Saving Old Seagulls

Hi Andy - think your points gap is a bit wide! Should be twenty thou. (0,020") or 0.5mm, but if you have a spark, it must be somewhere near. With the motor dying, the problem is fuel delivery. Check the fuel system again as fresh fuel and vibration might have disturbed some muck, especially the...

Hello Charles - enjoyed your observations - don't think there is anything to get excited/worried about - things will self-regulate. Folk might see these fancy prices, dust their old motors off and stuff them on ebay, saturate what must be a limited market, and normality will be restored. I can see t...

Hello jay - the pump is centrifugal principle - the impellor is plastic - early ones were metal. They run with quite a lot of clearance in the pump chamber, which is why you don't sense any resistance with an airline, and why Seagulls don't pump water at low revs., but do allow the motor to be run d...

Hello Chris - if you have a spark, the engine will almost certainly run, assuming you've also got the fuel side sorted out. The spark will improve after the inial run, as the condensor will be charged up. Good advice from Charles - FV's use a 'sandwich' assembly method for crankcase, cylinder and he...

I use a wheelie bin (obtained legit - honest!) in which I use a car 'wash and wax' solution. Makes pretty bubbles whilst you watch your pride and joy burble away, but my theory is that a neutral or slightly alkaline product is circulating the engine, and a small wax deposit is coating the cylinder w...

Hello Colin - just to add my bit - heat the area where you anticipate the screwthread to be as well as the upper part of the screw - the temperature of the surrounding ally has to be well above anything you would care to touch. You might have difficulty in wielding an impact driver on the screw betw...