Saving Old Seagulls

I just wanted to say , geez there are some great blokes out there!
I've told a few of my seagull mates I'm building a brass 102 .

This motor is my first seagull trade me purchase and got me started on gulls, the seller reported it in good nick ,from the photo's it looked okay and it been sitting in a museum display , I got the trader to freight it to me as it was some distance away.
Buggar !! A fair bit of it was broken . But what the heck , I have stuck with it, brought a few parts , got people to help or show me how to make it go and truly got the seagull bug . I now have another 102 and a few sliver centuries as some of you have seen.
This broken one had a brass exhaust and tank when it turned up I decided to give it the full brass/copper/bronze treatment .
Any way back to my story . So I show one of my seagull mates the photo of the motor in it's current form and tell him what I'm up to and he says , "Oh I have a brass Villars flywheel off a stationary motor you can have that to go on it ! " .Then he explains how to make it work . I'm blown away , yet there is more ......
The next weekend I'm at my mates place, whom I've meet through seagulls and struck up a firm friendship, both of us are working on my engines and I Tell him the story . "wait a minute he says I've got some thing for you " from the back of his shed he digs out a bronze mounting bracket ."Here you can have that to go with it ." Shaking my head in disbelief I thank him for his on going kindness ..........

I feel so blessed , so lucky to find a group of guys who show such generous characteristics and some old fashion values. It's great .May it long continue.
I'd like to publicly thank Graham and Andrew. thanks guys, proud to know you .
The Nature of some humans is worth saluting .
I tip my hat to the rest of you . I might joke and kid around ,yet I hope you understand why I strongly uphold the values I do. Glad to be here .

Old "Army" as I call it in it'd current form http://youtu.be/Op4DIaciXAI

Looking good did you put the 2 holes in the exhaust yourself?

I find a caustic solution works well for the bronze. I use about 15:1 water to caustic soda. Leave it soaking overnight, wash off and dry, then a rub with a rotary wire brush will bring it looking like new.

Beware when using caustic though, it is nasty stuff. Follow the instructions and eye protection and gloves are a good idea. NEVER use it on aluminium!

How about some pics of the new project? Engine number etc?

The motor is an AC and manufactured in 1950 .I have two AC 102's ,the other made in 1953 and stripped them both down as far as one can go into a pile of components that filled a fish bin. The crank and the head are now swapped over . Army has the older head with the brass screw plugs due to the bore not being in as good condition as the other motor I put together as my race motor . Army runs alright as you can see from the video , not quite as smooth as the other one I have to say . The holes in the exhaust , they where there when I got it . Do you think that tube was replacement and a previous owner made them ? To be fair it's unlikely to get masses of work but even with the holes being high doesn't seem to foul the plug cap or tank to any degree .
I have some brass pieces coming and plan to change the fuel line to copper , replace the wing nut etc .
It would probably look better with some aluminium left on it to balance it out ~ but it's not really a restoration as such .
I may get the gear change lever cast in bronze and a prop to get that extreme effect .

"Army" so called as when I was in the Army cadets , you seemed to spend a fair amount of hours polishing brass badges .

Chilli

Sounds like a good project

If you get a bronze prop cast, maybe ask about & see who else wants one. Cast a couple of extras to recover costs. Suggest the 102 two blade with lots of sweep, not the common bow-tie prop. These had a big pitch of about 12" (I think). There's a few originals about to use as a casting pattern. Ross, Raoul, Graham, Warren.

Also, I think Graham might want a few bronze clutch levers too

Rex NZ

There is guy on the forum based in the US who casts parts. Might be worth having chat with him?

Chuckie was talking about bronze SD props, he might even have one.

Chilli I don't think an SD prop will not clear your exhaust outlet, you would need an earlier out the back rectangular exhaust outlet.

H-A

All good suggestions , Horsley you my well be right about the clearance issue . I am in line to come across an early out the back exhaust ,sooner or later .Though I got to say I'd be inclined to put it on my other motor . The race one . But I'm going to have to do some serious thinking as to where to make the improvements on it as the Sliver Century is making good speed at the moment and I'm more inclined to use that .
It's a one off project Rex , I don't know the seagull community is looking for a bunch of bronze knock offs . Though I guess if it's not represented as genuine you can do what you like .
I've even started polishing a brass sliver century tank . I need to get a girl friend , even if it's an imaginary one . lol

Looking at the lack of dents That's a worthy tank to polish!
im looking for a tank like that but long range and no dents...tis not easy finding one
but id pay good money or swop for something nice

Chilli Dog I may have misunderstood you last post. If you reckon you need a girl friend instead of messing about with old outboards, well that's fine. However I must point out that a girfriend will work out more expensive, will age quicker, will probably not propel your boat very well and may even disapprove of your alcohol consumption.

If you're thinking that polishing up a tank will actually do the job of finding you a girlfriend then maybe you have a problem...

Then I must be experiencing Nirvana... got a brass tank with decal, a loving wife, and she also loves my Silver Century! What more could a man ask? (Oh...forgot to mention...she's scared of water and has sensitive ears).
Let me re-phrase that then: Got a brass tank with decal, a loving wife, and she loves my Seagull ON ITS STAND!

Charles , don't girls like bright sparkly things ? Hence I'm polishing my bits . Women, I have heard they make more noise than a seagull and very hard to silence . I'll get an imaginary one and we could go on a double date. Least I would not have to blow my up !

Seagulls belong in the shed being worked on David or on the boat ~ you don't want to risk damaging them should the binding you have used to tie the wife to the ceiling fan come loose and she knock it over !!

so I've soaked the bracket in caustic soda over night and it looks like this , have brought a rotary brush and as soon as I've had a coffee will go out and deal to it .