Saving Old Seagulls

That's not a drain hole it's the oil feed to the bottom main bearing, clean it out with a cotton wool bud & the air line, that crankcase should be clean enough eat from but oily on the inside!

Charles uk wrote:That's not a drain hole it's the oil feed to the bottom main bearing, clean it out with a cotton wool bud & the air line, that crankcase should be clean enough eat from but oily on the inside!

Thanks Charles, cotton bud is how I did it and a blast of carb. cleaner, no air hose, looking at all the pieces it's in I just hope I haven't lost anything, inside of crankcase is spotless now

Have you freed up those pistons Steve. ......they look seized up china

Should of said rings china

Yes tam you are spot on, siezed, is it simply more heat or a better way?

Won't need much heat even a kettle of hot water but be canna think of a matchstick they will break easier than that.....

Know anyone with a ultrasonic cleaner?

Tam's right cast iron rings are like uncooked dry spaghetti, very brittle!

Really the rings need removing & the ring grooves cleaning, if the plan involves, using it in anger in fresh water.

I've seen pistons a lot worse than that working well.

Spot on Charles just didn't want to encourage the removel as you do know what's coming next.... it's not untill you break some that you relise how brittle they are good luck Steve. ...

Charles
I'm no expert with "little 40's", that's more Jeremy's domain. I just listen and watch carefully and make my own notes.
Jeremy is the one with all the specific dates and details

As a comparison i have 3 LS's (1 early ish and 2 late ones) but all of them have the smaller 7/16" carb. Even my very early SJM (which is a 1955 motor) has this smaller 7/16"carb.

When i was messing about with my first LS resto job i stumbled across a few similar scenarios as Steve has with his.
It was when i ran the engine for the first time that i realised the fueling was completely wrong with it. Adjusting the mixture screw made little difference either. So, the carb came off the block to find a much smaller diameter inlet than you'd expect to find on a typical 40. It turns out the smaller inlet matches the smaller carb perfectly. If i were to put a 1/2" carb onto this block it would run (sort of) but it was far too rich and wouldn't rev above 1/3 throttle.
With a smaller 7/16" carb everything was instantly transformed. It would start so much easier, it would idle very nicely, it would rev right up to WOT with no trace of 4 stroking.
It was also during this "test period" i noticed the size of the inlet cowls varied a bit too. They're not all the same size. I had a few spares at the time and set about finding out which one would work the best. I started with the biggest hole and worked my way down to the smallest sized hole. (in effect restricting the amount of air entering the carb to begin with) It made perfect sense to me with the smaller carb it wasn't sucking as much air as a 1/2" carb, so a slightly smaller diameter in the cowl made sense as well.
This is basically how all my LS's, FV and SJM are set up. Small carbs with smaller inlet cowls.

With my later 40 seagulls, they have the normal 1/2" carb as they have a bigger inlet stub too, and a corresponding sized inlet cowl.

Jon

I've found that with stuck rings a little gentle heat will usually free them and once moved a bit the crud holding them works loose. Then apply some light oil and you are good to go.

Thanks everyone for helping me with this, I still have no idea why it isn't working, I suspected it was not getting fuel to the spark because I couldn't smell it when I removed the plug and thought maybe a blockage in the head, I couldn't see one, one question, what problems are caused by stuck piston rings?

Seized piston rings=bad compression (thinking out loud again)......

tambikeboy wrote:Spot on Charles just didn't want to encourage the removel as you do know what's coming next.... it's not untill you break some that you relise how brittle they are good luck Steve. ...

yep I broke one I tried the heating up with no luck so looking round the internet I saw something about using Acetone, I brushed the ends and after a minute or two it started to free up, I slowly worked a fine feeler gauge around the inside edge brushing more Acetone as I went along it seemed to be working until I got halfway round then ping I was already thinking of buying a new set of rings anyway
are these right for my little forty?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seagull-outbo ... Cr6rChheJQ

Try John Williams his rings are cheaper than that & his postage is at cost.

Charles uk wrote:Try John Williams his rings are cheaper than that & his postage is at cost.

thanks I will call him in the morning