temperamental running

grahamcamm · Post by **grahamcamm** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 6:36 pm

I recently bought (2 days ago) a silver century plus longshaft wspcl. The guy I bought it off showed it me running in a tank, It started first pull, ticked over nicely, went into gear and ran at tickover allbeit a bit smokey during all procedures. I took it out today and it stalled every time at tickover when put in gear. When I got home I ran it in a wheelie bin and it stalls at tickover in gear still but also stalls after a few mins at tickover it is also stalling at one third revs. Will it be because the smoke is choking it whist in the wheelie bin or does the carb need cleaning? Is the carb easy to clean as I'm not a mechanic at all?

Keith.P · Post by **Keith.P** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:14 pm

grahamcamm wrote:I recently bought (2 days ago) a silver century plus longshaft wspcl. The guy I bought it off showed it me running in a tank, It started first pull, ticked over nicely, went into gear and ran at tickover allbeit a bit smokey during all procedures. I took it out today and it stalled every time at tickover when put in gear. When I got home I ran it in a wheelie bin and it stalls at tickover in gear still but also stalls after a few mins at tickover it is also stalling at one third revs. Will it be because the smoke is choking it whist in the wheelie bin or does the carb need cleaning? Is the carb easy to clean as I'm not a mechanic at all?

http://saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/forum/ ... ght=stalls
Have a read.

Vic · Post by **Vic** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:41 pm

It wont like breathing in its own exhaust fumes when in a wheelie bin.

I find some of the other stuff in a wheelie bin upsets them too

But they run happily in a tank that allows the exhaust to dissipate.

Check the filter in the tank and the one in the carb where the float chamber bolts to the bottom of the carb body.

(I assume its a two jet Amal carb)

Two jets are accessible from there but need a box spanner to remove them

Take care with the carb as I believe the bodies are NLA but nothing much is simpler to work on than Seagull carbs.

BTW you should be able to convert it to run on 25:1 if you want to cut down on the smoke ... details on the main website.

grahamcamm · Post by **grahamcamm** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:21 pm

The guy I bought it off said it had been converted to 25-1 by the previous owner but he continued to run it on 10-1. It smokes like a garden fire burning privet clippings when run in the wheely bin. How easy it it to clean the carb for a bricklayer. The carb does drip fuel quite badly when not running and the tank tap is turned on. Do you think it may just need a new plug or something else. Thanks in advance.

Vic · Post by **Vic** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 11:43 pm

It should not dribble fuel.
Depends where its dribbling from though what action is needed. If it is one of the joints then the joint needs remaking but if the float chamber is overflowing then the float or needle valve requires attention.

If it has been converted to 25:1 then I'd run it on 25:1. The mixture will be all wrong on 10:1, it'll tend to be a bit weak.

I would not like to speculate on whether a bricklayer can overhaul a carb. My brother-in-law was a competant bricklayer but he was also a University lecturer! Not sure I'd have let him touch my outboard carb though.

Seriously though they are pretty basic.

New plug ... always worth try if not working well. Worth having a spare anyway.

grahamcamm · Post by **grahamcamm** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 5:44 pm

It's dribbling out of where I assume is the air intake. Can someone guide me (a dummy) how to strip and clean a carb. Thanks

grahamcamm · Post by **grahamcamm** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:37 pm

Vic wrote:It should not dribble fuel.
Depends where its dribbling from though what action is needed. If it is one of the joints then the joint needs remaking but if the float chamber is overflowing then the float or needle valve requires attention.

If it has been converted to 25:1 then I'd run it on 25:1. The mixture will be all wrong on 10:1, it'll tend to be a bit weak.

I would not like to speculate on whether a bricklayer can overhaul a carb. My brother-in-law was a competant bricklayer but he was also a University lecturer! Not sure I'd have let him touch my outboard carb though.

Seriously though they are pretty basic.

New plug ... always worth try if not working well. Worth having a spare anyway.

Well I decided just to go for it. I got an old quality street tin and put a good amount of thinners in. I took the carb off and slowly dismantled it and soaked it for an hour. As I took each part out I scrubbed it with an old tooth brush then blew off with my mates air compressor. Put it all back together and it now runs like a sewing machine. The tin with the thinners in is now full of sand and silt so it was hopefully just some muck making the float needle stick. Here's hoping

Vic · Post by **Vic** » Mon Jun 22, 2009 11:59 pm

That's the way to do it.
It's when people pull things apart without noting how the bits were fitted together or lose bits that the fun starts.

All should be well now.

niander · Post by **niander** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:45 pm

well done m8

...yep air compressor is what you want for this job Ive got a really powerful dinghy inflator 240 v...does the job...never had to take a jet out yet to clean it...that amal is simple isnt it.

Vic · Post by **Vic** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 4:21 pm

You should also clean out the fuel tank and clean the filter on the fuel tap.

Maybe the filter is damaged and letting all the muck pass.

Saving Old Seagulls

temperamental running

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