Where is my engines code stamped? Look at the top of the thinner of the two vertical tubes. Above the securing nuts is the bottom of the crankcase and the code is stamped on there.
There are a few exceptions to this, notably the model 170 and 125. The codes on these are stamped on the engine covers base next to the choke lever under the retaining clip for the cowling. A picture will follow. What does the code mean? The codes for engines produced after 1963 are divided into a group of letters, a group of numbers then either 1 or 2 letters then a number. The first group of letters tell you what model of seagull it is.
There is a page dedicated to this on the The middle numbers are a production number and the final combination of letter(s) and number(s) identify the month and year of production. Detailed information is at the bottom of Motors produced prior to 1963 consist of one or more letters and then a group of numbers.
Apr 8, 2008 - today classical manuals about how to use and maintain your British. In his very special way generations of owners with minor technical. Nine outboards ranging from a powerful 105-hp engine to a lightweight of 3.5 are. Had with manual starting, standard electric starting, or alternator electric starting. The entire line is sold with a two-year warranty on parts and service,. British Seagull outboards sold on these shores by Seagull Marine Sales, 672 S. By Don Meyer. The Classic British Seagull. An Excellent Technical Repair Manual. The British Seagull engine (outboard motor) has been produced by England.
The group of letters are the model identifier and are also listed on The numbers are a production number and these can be used to identify the year of manufacturer. I shall be adding a page for this soon.
What Fuel mix do I use and why can't I use plain petrol? Motors manufactured prior to 1967 require 10:1 mix, that is 1 part oil to 10 parts fuel. All others CAN run on 25:1 mix. Motors manufactured after 1978 should already be converted to 25:1.
No seagull should use less oil than 25:1 regardless of what your manual says. You should use high quality 2 stroke oil for outboard engines (specification TCW3). 2 stroke oil for lawnmowers or motorcycles are not recommended as outboards run cooler than these other engines and require a better quality oil. The Seagull outboards engine utilises a 2 stroke engine.
This type of engine does not have its own reservoir of oil to lubricate itself with like a 4 stroke engine. The lubricating oil therefore needs to be added to the fuel. If you run a 2 stroke without adding this oil to the fuel you will damage the engine proberbly beyond repair. There is no reason at all to use leaded petrol either. Unleaded is fine but I think unleaded does not stay fresh as long leaded so do not store it for too long.
How can I convert my seagull to 25:1 fuel oil mix? The only requirement to convert a post 1967 to run on 25:1 fuel oil mix is to convert the carbourettor. There are 3 carbourettors used on seagulls between 1967 and 1978. These are villiers, Amal 2 jet and the bing. The bing was only used on the smaller engines for a few months and need no conversions to use the 25:1 mix. The villiers carb can be identified by it being the carb with the float bowl directly under the carb body and having a trumpet shaped attachment on the air intake. This carb requires the use of a conversion needle which directly replaces the existing needle inside the carb.
Access to the needle is gained by removing the top of the carb where the throttle cable goes in. The entire assembily can then be withdrawn from the carb. The needle is removed by unscrewing the small grub screw on top of the throttle piston. The new needle replaces the old and the screw is then set level with the top of the throttle piston. The Amal 2 Jet carb is used on the larger engines. This carb is identified by its 'twin barrel' look.
To convert this carb one of the jets must be replaced with the conversion jet. The jet to replace is the longer one of the two. Look through the air intake to see both jets. In order to remove the jet you will require a jet removal tool or a pair of long nosed pliers but be carful not to damage the thread on the bottom of the carb body. The villiers needle is numbered at the top. If it marked with a 3 it is a 10:1 mix needle. If it numbered 2 it is a converted 25:1 needle.
The Amal Jets are also numbered. If it is numbered 45 or 50 it is a 10:1 jet, if it is numbered 40 it is a converted 25:1 jet. The villiers carb with the 10:1 needle can be adjusted to use less oil. The screw on top of the throttle piston should be level with the top of the piston.
If you turn this screw down no more than 3 turns you should be able to get your fuel oil mix down to 17:1 possibly down to 20:1. But remember, pre 1967 motors should remain on a 10:1 mix.
Can I reduce the amount of exhaust smoke on my 10:1 mix motor? There are 2 things you can do to reduce the smoke. Firstly you can try and get hold of a fully synthetic 2 stroke oil. This will reduce the amount of smoke quite a lot but will severely damage your wallet. The other thing you can do is use a hotter sparkplug.
The champion D-9 runs hotter than the standard d-16 and will reduce smoke emissions, it will also make the engine fire better. What lubricant do I use in the gearbox? The correct gearbox lubricant is detailed on the page. You motor will use either EP-90 or EP-140 gear oil.
The exception to this are the early Model 102 gearboxes which have grease nipples. My thanks to Charles Large for the following information. All early Seagulls and Marstons with grease nipples on the gear box which seems to be up to circa 1947/8 should be greased with a thin grease, Seagull recommended K77, Castrol stern tube oil, Castrolease Light, Mobiloil Grease No.2, or Shell Motor Grease Soft if any of these are still available.
The only exception to this was the Marston high power motors which used Castrol XL, Mobiloil D or Aero Shell. The bearing tolerances i.e. The space between the shaft and the bearing are bigger in any lower unit fitted with grease nipples so 140 is too thin and will just run out during use, so use the thickest oil you can find or 3/4 fill the box with grease, then top up with 140 and run the motor straight away so that it gets well mixed. These boxes were designed to be completely filled with lubricant so after filling box grease the pinion bearing. Why don't any spanners fit my seagulls fasteners? Seagulls use British Standard Fine fasteners, this is a now redundant thread but the spanner sizes are closely related to Whitworth sizes.
The spanner sizes you will commonly use are 3/8 and 1/4 Whitworth and occasionally 5/16 whitworth. If you do not dismantle your seagull often which you shouldn't need to then a small high quality adjustable spanner is ideal. How do I remove my flywheel? Firstly, put the puller away, you must not use it on your flywheel. Secondly, get your self a helper as this is the only job on a seagull you require two people for. Thirdly, a couple of hours before you want to remove the flywheel, remove the top nut, remove the top cover.
In the center of the flywheel, where the top of the crankshaft comes out, plut a few drops of solvent into this area. By solvent, I mean, white spirit, cellulose thinners, wd-40 or even a little petrol with some oil mixed into it. This will penetrate and break down any stick oil and assist in removal. Assuming you have done the above, replace the flywheel nut and do it up if it is a dome shape nut, if it is an open ended normal type nut screw it up so that the crankshaft doesn't protrude above the height of the nut, you do NOT want to damage the top of the crankshaft.
Next, remove the sparkplug, put a pencil of rod of metal into the hole and turn the flywheel until the piston is furthest away from the sparkplug hole. Next get your assistant to lift the engine off the ground a couple of inches by gripping the sides of the flywheel. Then hit the top of the flywheel nut with a club hammer (lump hammer) or other heavyweight hammer. Hit it squarely and hard once. This should release the flywheel. If not try hitting the nut harder.
Many light blows is useless and will damage the crankshaft. If the flywheel will still not budge, try heating the centre of the flywheel with a blowtorch but be very careful not to melt any of the ignition components.
What gap do I set my sparkplug to? And what Plug do I use? Firstly you need to identify your ignition system. Have a look Villiers, Wipac mk2, Wipac mk3 spark plug gap is 35 thou (0.035) or 0.9mm. Wipac mk 4 is set to 25 thou (0.025) or 0.65mm. All points are now set to 20 thou (0.02) or 0.5mm.
All classic seagulls use either a Champion D-16 or NGK A6. The A6 requires the use of a big spanner and that alone can be a pain. For better running and less maintenance the Champion D-9 is much better, I have both available. For the model 170, 125 and QB series engines the Champion N4 or N4C is required, these too are available. The original classic seagull was fitted with a Champion 8com, these are no longer available except for old stock. Can I tell if my propellor spring needs changing? The picture below is of a new genuine seagull propellor spring.
Notice the central bar and the propellor 'catch' are both parallel. As the psring gets older the central arm and catch will become less and less paralell.
In addition, notice the bulge in the metal before it turns into the center of the spring. This will naturally reduce as the spring wears and will end up following the line of the rest of the spring. These little springs are very robust little items, I personally have never had one break in service but this is because I check mine frequently and I always carry a spare too! A spare spring can be fixed to your tiller arm with a cable tie. I also sell propsring kits which consist of the spring, washer and splitpin. This is fixed together so this too can be fixed to your tiller arm in case of an emergency. Some older propellor springs the internal bend and catch are not parallel to each other so you will need to use your own judgement when thinking about fitting them.
British Seagull Outboard Prices
I can tell you however the older propellor springs are shiny, this is about the only other way to identify them. I don't have any water circulating, How can I fix it? The seagulls water pump is a extremely reliable and robust item. It very rarely needs any attention, unfortunately a lot less can be said for the remainder of the water system. The first thing I ask when I get asked about water flow is, How deep in the water is the engine? The correct depth is about 2 inches above the pinch bolt at the top of the gearbox. If this is correct, are the intake slots unobstructed?
These are located below the pinchbolt on the main gearbox casing. If these are clear, try back flushing the system. The water on the classic square blocked engines is ejected from a small hole under the block near the top of the exhaust tube. If you are at home and the motor is in a test tank you can put the end of a hosepipe on this hole and flush it through with some water. If you are on your boat and happen to have one of those plastic drinks bottles, fill it up, put the top of the bottle over the hole and give the bottle a good squeeze. If you don't have a bottle, you can actually clear weed from the system by blowing a mouthful of water into the block but let the thing cool down first! I have had to do this once, but forgot to let it cool down enough!
Now assuming you have now tried to backflush the water system, you will now have to inspect the water impellor. This is located within the top of the gearbox about an inch below the pinchbolt.
British Seagull Outboard Service Manual
You need to seperate the top of the gearbox from the main gearbox casing, this is held together by two screws either both on top of the housing or one above and one underneath. You may need to use a blowlamp to heat up the screws as they are normally very tight. Once they are undone, pull the two parts apart and the impellor is attached to the drivetube. There are 2 sizes of impellor for the square blocked motors, a 6 fin one for the QB series and a special one for model 102s so to order another I will require your engine code. Your impellor may look a little worn but as long as it is on the drivetube, not cracked or broken and all the fins are present it will be fine. But do consider replacement if the drivetube has corroded within the impellor as they can occasionally break due to the expansion of the rust. If the impellor looks servicable you have a solid blockage somewhere either in the water tube (thin tube, goes from water impellor to the engine block via the exhaust) of in the block itself and you will need to do some stripping and cleaning up to remedy this.
Is there any way of preventing those nuts and bolts seizing? I am not going to go into the science of why the nuts and bolts seize, if you really want to know why do a search on for galvanic corrosion. In order to slow down the corrosion processes that cause the fixings to seize, you can do several things. You could replace the fixings with different ones made from a more robust material i.e. Stainless Steel, but BSF (British Standard Fine) fixings in this material are hard to get hold of. You can grease the fixings with a waterproof grease.
You could also use an item called a sacrificial anode. These are to do with the galvanic corrosion I mentioned earlier. Basically it is a small peice of zinc which is bolted to the engine, below the waterline. The anode would need replacing after a couple of years as it will corrode in place of your precious threads, well thats the theory. Is there any point in flushing the motor out after use on the sea? There most definately is! Flushing out the engine after use on seawater is one of the golden rules.
In fact you should really flush the engine out after use on freshwater too to remove debris. Flushing with either a hose held on the water outlet or running the engine in a test tank not only removes debris from the water system but also removes damaging salt. Salt accelerates the speed at which iron corrodes dramatically. If you are going to flush your motor is a test tank then add a small squirt of dishwashing detergent. Most dishwashing detergents contain either some silicon or another chemical to protect hands, these chemicals also have the effect of coating the internal waterways of the engine thus giving it a little more protection. The detergent also has the effect of breaking up the oil from the exhuast too!
But don't add too much otherwise you will end up with a mountain of foam! The picture below is a typical example of what happens to en engine block when it is used repeatedly in saltwater and not flushed out afterwards. My thanks to Charles Large for the piture.
General maintenance and running advice for your Seagull Outboard Motor. 1 Run the engine in fresh water, ideally after every use in salt. If this is not possible, put a length of 3in (76mm) hose-pipe to the outlet hole and empty a gallon of water through the cylinder block to backflush the system. 2 Shut the fuel tap as you near your destination.
It saves fuel, and ensures that the float chamber is empty and won’t leak in the boot of the car. 2 Cylinder Marston 3 Seagull Outboards should start by the third pull. If it hasn’t, don’t keep trying.
4 Wipe the motor with an oily rag after use. It develops a protective, oily patina. 5 If you have an older model with the piece of string, ensure there’s no one standing behind you, or they will be hit by the knot as it flies off the wheel. See Don Street’s advice if you have lost your string! 6 Half-throttle or just over will punt you along almost as fast as full throttle, but more thriftily. 7 Don’t leave a Seagull Outboard idling too long.
The pump needs speed to circulate water. Rev it every 30 seconds or so till water comes out. 8 A Seagull’s ejected cooling water should never be too hot to put your hand under. 9 If you need to take the flywheel off, check the FAQ on. It is easy to get this wrong.
10 Check the gearbox oil regularly. 11 Assume a 10:1 fuel mix on early models. Most engines can run on a lower mix.
Again, the website has full details. 12 Fine-tuning the revs: moving the tiller up increases the revs, and lowering the tiller decreases them. 13 A 1930s handbook advises time alone to learn the engine, so as to avoid embarrassment!
14 A Seagull should be wintered upright. 15 The gold-leaf transfers cannot be made now; apparently nobody can remember how! The Seagull Outboard Motor For more information on Seagull Outboard motor engines: Read our Visit John William’s website.