Saving Old Seagulls

I got my motor today and the guy who sold it to me was mistaken about the year and model. The numbers on it are EFNRL 19M4. Now if I'm not mistaken that means it is 1984 Silver Century long shaft made in December and it was number 19 for that month. Or could it be a 1994?. I tried pulling a few times with no luck starting it. It was running a few weeks ago so I know it will run. I just need to make it easy to get started. I'll work with the plug gap tomorrow and see if that helps. I'll also get some pics posted. I think I did alright buying for $50 US. It's a clean engine with almost no rust and he replaced the steel tank with a brass one about a year ago.
I haven't had a chance to look at it much because I was sailing all day today. I used the evinrude this time but next time I hope to have the seagull pushing me along

Keith

SHE RUNS! I went out in my garage and gave a few more pulls on the engine and she fired up for me. My garage is full of exaust smoke now and my wife will be home soon with a carload of stuff to unload....I don't think she's gonna be nearly as happy that the engine is running as I am.
I also got a service manual for the engines that the former owner had. It has a ton of good info in it. Now I have some reading to do

Keith

It's the 'R' in the srial that's the best bit. There are very few examples of the reverse gearbox appearing for sale, and $50 seems like an absolute steal!

Well done...

Keith go & look on John's identify your Seagull pages.

You've stolen the most powerful Century model available, all the information you need is on that or the other pages.

Let's hope this does not infect you with the disease that most of us on this site seem to be afflicted with " haven't got one of those, must have it" "that's better than mine & it's not a bad price" you will know your a carrier of the virus when you have no room to put another one.

Another symptom is boring the ar** off everybody who's silly enough to start a conversation with you.

At least it's not life threatening only wife threatening.

The only ones I don't have are the little model forty & the FV cos the other Charles has all of them!

Between about four of us we could put on a display of every outboard that Seagull produced for sale from 1931 to 1994.

I'm afraid it's too late Charles, the disease has already begun taking over me. I have been very anxious to pick up the motor. I've read everything I can find about them and I've bored all the guys who work with me talking about it.
My wife gave up on me long ago when I started building my boat. She gave me every pill in the medicine cabinet to try to control the illness but there's only one cure for this disease, water. Lot's of water, it may be clean and fresh enough to drink or full of salt that will drive you out of you mind if you drink enough, but thats the only cure I know. Someone once asked me if I ever get seasick, I certainly do, all the time. As a matter of fact I'm feeling a little seasick right now sitting here in my house. It's kind of like feeling homesick.
I've got to go play around with the seagull, now that it's daylight and I can have a good look at her. I'll give here a good cleaning and take some pict to post here. It's fairly clean already but theres some oil that needs wiping off

Keith

'Every Seagull put on sale between 1931 and 1994'

That's an awful lot of them...

And we've never satisfactorily explained the model B (+'Few made for Salmon Fisheries...')

And there doesn't seem to be one of the fabled twin 102s from the war anywhere.

And there's the little Model Forty with the Amal carb from 1949, nobody has one, nor has anyone seen one.

That's about 31 different motors marketed before the end of World War II - double it to include long shaft variant, then add a few for the 'Special' models with advance/retard levers...

We're going to need big garden shed to set 'em up!

I've got an OB Charles with a clutch & Chris has one without, & your the one with all the early 40 variations, so if ones missing, it's your fault!

Sort it out!

Here are some pictures of the engine. As you can see there is some oil that seeps from the bottom of the tube after running the motor. Is this normal or something that needs attention?


I also was wondering about a wire on the bottom of the starting coil. Can anyone ID this for me?


Here are several other pics I thought you would enjoy








Is the carb supposed to be held on with a hose clam like you see in the picture?





You can also check out my website now where you can see more pictures of my boat and motor. Just click the www link

Keith

First - what a very pretty boat! She certainly looks the part with your Seagull, you're a lucky man.

You can get a replacement clamp for your Seagull's carb from John, so if you mail him I'm sure he'll be glad to help. He can probably help out with a long range tank, too if you decide you need one.

The oil from the exhaust is entirely normal.

The other Charles knows all about electrical connectors, and I'm sure he'll be able to tell you about your mystery wire.

If you short out the connector your motor will stop that will explain exactly what that cable is for, it's a stop button wire.

There should be a 1/4" pinch bolt assembly instead of a hose clamp.

Hello Keith, Very nice example of a longshaft model 90!

Sought after here as they have the FNR gearbox.

about 5 hp output.

what is more you have the also very sought after 4 amp alternator too, lucky man. Output is rectified so charges battery direct. The plug and socket was a useless device however, not at all waterproof, can simply be replaced with a 2 pin pulg and socket for a garden water feature. (Cheaper than chandlers!)

Simply take the Green and Yellow wire of the three coming out, as the negative and wire the other two, positives, join together, =4 amp output.

Yes some models of the QB fitted a stop button using that red wire, you can use it if you want to rig something up.

Oil dribbling down the pipe is simply unburnt fuel oil mix, just wipe it off.

The Amal 416 should have a proper clamp and nut and bolt to secure it to the stub, odd it has not as all else looks A1.

Tank is not original, it is a 3 pint tank from an earlier motor. yours would have left the factory with a 1 gallon. UK steel tank, that would have rusted away in about a fortnight, horrible things!

Hope this helps,

Regards,
John
SOS

I opened up the carb today and it was very corroded. Water must have gotten into it at some point. I cleaned it out the best I could but it's by no means what I would consider clean. The body above the float is pitted with corrosion. The original clamp is broken off where it attaches to the block, which explains the hose clamp. I put it all back together again and she ran after about 4 pulls. I need to get it on the water and really let her run for a while though. Maybe next weekend will be nice and I can give it a go. Any idea what a new Amal 416 carb would cost me?

Keith

Hello there Keith, A new Amal 416 is about £100.00 here in the UK.! There are a couple of USA dealers on the links page, they may be able to help...

If the carb can be cleaned up I can probably supply the moving parts quite cheaply, float, £12.00 Air slide S/H about £4.00. Cables £10.00

If the inside is clean or can be cleaned up, the condition of the outside is only for appearances and can be cleaned and resprayed maybe.. As it runs there cannot be too much wrong with it.

Regards,
John
SOS

There was actually a very similar one on ebay a few weeks ago; here's the link:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... 0041755243

It's EFNRL14M4, so probably just a few days older than yours, but showing its age more! it has the original tank, in not too bad shape. You'll notice that the winning bidder paid 10 times what you did.

I have a Model 55 (Forty+ w/clutch) from the same year and I changed out the steel tank. The external rust was minimal but the internal rust kept clogging up the fuel line and carburetor, as the brass gauze filter on its fuel tap had disappeared by the time I acquired it. Much more reliable runner with the brass tank.

Strange to see one with almost the same number on it sell at the same time I bought mine. I fairly certain I got the better deal though. I've put in some sweat equity over the years for it though. I lent him a hand building his boat several times and he'll also get to enjoy sailing aboard my boat with the seagull pushing it along when the wind stops blowing. I found a carb for it for almost 3 times what I paid for the engine $140 US. I don't know if the one I have will be okay or not. When I opened it up there was white corrosion all inside the throttle body at the float chamber. I didn't test to see if the needle was sealing fuel out or not, I'll have to check that later. It's still not starting easily. I have a clean plug gapped to .035, and good fuel, but it still takes may pulls to get it going. Once it's warmed up it starts first pull every time.

Keith