Saving Old Seagulls

Newbe here bricklayer to trade so know very little about engines. I bought a 40+ a year ago it was working fine in tank tried it after the winter and it ran for around 2 )minutes then conked out. I had it running again thanks to what i read in here with the use of a drill on the flywheel, but only for one night. It's getting fuel and when i remove the spark plug i also see a spark on the head
, there is also compression. I've tried all the removable bits with my featherweight and they are all working fine,. Iknow it's a big ask but any help would be very much appreciated. Thanks guys. Ps I've cleaned the carburetor and changed and set the plug gap too.

Welcome to the forum

first thing to do is to check the basics, before delving deeper. So firstly check the following: Fuel tank clean, fuel line clear, fresh fuel mix, check carb bowl and filter. Clean and gap plug, clean and gap points. Consider a new or different HT lead. A little piece of dry 1000 grit wet and dry, followed by clean paper is useful to clean the points.

After that, if you have compression, fuel and a spark and it still is troublesome we can go a little deeper.

Thanks for you're reply oyster, by the way the number on the seagull is sjp 18274... Well I've tried all of the things you asked me to try and nope it still won't start. It sounds as if it's not firing but when i spin it with the drill it fIres occasionally. I started it with the drill a while back and it fired up all night but next day back to square one. So frustrating...I also have a featherweight number gf 407 ee7 which goes like a Dream . I take it out.on the river Tay occasionally.

Clean and gap the points and fresh fuel. They are often the usual suspects. Try that first and advise how it goes.

Will do but it will be over the weekend, cheers...

take the spark plug out and check for a good clean spark pulling the the enging over with the pull chord. If you dont have a spark check HT lead. if it is bad take the ends off the HT lead and re terminate.

hi guys, I,m getting a spark to the head but it is intermittent, ive tried my other ht lead and its the same, excuse me for sounding daft but when i turn the engine i can feel air coming out the air intake of the carb, is this normal ? cheers.. George

Hi George yes air coming through carb is normal sounds like you may have a problem with coil / points I'm assuming both ht leads work ok on your other seagull have you checked condenser what's happening when you stick am ohms meter on it I'm sure all awnsers will be found here......

I'll have to borrow an ohms meter from my brother as my tools mostly consist of trowel hammer and spirit level. i will probably try this today. Where do you put the meter? Another silly question. Thanks guys.

No need to strip engine down ....this is just a reference pic p.s keep the hammer at bay..

Well i did the exact same as in the photo and the reading i got was 2.8, seems very low against your 72.0 tambikerboy, if the coil is kaput what are my options to try and get the engine going, thanks in advance...George

Are you getting a true reading with the condenser still connected in the circuit, with any testing of a coils, from what I have seen, the condenser has always been removed from the equation when testing coils?

What your trying to do here is measure the resistance of the secondary coil. Now go back & see where your test probes should be placed to do this correctly!

can anyone help and tell me exactly where the meter probes should be . Thanks George.

Try this, this should give you some help.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT8rk5QWgS0