Saving Old Seagulls

Is it possible to get more information on a serial number EGF17R2

Electronic ignition, Bing carb, Forty featherweight, 1982, the R is the mysterious bit you'd expect to see it as the last character, even though none of the records I've seen, mention CDI's & Bing carbs being used on the same Featherweight motor, though they could of been using up the last few Bing carbs during 82.

i.e. EFG 17A2R if it was built in January 82, & rebuilt by Seagull.

Very strange.

After a few beers at the Seagull factory

Is that Dr. Who playing with us, as it looks like he's slipped an OJ serial number into that one.

I think its just a lazy assumption that a code ending R2 denotes a repair. What about this?
It was repaired twice?

If its right then what does this mean?
and here's a couple of other pics:
SJP 616 G4
SJM 1062 K7

Some re-evaluation needed I think.

The factory ran a overhaul scheme which gives us the known practice of an extra stamped “R” quite often we see newer parts fitted to older engines during this factory refurb. Usually right at the very end such as ACxxxxx R.

As with most of these serial number oddballs, I doubt we will ever fully know. Some could well be just stamp errors. The later engines had year/month/specification codes, which I’m not that familiar with.

However some of those are “good” numbers when entered into the indentifier.
SJM1062K7 October 1967
SJP616G4 July 1964
SJM211D4. April 1964.

So 3 of those numbers you have posted are perfectly good serial numbers.

If the 'r' was at the end I'd agree with you. But given the other serials which were created from new, it would be logical to assume that the serials like the one ending R7 are part of that 'set' and most likely denote a date.

Why would R7 equal twice?

I'm sorry I can't ask Seagull's production manager your question I went to his funeral last year & the rebuild shop was part of his domain.

We've covered the date code information & the rebuild information several times on here, so a little effort should make the rules clear to all who wish to learn.

The 7 might well be something the dealer or owner stamped on it to indicate which year Seagull did the rebuild.

It is very important to quote the engine number when ordering spares or making enquires about your engine.
To identify your motor, go to the Seagull Engine Numbers page and search the lists for your I.D. letters, these are the first set of letters in the sequence. i.e. 'AD' That will give you the type of British Seagull, (102 direct drive), the number in some early cases will give you a rough guide to the year. Note the numbers ran through several different models that were being built at the same time. After 1963 there was a letter and number at the end of the sequence to denote month and year A = January 3 = 1963. In 1973 the codes continued with double letters, i.e. AA 3= January 1973.

To add to the identification problems there are anomalies. For instance British Seagull used the letter 'R' to denote a motor had been reconditioned, but there is no indication when the reconditioning might have been completed. (Just to add to the confusion they used 'R' on some very late models with the ill fated roller bearings). The letter 'L' was used to denote 'longshaft'. In early years this was added to the end of the number code, later, from 1963 it was added to the prefix, i.e. FPL,= Forty Plus Longshaft. Watch out for the E for electronic ign, the G for Bing carb or the A for Amal, all prefixes!

Another problem is the inconsistency in the letter codes for the months. British Seagull did not use some letters as they could be confused or were in use elsewhere, so there are no letter I's, or O's and it should be that December equates to 'M', however the letter 'N' has been found, so perhaps they lost another letter at some point? I do believe they did not use the letter 'L'. Sadly when these pages were thrust into my hand, as I cleared the factory, there were no explanatory notes.

Here’s another one

Charles uk wrote:
The 7 might well be something the dealer or owner stamped on it to indicate which year Seagull did the rebuild.

And every single dealer and every single user somehow not only got hold of stamps in the same font but also managed to get the character perfectly in line?

Nice copy&pasting.

I thought you needed some clarification.

I've never seen one with a number after the "R" which is why I never asked the question, so it wasn't common to see a number after the "R"!

Pigola were those 2 40's local motors?

Charles uk wrote:
I've never seen one with a number after the "R" which is why I never asked the question, so it wasn't common to see a number after the "R"!

They are positively commonplace. Also, to bring this back to the original point, there are lots of other letters in use which suggests that in this case r did not stand for repair (unless you want to make a guess at the whole alphabet).

One other thing - I have only ever seen this font used on SJPs and SJMs. Maybe it was also used on Centurys of the same time but I haven't seen many Centurys so I couldn't say.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=998&p=5123#p5123

Many years ago I bought a featherweight from ebay, boxed as returned from Seagull, with tags, not run since refurb.

I assume they replaced the crankcase in the refurb process, and re stamped it as "EF 9 R7.

I am sure R means refurbished, who knows what the 7 means, engine was as new when I bought it.

Aint nuthin but a boatload of assumptions. You may as well argue that since wood burns it is made of fire.

Horsley-Anarak wrote:viewtopic.php?f=2&t=998&p=5123#p5123

Many years ago I bought a featherweight from ebay, boxed as returned from Seagull, with tags, not run since refurb.

I assume they replaced the crankcase in the refurb process, and re stamped it as "EF 9 R7.

I am sure R means refurbished, who knows what the 7 means, engine was as new when I bought it.

Do you have pics of the tags?

Interesting to see them aye.

BnC