Saving Old Seagulls

See my post ‘Silver Century not starting’. The original head on mine was the same as the one on the left. The one I rebuilt with was the one on the top right. Huge increase in compression with the new one. I have seen all three types and have them in stock still, with the intention of some tinkering...

No skimming done by me. Just sealed the head-gasket-cylinder meticulously. It was a secondhand replacement piston too, which I polished up. My first reading was done while engine was cold as it was a non-runner. Second reading was taken straight after a ten min tank run. Just pulled it over 3 times ...

50 before, 70 after. Can't judge real world difference on the water as it wasn't running when I got it. Should make a difference to cold starting. Ran it for 10 mins today to clear fuel out of tank. Might get a sea test with fresh fuel tomorrow.

Much later than stated so sorry for that. Finally got new rotor in and pumping good flow of water. Did the compression test and returned a solid 70psi. Well up on my base reading with the low compression head. I would say this conversion is well worth the effort. Thanks again for all the help. Next ...

I do have a compression gauge so will check over the weekend and post back. Curious myself, have to fit a new water pump rotor as this one had perished. Have the parts now so will see how I get on over the weekend.

At long last. Rebuilt @nd fired up on 4th pull. Few more little tweaks before dinghy test. Thanks for the advice everyone.

Ok, spent most of the morning tinkering with the suggestions made. No luck, so I bit the bullet and started on a power head strip down. The bolts were all suspiciously loose, on removing the block I found the crankcase to block gasket did not have the hole cut out for the transfer port. Hence why no...

Looks like a v strong spark when held against cylinder head and flywheel turned with a drill. I do have a spare lead so will give this a try at weekend, just in case it’s not sparking at pull cord speeds. Thanks, will post back with results.

Thanks both. Will try those tips over the weekend. Won't be giving up on it.

Hi, newbie to SOS and plenty of good advice read already. I got my first 40+ late last year, and have successfully rebuilt another from a sold-as-seized condition so I’d like to think I know my way round them a bit. My issue is with a Silver Century WS1582A0. I got it locally and in an unseized cond...