe, couple of minutes for each one!

I made one out of nickel brake pipe on an earlier project, and bent it using a hand held Bending tool. I’ve also made a SD pipe the same way,out of copper tube.

You have made a great job, the attention to detail sets a standard for all. Love those correct gearbox cap brass bolts