Saving Old Seagulls

I have no experience of Seagulls, having Yamaha on my boat. However, I have just purchased an inflatable dinghy and the seller also had a Seagull for sale, so thought I would give it a try. Having started looking through the web, I am now quite taken by the Seagull and would like to get it running again and maybe look to restore it over the winter.

There was no spark, but I have cleaned and adjusted the points and plug and there is no spark and I have filled it with fresh fuel and fresh two stroke. The seller mentioned that he had used a squirt of carb cleaner in the choke prior to starting so I gave this a try. It now starts over for a couple of seconds (certainly not time for me to adjust the throttle etc) but then dies. The carb cleaner seems to make a difference, but I don't know why and I wondered if anyone might be able to give me a clue on what to look for next, please.

Thanks for any advice.

Sorry, forgot to mention, according to the serial number it is a 1976 Silver Century Amal 2 jet carb.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

There is probably a very simple problem.

As you have a spark and it will run on a squirt, then check the jets in the carb.

I am assuming that you have good fuel flow to the carb, does the float bowl fill up?

There is also a little top hat filter in the carb body that is worth checking, number 14.

{img]http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/fa ... iagram.jpg[/img}

I would not bother removing the jets, thin copper wire can be used, avoid damaging the jets with steel wire.

H-A

P.S. If you want to see a picture look at severed link above, this picture has been on this site for years.

Welcome to seagull ownership and the forum. I use a WD40 can with the thin nozzle to squirt WD40 through the jet. Works well. An airline in even better of course.

Pushing the button (22) repeatedly should lead to fuel dripping out of the bowl (19) through a hole that has for this reason. Then pull the throttle lever with the choke on. Now pulling the cord the engine should start. May need to pull the cord several times. When the engine starts you move the plastic bit of the choke backwards.

If you have no choke close the hole where the choke should be fitted with your finger and turn the flywheel with bare hands 2-3 times. Then pull the cord. In any case the bowl should be full of fuel.


Welcome to the forum!

Beware Seagulls are addicting. Soon your shed will be full of them and your wife or girlfriend will be saying "What do you need another Seagull for". As as some might put it "Run, run fast, you are on dangerous ground!

Stelious do you have permission from British Seagull for posting extracts of their parts book for which they own the copyright?

flywheel with bare hands

Stelios, I recgonize both your brilliance and your creativity but I would not grab on to a flywheel and start turning it! Maybe the tip of one finger on the outside edge with the others in a fist but 5 spread out is a recipe for playing 6 string Jerry Garcia style, yeah you can get away with 100 or even a 1000 times but IMHO it is best to train hand and brain that flywheels aint for touching unless the plug wire is disconnected. If a gull wants to start it sure does not take much to generate a spark, If your turning is generating intake suction it is likely on the verge of creating spark. The loss of the finger meat might be bearable but blood is terribley corrosive to both cast iron and paint if you leave it on there long enough to go to the hospital you might need to strip and repaint........


oh yeah stelios I am pretty certain that Disney (? or some other media giant) owns the copyright to your avatar ( I assume it is G.F). Your a bad, bad,bad man. Wonder how B.S is gonna swallow the inevitable torrent files that will follow any copyright harrasment over innocent not for profit helpfulness?

EDIT: I was wrong it is Time Warner that will be knocking on S.O.S's door not Disney.Either way it never goes well if you come up against the man:

David, Villiers ignition Seagulls if set up perfectly will start with a flick of the wrist, it's just a bit of bling at a Seagull race or event.

As to the copyright comment, John is a Seagull distributor & as such, depends on them, in fact we all do, so we don't bite the hand that feeds us.

We need Seagull to stay in business, so this web site respects all their copyrights on their technical literature & their right to earn an income from these rights, without which British Seagull closed the doors for the final time in 1994.
Without their huge spares inventory our hobby would be so much more difficult & expensive, their investment in 1999 stopped it going into the melting pot.

So if the poster of that picture doesn't remove it, the moderators will be forced reluctantly to do it for him.

Are there any Utube vids of a Seagull being hand started?

Hey guys, I didn't post any picture of the manual. Have a look to that post

Yes turning the flywheel that way may be risky. But if you do it slowly I don't think there is a chance to start the engine.

Horsley-Anarak wrote: There is also a little top hat filter in the carb body that is worth checking, number 14.

{img]http://www.saving-old-seagulls.co.uk/fa ... iagram.jpg[/img}


P.S. If you want to see a picture look at severed link above, this picture has been on this site for years.

H-A

Why remove something that is already on the main SOS website? We need more sharing of information and projects not less.

How is the carb clean up going? Post some pictures, we like those here

I think you'll find that was where we were given permission to use it, We have to ask if we want to use anything like that.

The button on the Amal float chambers doesn't need pressing repeatedly. It's not a pump. It depresses the float amd associated needle which allows more fuel into the float chamber than would normally be there. Just press it and keep it pressed until the exccess dribbles out.

The Villiers carburettor is similarly equipped with a float depressing button.

They aren't pumps!

Thanks for the suggestions - I didn't have time to look at the Seagull today because I've been finishing off the anti-fouling and then it's back to work, so I'm hoping to try again at the weekend - I'll let you know the progress and try to include some pictures, although she's not the prettiest Seagull you'll see.