Let’s kick off with some Australian Hurricane background first.
Hurricane was essentially a small engine manufacturer located in NSW Australia. They produced engines for various lawn mower and outboard companies and in the latter years proceeded to produce their own “Hurricane” stationary engines, lawn mowers and outboard motors as well.
Searching the internet, there are references to 4 Hurricane engine models. Models 125 and 125A are 125cc air cooled engines with a 2 1/8” bore and 2 1/8” stroke. The 125 has a one piece cylinder and head cast iron. The 125A has a cast iron cylinder and a removable alloy head. Models 180 and 185 are 160cc air cooled engines with 2 3/8” bore and 2 1/8” stroke. Both comprise a one piece cylinder and head, the 180 in cast iron and the 185 in aluminium with a liner.
The Hurricane outboard discussed below first appeared on Australian Ebay some months ago. When I saw the advert I knew there was something special about this particular one and immediately made contact with the seller. He didn’t know a lot about it, but invited me over for a look. Hurricane outboards are extremely difficult to find at the best of times, so I couldn’t pass up on the opportunity. On inspection, I noted a number of missing parts and some modifications. We stuffed around a little bit and managed to get a nice spark, and whilst the engine itself matched the description of the model 185, it was water-cooled potentially making it super rare. Awesome.
I departed shortly after and kept an eye on the Ebay advert, which saw very little bidding activity. Then low and behold it disappeared. Bummer, I thought. However as I still the sellers contact details I made another call to him. To cut a long story short, we struck a deal (dirt cheap IMO), and it was mine!
Some pics as purchased. Missing parts include fuel tank, recoil starter and associated mech. At the lower end, a 'grafted' gearbox easily identifiable as not original through the home made intermediate plate. Sourcing original is going to be a challenge, but I guess that’s all part of what we do.
It basically sat untouched for a few weeks whilst I continued the search for information and parts. I can honestly say after 2 months of extensive searching I’ve only been able to find 3 obscure references on the internet. The first contained no detail other than a low quality thumbnail pic of a re-branded Hurricane outboard with a water-cooled engine taken from an Ebay almost 6 years prior. The second was a mention that someones father 50 odd years ago, fitted a replacement water-cooled powerhead of unknown origin on an early Waterboy Outboard. Following up on both leads resulted in no additional info.
The third reference really got my attention. It was made by well known and respected fellow claiming to have purchased an instruction manual for a previously undocumented Hurricane engine. With nothing to lose I wrote to him. 3-4 days later I received a response with a request for my email address and an offer to provide a scanned copy of said manual ie just on the off chance that it may be of some use to me.
What an understatement that proved to be. The manual was indeed correct for the engine, referred to by Hurricane as a Hurricane Surefire Model 200. The manual also comprised the usual service information and exploded view drawings which will assist in identifying many of the missing parts.
Almost 4 months have now passed since the purchase, and quite a lot of progress on the restoration made. Here’s a few of the progress pics with some commentary.
Engine removed from trunk. All it's seen at this point is quick once over with wire brush to crankcase and cylinder/head, and a light polish of the brass fittings.
On separating the crank case and cylinder, it becomes clear this thing has had limited use. Not a lot of carbon build up on the piston. Cylinder liner and rings also appear as new.
Gasket removed, crank case and cylinder surfaces partially cleaned, piston given a good soak and wipe down. Absolutely no slack in the big or little end. Very pleased so far.
Re-painted cylinder/head, flywheel and base plate and lightly polished brass and copper fittings. Aside from some prior spanner damage, they've come up pretty nice. I tend to store in plastic or styrene boxes to minimise the possibility of small parts escaping. Stripped down carbs, ignition systems etc are stored in plastic bags, so when I'm ready to work on something it's all there in one place.
Bit of time spend polishing carb body and various other small components ahead of re-assembly.
Spent a lot of time reworking the trunk and transom brackets, and although not absolutely perfect, I reckon they've come up ok. I don't have a bead blaster or anything like that so the aluminium was attended to with a wire brush (larger areas) and a dremel (hard to get at areas). All nuts and bolts etc are original, just cleaned up with a wire wheel on the drill press. Literally countless hours spent on these parts.
By comparison re-finishing the chrome on the trunk and carry handle was extremely easy. I hit them with a “mothers” metal polish and fine steel wool. 15 minutes later a few dents and scratches remain, but that adds to the character in my opinion.
With that out of the way, it was time to start reassembly. The power head (engine), lower dust cover and carry handle are secured by the 4 engine bolts and are therefore fitted together. In other words it goes together very quickly.
Close up Hugz. I’m sure he will be pleased to know I polished the condenser!
Although I haven’t got around to sourcing the right spark plug and setting the points yet, I thought I’d whack the flywheel on just to see how she looks so far.
The search for missing parts continues, and as there’s not much more to do with the parts I have, it will be a while before the next update.
Hope you enjoyed the read.
Regards,
