Saving Old Seagulls

Hello All,
My first posting though probably not my last.
I recently acquired a 90 model EFNRL.
Has not been in use for some years.
horrible corrosion on shaft cover and exhaust pipe seized at head end.
I have managed to remove most parts and last evening I got the bottom end off.
The pinch bolt on the shaft cover is REALLY seized - and I tried heat , then cold to no avail.
I dont want to break it so the question is how can i free it - i even contemplated putting the whole prop end into a mild caustic solution.
re the exhaust -Is it possible to loosen the exhaust by tapping with a mallet around the head end as i expect it is just a buid up of corrosion that is preventing it coming away
and finally the forward/reverse lever is very stiff. I did read the post on the website about oiling it and shall continue to do so - is that all it takes ?
all help and advice gratefully received
ta
Rod

If you mean the pinch bolt securing the top of the water pump housing to the drive shaft casing tube then try more heat and then a lot more heat. Maybe a little WD40 each time. Repeat as necessary.

Assuming you have the clamp removed from around the exhaust pipe just below the cylinder block you need to use your propane torch here as well. Liberally! Secure the power unit upside down and waggle/twist the exhaust pipe to break crud seal.. This is usually old semi burnt 2T oil and carbon build up, not ali oxide /rust .

I have a suspicion you may not be throwing enough heat at the thing....

Peter

Hi Peter,
No indeed I think you may be right - I thought a hot air gun would be hot enough.......
Silly old me - i'll get the propane out tonight and hopefully it'll do the trick.
thanks for the tip
Rod

Recently I had an issue with a stuck gearbox screw. WD40. Penetrating Oil. ATF & acetone. Correct size screwdriver bought specially for the purpose and much straining and I have to say some swearing. Wouldn't budge. Looked around for an engineering firm near me. Nothing. But I did find a seller of classic British iron...so I dropped by, and chatted to the workshop guy, who is a rather garrulous chap who spits at everything that isn't his (beautiful) A.J.S. He sneered derisively at my Seagull gearbox and cared naught for its relation to the British bike industry.

But he obligingly put the thing in a vice (using the stub of the drive shaft which was also stuck fast and which I hadn't attacked yet) and, fag in gob, warmed the thing somewhat alarmingly with an acetylene torch!!! (just kind of wafted it about a bit). I didn't dare object. He then fixed a vice grips to the cheese-head screw, inserted a screwdriver to the slot and using both points of pressure moved it first try. The man is a genius.

So now you know.

always works.... just don't shear the head off before you try the heat.

AJ

You'll quickly learn that some of these things take some SERIOUS HEATING before they think about obliging. Sometimes with many years of saltwater use, (more often than not a lack of any kind of maintenence) certain parts will have given up the ghost long ago

A good selection of good fitting tools helps too!
Impact driver for stubborn screws along with a decent blowtorch. Not many i havn't been able to seperate using this method.
A good quality waterproof grease on threads helps slow down any future corrosion.

Perhaps the best tip is...... only take something apart if you really have to. Otherwise leave alone

jon