Century 100 restoration.

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never-outbored
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Century 100 restoration.

Post by never-outbored »

Hello all,

I took part in the Race down in Lerryn a couple of weeks ago, and as we rounded the first corner I decided that next year I would like to have an engine with slightly more ‘oomf’.

Ebay worked its magic, and less than a week later, and DPD were knocking at my door with my new purchase, an early 60s century 100.

Now is a good point to note I am new to the Seagull game, and in fact the outboard game in general. But with a couple of spanners, a hammer and a positive attitude, how hard could getting it going be?

My aim is building a motor that is reliable and that I can have a laugh with, So when the Villiers ignition system ‘didn’t have a spark’ even though the points were clean and everything else looked good, I decided to swap the whole ignition system for a Wipac, as i’m led to believe the villiers coils are temperamental.

The one man flywheel removal was no mean feet in itself, but with a bit of creative thinking i found a solution:
29E1B2E7-6427-4605-8AA8-02B48F78DD6A.jpeg
I discovered the knack of wrench socket on the crankshaft thread leads to an absolutely seamless removal.

With the Wipac ignition attached,
77A4B907-C0DD-474F-8252-F198ED575034.jpeg
I turned the flywheel looking for a spark. No spark was there, but that was the least of my worries. Looking back on it, holding the spark plug by the tip was not a good idea. The shock wasn’t that bad, but the old villiers flywheel landing on my foot did hurt quite a lot.

Stay tuned for the next installation of my restoration, in which i shall cover Cylinder heads, Skeg repairs and transom bracket fabrication among other things.
N-O
Horsley-Anarak
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Horsley-Anarak »

Nice can't wait, sure it will be Epic.

H-A


P.S. Luckily today proved that I do have spares in the shed :)
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Collector Inspector
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Collector Inspector »

That is going to clean up very nicely and well done with the sky chain...I have the rope version.

The tank has appeal as well. Bashed about evenly both sides.

Good luck and keep those pics coming

Cheers

BnC
A chicken is one egg's way of becoming others
geofflena
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by geofflena »

You were lucky if the baseplate came off easily ? Its usually that which is the problem not the flywheel ?
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never-outbored
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by never-outbored »

yeah the baseplate wasn’t a problem, just undid the bolt that sits in the dimple on the crankcase and it slid off.
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never-outbored
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by never-outbored »

The saga continues;

A week later and with one less toenail, my hostility towards Seagulls had worn off and i could finally go back into the shed and face the music. Some Googling and spark gap readjustment ( along with proper grounding ) showed me that the flywheel and base plate swap had been successful in helping with my Spark issues, however it still wouldn’t turn over.

Thanks to this great Forum and some phone calls to H-A, I narrowed down my problem to my new Wipac base plate not being in the correct orientation, and with a flathead screwdriver and some head scratching, I located the elusive crank case dimple and secured my base plate in the correct position.

At this point I realised my lack of knowledge ( and tools )
were going to significantly slow progress down, so I arranged for my little century and me to take a trip to
H-A’s for a ‘general service’ if you will.

The century was stripped of all its after market performance enhancing mods, including wooden tiller handle, poorly fitting transom bracket and a piece of leather that had been jubilee clipped to adjust the transom bracket height, which had not been made well.

We put the Seagull in a butt and pulled it, and for the first time under my ownership, it spluttered into life. Although it was running alright, and pulled easily, water flow out the cylinder head was extremely limited.

With the century on the bench, and the message of ‘do not remove’ being ignored, we removed the cylinder head to asses the damage. We cleared the corrosion out of the troughs, and filed all the debris off the face of the cylinder, and buffed the cylinder head.
Before and After:
Cylinder
Cylinder
Cylinder head
Cylinder head
We also swapped the copper gasket for one off a later model, as the old one was corroded.
Gasket
Gasket
The new Gasket was annealed and then put on the cylinder. Gasket sealant was applied (I was told not to bother with Blue) and the cylinder head was put back on.

Next it was onto the transom bracket, where we fabricated a new Pin out of 5/16” stainless rod, heated and bent in a vice.
We swapped the clamp screws and put the whole thing back together.

We also swapped the fuel tank for a long range model ( i will be removing a painting in the near future). This meant changing which side the tap was on and replacing the fuel line as the old one didn’t fit.

Another lesson learnt is that Skeg straightening isn’t a procedure for the faint hearted, as even H-A was slightly worried the skeg would snap during the hammering.
Skeg Process
Skeg Process
Back in the butt the Century went, and pulled first time but still no luck with the water flow. By this point we have eliminated quite a few possible sources for the problem including blockage at the exit point under the cylinder, corrosion inside the cylinder and any obvious impeller issues. This meant the problem was almost certainly in the pipe that runs up from the impeller to the cylinder. The Water pump housing took quite a lot of persuasion to free, but once it came undone, we discovered the problem.
The Problem
The Problem
Wire and some compressed air through the pipe cleared the debris, and then it was just a case of re-assembly and pulling it and hoping.

This time the Century roared into life, and a couple of seconds later a stream of water not unlike Niagra falls came gushing out of the cylinder outlet. An excellent days work, and a steep learning curve for me.

Next up for my little century:

Will be removing the cylinder head again as the gasket I swapped in leaks (as i believe it’s off a newer model with a different cylinder water flow pattern?). Also i would like to give the new fuel tank a paint job, and I need to put a proper split pin on the prop as it’s currently just got a piece of bent wire.

Lots of good things to come for this plucky little motor.
N-O
Last edited by never-outbored on Mon Jan 27, 2020 3:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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never-outbored
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by never-outbored »

https://youtu.be/6MUTDTKrVN4
^First time starting after it had been put back together
Horsley-Anarak
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Horsley-Anarak »

Having looked back at the photos, the corrosion of the headgasket and cylinder head may have been caused by the previous owner using acid or other cleaning agents to try and clean out the water ways.

This is the first time I have seen a head gasket rotted through and corrosion to the head, makes sense as this point was nearest the cylinder water outlet.

Anyone else seen a head gasket rotted through, I have taken apart century cylinders that have literally rotted apart and the gaskets were unmarked.

H-A
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Collector Inspector
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Collector Inspector »

Wow that gasket is toast (pun intended).

One of the reasons copper may do this is being exposed to hydrogen sulphide, which is produced by bacteria.

No oxygen present etc.

Was the debris in the block not salt but maybe canal scum/other organic build up...over a long time sort of caper?

Just a thought.

Runs like a boss now aye!

BnC
A chicken is one egg's way of becoming others
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Charles uk
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Charles uk »

That would leave signs of copper sulphate, what colour is that?

I've never seen a gasket like that.

Well done, I'm enjoying this thread!
Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
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never-outbored
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by never-outbored »

The copper sulphate will probably be anhydrous so will be colourless.
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Charles uk
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Charles uk »

That poses the question, why is it black? & what about the water in the water jacket.
Make it idiot proof and someone will make a better idiot.
Horsley-Anarak
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Horsley-Anarak »

I would think more likely drain cleaner, which are quite often Sulphuric acid. That would eat through the copper.
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never-outbored
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by never-outbored »

Have had a go at giving the tank a new lease of life, by no means a perfect job by me but you've gotta start learning somehow!
First up was removing the tank and tank bracket, which was simple enough. The bolts connecting the bracket to the engine just about held up, however both the U-shaped bolts connecting tank to bracket sheared before I could even touch them.

I took the tank outside, drained it and got most of the grime off it. It was covered in a plastic coating that had flaked off in places, and with a bit of head scratching I figured out my plan of action.
Original tank
Original tank
At this point I must state this is my first time ever doing something like this, so its all google and guesswork.

I removed any edges of plastic that would come off easily, and as soon as it became difficult to remove I stopped. I then filled any plastic/metal craters with automotive filler, and knocked the whole thing back with increasingly fine wet'n'dry.
Automotive filler job
Automotive filler job
For any spraying, I used Rustoleom products. The tank was primed
Primed
Primed
, and given 3 layers of satin black
Painted
Painted
. After that I applied stickers and gave it multiple thin coats of lacquer.

I am fairly pleased with the final results,
All finished
All finished
. Will find a way to re-assemble the whole thing when I have painted the bracket, and will make sure to add photos when I get round to it.

Had a laugh doing this as always, and will keep working and giving this century more TLC.
N-O
Horsley-Anarak
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Re: Century 100 restoration.

Post by Horsley-Anarak »

Looks good, we can make some new bolts.
soon be trying it on a boat :)
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