The reason why the cylinder head bolts are so hard to remove is because the end of the bolts poke through into the water gallery and they corrode, I have two 40+ models and they are my backup motor on my sailing dinghy for when the wind drops. Both are over 55 years old and they are very reliable. Simple build and simple to maintain. if you want parts and info go to the sight called Saving Old Seagulls. A mine of info on anything about the Seagulls and their history. There is also a chart to be able to work out their year.
G'day from Australia Seagull Silver Century Plus . My Dad told me that the original motors were made during the second world war around the time of the Dunkerque evacuation. i am 70 now and I was born in the south of England where the D Day invasion set off. good luck mate enjoy your videos👌👌
Used to go sea fishing with my dad in various boats from semi rigid inflatables to boats with an inboard engine, the little Seagull was always taken along as back up as it was the most reliable, always started when needed and always got us home. Save it if you can, it’s a gem👍
Get good x-rays or scans of that neck. Me and wife also had a crash like that and she ended up with a slight pinch in some of the disks, causing sometimes numbness in the arm, and neck pain. Don't let the insurances get away free. Cheers Darren, and speedy recovery.
Yeah it may never heal. At least not on it's own. Was in a very serious accident many years ago. Had two herniated disks. The bone in the middle was pinching off my spinal cord. That didn't show up on x Ray's! He should get an MRI to be safe. Stick it to the insurance company. They will do anything to stick it to you.
Chiropractor saved my writing career when (allegedly) repetitive strain turned out to be nerve compression in neck and first rib/collarbone area. He said I’d had a whiplash at some time in the past. Another chiropractor got me through an L5-S1 herniated disc.
Got one from my father when I was 12. Well a Seagull engine at least, just not this model. Dad shortened the shaft enough I could use it on a rowing boat. I think it's an older model than this one as the carburetor in the one in this video seems a lot more advanced, and the one I've got doesn't have a clutch of any kind. The engine runs the prop is spinning, you've got no choice. Well dad dropped it in in the sea once, but fishing it up and draining the water was enough to have it chugging again. These are not performance engines, that much is certain. But they pull way more than you would think. A slight accident happened once and we got a rope in the propeller on our boat as we were about to move. Thing is there was a hail storm with a lot of lightning coming and it shifted the wind direction 180 degrees. So not only were we to get the wind from the stern, but there were going to be a lot of it. Well I jumped into the rowboat and cranked the Seagull. I was able to pull the boat against the wind while our friend who had a working diesel engine was unable to keep up. That old piece of junk really did work well. I've still got it in the basement, and, using the used car dealer voice, works perfectly. That really means that the last time I used it over 30 years ago it ran. The problem with getting the flywheel off is detailed in the instructions which is available online. There's a trick to doing it but I can't remember the details. Just about all use of a puller or trying to use leverage as Mustie did is almost guaranteed to break the wheel.
I had an old Elgin 3.5 HP canoe outboard from the late 1930's, the one where you can turn the engine around 360 degrees from the transom mount to reverse. Turns out they're really, really rare and that engine ended up in the owner's of an old motorcycle/outboard museum collection when I traded it for a few repair parts. He told me later I could have traded it for a complete and running 1960's bike from his collection. Little did I know..
Ive had one for 30 years. Dad gave me one with an old aluminum boat and they both needed to much work atthe time. Maybe I have time now as I still have both the motor and the boat.
British seagull, 3-5 hp, the 6 bladed prop is a pusher prop.. British commandos in ww2 used them for pushing their rubber boats , . These are a fantastically reliable motor. I owned several and rebuilt them ,
The propellers are interchangeable, through all models. Gear ratios are the same, very simple motor, the units I owned were at least 30 years old when I got them, and they ran perfectly, they are noisy, but a great motor. It's a pity the 1 Mustie got was a total disaster , internally.
I have had loads of these over the last 45 years, still own 6 of the smaller version, really a simple bullet proof & reliable engine, plenty over here in the UK, getting replacement parts. A true classic British outboard, produced in many forms for over 50 years!
I have owned several of these Seagulls. The engines are Villiers based. They run on such a heavy oil mixture that it is almost diesel. 3/4 of a pint of sae 30 to one British gallon of petrol, was the original mix. The drive spring is Seagulls version of a shear pin. The bit at the front, in the slot in the propeller, is designed to straighten out if the prop hits something, it straightens out disconecting the drive, instead of breaking the drive gear. They were tough old beasts, the original owners manual said if an engine got submerged in sea water, on recovery, the should be flushed through with fresh water. Then dry the ignition out, clean the points, and get it restarted as soon as possible. All the cranshaft bearings are phosphor bronze bushes. They could be heard for miles over water when running, most of the noise was induction noise. They were not built for speed, but even the smaller engines could push large boats steadily.
We had one of these thirty five years ago as a back up engine on our boat all ways remember the instruction book clearly stated This engine does not need gentle running in.
I had a 2hp 40 years ago it was a great motor on a row boat in a lake. Those motors were easy to work on . Only usually took 30 mins to fully service including re-ringing.
You've never seen so many twitchy gun hand Police pour out of a Watch house at a Los Angeles Police Station in 1979 when a Kiwi wanders in and asks where he can buy a Police torch..... The female counter server screamed "He wants a Police flame thrower" at those inside the office..... An old detective also came out and said "You're not from around here are you??? No Sir "We refer to them as a flashlight.... see X on Y boulevard they sell Police flashlights". Kel Lites that were invented by two serving Police and ultimately resulted in the Mag lites of today.
On the flywheel, the flywheel is being raised for use as momentum to pop it off the shaft, in which case hammer speed is important, so I would us a smaller hammer but swing it faster.
Ooh my word, these are absolutely CLASSIC machines, pure simple with a very rich fuel/oil mix I believe. No gear lever so constant engagement.I love the outboard repairs.
Some of these engines were fitted with lignum vitae wood bearing for the one way crossing of the River Rhine in 1944. Legend has it that some were returned for servicing by locals after using them for 20yrs still with the wooden bearings. Spares are still being made by the original company although new outboards cannot be sold for environmental reasons.
Darren, you should get 10 gallons of evaporust and you should soak these in it for a week before you start. You would be amazed at the amount of rust that it would remove, it has no acid so it would be safe for the entire unit.
Happy Fathers day all Dad's. My father had a similar seagull outboard on his 16 ft yatch as an emergency engine. I was about 10 then Now 65 all i remember he rebuilt it before he used it so that engine is quite old. By my reckoning the one you have is a series 40 dated around 1955. Thanks for the full break down.
I have worked on a few of these seagulls Mustie and the I am pretty sure the Sliver is one of the high end models where you actually had neutral. There is a good website from the UK where you can put the serial number in and tell what year it was made and all the info on this particular model. You can still get parts from the same site. Some new old stock but a lot good used gear and some good reproduction parts. Can't kill these smoky old seagulls. Still watching the video and your trying to get the top cover off. Bet you get it going. The Six fin props are for the larger barges in the canels and or sail boats coming into dock. Mustie Monday in OZ.
This is an interesting video. I have never seen a British Seagull being taken apart before, and especially in that fashion. Lol. Sad that most of those outboards are so badly neglected. Another good video.
The stories I heard years ago were that the Seagulls were lifeboat engines and the military specs were that they had to last two days. If you weren’t rescued by that time the chances were you weren’t going to be. They were intended not to move the lifeboat around but to keep headway into the seas to avoid capsize. The story also was the tool kit consisted of a 2 size spanner and a screwdriver so an ordinary seaman could do minor repairs. To everyone’s surprise the engines proved to be much more durable than they were speced to be. I’ve seen them on many sailboat dinghies. I believe they’re still being manufactured.
RIP British Seagull ...Just watch out on physical therapy, I had a compressed spine and went to a chiropractor (Quack) a recommended one at that. The quake twisted my spine and pinched two nerves, I suffer now; can't stand in one spot longer than 15 minutes before my leg goes completely numb plus I now have arthritis in my neck and lower spine. Change of weather hot to cold , cold to hot always brings on pain. Hope you fair better than I!
I had 2 of these engines. Bulletproof. Used them as a backup to my Yamaha 30. I never needed to use the Seagull backup because the Yam never let me down but I would use them on a smaller boat and they never failed to start and run well.
Thanks for the videos Mustie. I have really enjoyed watching and learning. I have a 12-year-old Toro Bagging mower that I have babied, and it never let me down until I forgot to check the oil, OH, OH. Engine seized mid lawn and I thought I ran outa gas. Plenty of gas, checked the oil dip stick and "Oh My" I let the machine cool off then tried pulling the rope, no bueno. Pulled off the air filter and got to the throttle bore and squirted penetrating fluid down the throat then pulled the plug and put some oil, trans fluid and 3 N 1 into the cylinder. I flipped the machine on its side and stood on the cutting blade and jumped on it until she started to move and turn the crank. I did that until I thought to give the rope a pull and with great effort she moved. I filled the sump with 30 weight. and kept on pulling until it loosened up some more and then pulled the drive bar and yanked the Mother until she was coughing and belching smoke. I let it run for only a few moments and let it cool. Pulled the rope again with much less effort and she's a'go'in. Fixed a disaster instead of throwing out a couple hundred bucks to replace. Mustie, U da Man!
One thing about these is you can get just about any part for these from the company that bought BSS when they decided to close down in 1996, whilst not common in the US they are to be found in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and much of Asia esp Hong Kong where these were used to power small junket craft around the harbours and those would migrate to other parts of China like Shanghai etc. Over here in the UK £200 buys you a fully working clean 1970's version, a resto from the 60's for about £80 and £130 a 1950's dry stored "barn find". Whilst they were not racing engines they did propel a craft well, in short these were the Mini engines of the water, solidly and well built very dependable machines. British Silver Seagull didn't actually go bust, they decided that with the takeover of much of its business markets by Chinese and Japanese imports globally their market share was dwindling and decided to just shut its doors and lay down its wares peacefully, kinda like Reliant did not so many years after.
They couldn't keep going without a total rework of the design for environmental reasons. Seagulls are crude beasts, no seals on the lower unit (it just floods with water that mixes with the oil, which in turn slowly leaks out) and bronze bearings in the engine which forced the use of very oily premix, in short they're a mobile environmental disaster. Staying in business would have required a clean sheet engine with proper seals, roller bearings (so the premix could be more like 50:1), and of course the modern conveniences like a recoil starter. The cost of that kind of development work was more than the company could bear. It's sad that they weren't able to continue, because the seagull philosophy of swinging a big, slow turning prop is ideal for pushing larger displacement hulls around. Their Asian competitors all spin a pathetic little propeller really fast, so the engine does more work stirring the water than moving the boat. Perhaps if they'd been able to get ahead of the game and put a reasonably quiet and reliable 4-stroke on an updated lower unit... ahhh well, a man can dream.
They came in long and short shaft variants. Friend borrowed mine to put on his Wayfarer dinghy and lost it off Swanage UK when the transom broke. That was over 60 years back. Great motors that did the job.
Good morning from Montreal Canada 👍🇨🇦 I think the last time this outboard ran was docking the ARK to Mount Ararat, for sure it sat on the bottom of a lake or pond for many years. 😮
These British Seagulls are pretty nice and simple little motors. I found one in our storage some years ago. It had belonged to my wife's grandfather, who passed in 1973 and nobody used it after that. It had once taken a swim, but was recovered and ran just fine afterwards. When I found it, it had a seized piston just like yours. I took it to our summer cabin where I thought it belonged -the cabin was built by the grandfather you see. My dad told me to remove the sparkplug and pour some fuel and oil in it and let it sit for a couple of days. About a week later I was back at the cabin and tried turning the flywheel. Not a great idea when indoors and on a nice rug. The thing puked all that oil/fuel mix on the rug when the piston released! My wife wasn't sharing my excitement at all for some reason. Then I revived the electrics by spinning the flywheel with a cordless drill, gave it a new sparkplug, some oil rich fuel and tried starting it. I think it was three pulls and it was running! I was feeling pretty proud of myself! We have done some short trips with it, but it tends to shut off after like 20 minutes and won't start again until it's cooled. I need to find out what's causing it.. Any ideas?
The British Seagull is a legend. Rumour has it that one fell off the back of a boat in the Solent and was hauled up in fishing nets in the Irish Sea and was still running! Do all that you can to save it!
Lol. There's one on Ebay in Southampton for £145, I work in Southampton and live on the River Bourne near Salisbury. Umm tempting, always wanted to make a Coracle! 😂
My dad had one in the 60's, would never start when needed.... Not Britain's finest...We needed the Japanese to show the rest of the world what "design for assembly, maintenance, and repair" looked like...Mustie, I applaud you for your persistence and good spirit. This repair started hard and went downhill from there. This was the first of your postings where I thought: he will never fix this...Keep them coming!
Mustie … I been watching for years now ….awesome person u r ! I thought , when I was watching this video , that I wished you would go back to those days when your videos theme was creative bike building …. But I think your videos now are more creative & with a narrative of projecting cool insight . Thank You ,our friend for your Sunday creative genius 🇨🇦😀😊🇨🇦
Made here in Dorset too... considered one of the toughest outboard motor makes out there and I know the Marines based also at Poole used to have some of them for their inflatables :D
Wow, this is the first video i have seen you give up on a project. I see why with the damage to the piston. Still enjoyed this. Makes for a great sunday morning. Thank you and rest your neck.
Mustie 1, I think you are the most interesting and informative person on your channel. I was always a gopher for parts, tools or a beer for my father. Didn't learn as much as I could have or wanted to. Your way of working and explaining procedures are great. I'm 73 yrs. Old but never to late to learn. Thank you very much.
That motor had been underwater for a while. You basically did an autopsy on it but it was fun to watch. I'm always interested to see the engineering that goes into these old Motors, it's amazing. 👍
Fun to watch the dissection of an unusual engine. Some can identify with me as a youngster, I used to take machines and electronics apart to see how they worked, even if I could not put them back together again. As long as they were junk, my dad didn't care.
I hope you feel better soon Darren. I've seen every one of your videos from the start,and were getting older and it sucks don't it!! Always fun to watch you. You need your own TV show. It would be a big hit!!!!
It was sad to watch the destruction. There are methods to get it apart without breaking and cutting everything. Ive restored many old engines and it takes time and care not to break unobtainable parts.
Dear Mustie1. 😱 I was shocked to hear that you still suffer from back/spine problems caused by the car accident. Hope the insurance of the other driver pays your physiotherapy bills. Get well soon, Sir. Best regards, luck and health in particular.
These are legendary little outboards, not designed for speed, but long efficient use in small fishing boats. They are well built, and made to restart after a dunk in the sea. That is a well used looking example. The drive has no shear pin to fail, it jumps if the prop hits or tangled in a net. I’m sure you can revive it, they are pretty robust.
Spoke too soon, to free the flywheel wedge it like you did, but many gentle taps with an air hammer will release it. To free the piston, air hammer with a rubber tip, stick it through the plug hole and rattle on it for 20min or so usually does it. It’s horrible watching, going ‘no don’t do that’
That piston is fine, the rings are stuck, clean up the outside, then stick it in a pan of motor oil. Heat till it’s about to catch fire, then let cool, after a few (maybe quite a few) cycles the rings pop free due to different expansion. When free, clean the ring grooves, should be good enough to run. The company still sells parts, so you could fix it still, with a new flywheel, a brave man would weld it back together and call that good.
@@bensmith4563 sure but parts are not expensive, 40 ukp 50 Dollars for a rebuild kit, including pump, gaskets, head gasket and piston rings. Flywheels can be had in Canada for 13-15 dollars. Happy to source and forward the overhaul kit from the UK if wanted
these were popular in Australia in the 50's, they are popping up here and there at garage sales now, $300 aud for running model. hardware should be SAE or whitworth type, reverse is just turning the engine around on the mount to pull the other way
Greetings from the Balkans! American traveling in central Europe, and I was at the "Museum of Science and Technology" in Belgrade, Serbia yesterday, 6 July 2024, and saw one of these British Silver Seagulls in their collection of outboards! I told my significant other, "Mustie just had one of those on a few weeks ago!" Response: "Who's Mustie?" I thought you were a household name now, among 40-something American women! 😂
Spooky ! .......in the last year we have been working on three of the same engine......two were resurrected, one has spark issues and looks to have beaten us, spares being the problem. Thank you for this superb fun channel, you inspired me to go fix things !.......Thanks is not enough. Stay Safe ☮🕊☯
If you have a lack of sparks from a Villiers magneto and the contacts are in good condition, probably there is an insulation breakdown or a gap in the wire in the high-voltage coil. This is a well-known problem with Villiers magnetos and there are firms that can rewind the coil.
@@cedriclynch Thank you for your reply and observations.......rewinding the coil is pretty much what we think is the problem and have considered doing. It's cost vs benefit as we are a not for profit charitable group. Or we keep it and break down for spares....Thanks again !
@@2pie2mash Another thing you can do is to rewind the magneto coil yourself with a few hundred turns of approx 22swg enamelled copper wire with one end connected to earth. Wind each layer neatly and smear it with the original slow-setting Araldite. Connect a length of flexible insulated wire to the outer end of the winding. When the Araldite is set, fit this coil back in place and connect the flexible wire to the contact breaker and the condenser, and also to a wire running through a grommet in the backplate to the outside. Connect this wire to one low-voltage terminal of a traditional motorcycle or car ignition coil, and if there is a second low-voltage terminal connect this to earth. You should now have a better spark than you have ever had before, but the system is lacking in authenticity.
@cedriclynch we have two electricians working with us, could be a job they could do....better than me for sure......I've seen the copper wire rebound on a starter motor armature before and amazed at the craftsmanship.... thank you for the detailed description 🙏
It might also be possible to use a coil off of an old 2 stroke chainsaw or dirt bike if the square hole in the middle of the coil is the exact same size. Pull off the coil from the Villiers lamination and swap it out with another more commonly available coil. You need the original lamination to work with the rest of the ignition, and these never go bad. Glue the new coil on the Villiers lamination with Gorilla glue.
Hi D. Man, I hope your neck gets better!! If you don’t have it, there is a cream called BlueSpring that has Emu oil and a warming gel that really helped my neck last year. I had a pinched nerve. Awesome tear down video!! Thanks for powering through to bring us great videos even through the neck pain!! Again, hope you get better!!
love watching Mustie videos but the real pleasure is reading the comments on these videos with old weird things in them and realizing how many people know what things are and how they work. Comment sections are so funny, half of us are just here to toss out a few smartazz comments then the others are here actually giving out decent info. Thanks to both of these types of people!!! LOL
That's a 5hp Silver Century Plus, clutched with forward and neutral only, for reverse you literally spin the whole engine in it's transome clamp,Amal carb with a float bowl tickler button for enriching the mixture for staring, absolutely bullet proof engine, I've personally witnessed one jump off a transom and go under water and come back up still running 👍 fabulous British engineering from a time when we actually had a decent manufacturing industry
I was rear ended at low speed, but I was leaning forward and looking to the right, and snapped my neck on impact. The driver was an unlicensed 15 year old who took his mom’s vehicle without permission. The bumper was scratched, but no other damage. Three days later, I couldn’t move without extreme pain in the neck. The emergency room gave me some muscle relaxers, and some good pain pills. A few days later, no more issues. Whiplash is a real thing.
very fun video as usual. I glad you found a way to share with us what you would do without anyone else even knowing what you are doing. those of us who like taking things apart and fixing them if we can are great-full to know that we are not we are not so weird or unique
I resuscitated an old 4hp Johnson last year that had been submerged, and both pistons were stuck bad. I finally put the block in my grill for a bit and that did the trick.
Mustie, I've come to the conclusion you're a 'Hoarder' of many things - mechanical and otherwise... But I enjoy listening to your ramblings - always educational and often amusing!
Because it’s a two stroke ? A little smoke is not unfriendly . Millions of tons of lithium is the danger to the environment. Not a little oil burning .
@@Philc231 Millions of gallons of oil spilled into the environment every year are orders of magnitude worse than lithium mining. Look are the facts before spouting irrelevant BS.
I actually have one in my shed, here in Australia it's a runner when I put it there 😂 only 20 years ago 😂 thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones
As a collector of British Seagull engines for many years I was shouting at the screen!
“It’s in gear”. “Don’t take the head off”. Etc.
Great video! 😎
The reason why the cylinder head bolts are so hard to remove is because the end of the bolts poke through into the water gallery and they corrode, I have two 40+ models and they are my backup motor on my sailing dinghy for when the wind drops. Both are over 55 years old and they are very reliable. Simple build and simple to maintain. if you want parts and info go to the sight called Saving Old Seagulls. A mine of info on anything about the Seagulls and their history. There is also a chart to be able to work out their year.
G'day from Australia Seagull Silver Century Plus . My Dad told me that the original motors were made during the second world war around the time of the Dunkerque evacuation. i am 70 now and I was born in the south of England where the D Day invasion set off. good luck mate enjoy your videos👌👌
The Seagull came out in 1918
Sorry 1917
Used to go sea fishing with my dad in various boats from semi rigid inflatables to boats with an inboard engine, the little Seagull was always taken along as back up as it was the most reliable, always started when needed and always got us home.
Save it if you can, it’s a gem👍
Get good x-rays or scans of that neck. Me and wife also had a crash like that and she ended up with a slight pinch in some of the disks, causing sometimes numbness in the arm, and neck pain. Don't let the insurances get away free.
Cheers Darren, and speedy recovery.
I went through it too. Surgery worked wonders...only twenty years too late.
Yeah it may never heal. At least not on it's own. Was in a very serious accident many years ago. Had two herniated disks. The bone in the middle was pinching off my spinal cord. That didn't show up on x Ray's!
He should get an MRI to be safe. Stick it to the insurance company. They will do anything to stick it to you.
Chiropractor saved my writing career when (allegedly) repetitive strain turned out to be nerve compression in neck and first rib/collarbone area. He said I’d had a whiplash at some time in the past.
Another chiropractor got me through an L5-S1 herniated disc.
Happy Father's day to all the dads out there
Thanks
Thanks!
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🏴🇬🇧
thank you, even my son didnt wish me it
Thank you! Happy Father’s Day to you and all the Dad’s! 🔧
I have had one of these Seagull outboards for over 20 years and never seen it run. Going to give it a go now I've watched this 🔧👍
Got one from my father when I was 12. Well a Seagull engine at least, just not this model. Dad shortened the shaft enough I could use it on a rowing boat. I think it's an older model than this one as the carburetor in the one in this video seems a lot more advanced, and the one I've got doesn't have a clutch of any kind. The engine runs the prop is spinning, you've got no choice. Well dad dropped it in in the sea once, but fishing it up and draining the water was enough to have it chugging again.
These are not performance engines, that much is certain. But they pull way more than you would think. A slight accident happened once and we got a rope in the propeller on our boat as we were about to move. Thing is there was a hail storm with a lot of lightning coming and it shifted the wind direction 180 degrees. So not only were we to get the wind from the stern, but there were going to be a lot of it. Well I jumped into the rowboat and cranked the Seagull. I was able to pull the boat against the wind while our friend who had a working diesel engine was unable to keep up. That old piece of junk really did work well. I've still got it in the basement, and, using the used car dealer voice, works perfectly. That really means that the last time I used it over 30 years ago it ran.
The problem with getting the flywheel off is detailed in the instructions which is available online. There's a trick to doing it but I can't remember the details. Just about all use of a puller or trying to use leverage as Mustie did is almost guaranteed to break the wheel.
I had an old Elgin 3.5 HP canoe outboard from the late 1930's, the one where you can turn the engine around 360 degrees from the transom mount to reverse. Turns out they're really, really rare and that engine ended up in the owner's of an old motorcycle/outboard museum collection when I traded it for a few repair parts. He told me later I could have traded it for a complete and running 1960's bike from his collection. Little did I know..
Ive had one for 30 years. Dad gave me one with an old aluminum boat and they both needed to much work atthe time. Maybe I have time now as I still have both the motor and the boat.
British seagull, 3-5 hp, the 6 bladed prop is a pusher prop..
British commandos in ww2 used them for pushing their rubber boats , .
These are a fantastically reliable motor.
I owned several and rebuilt them ,
This one is 5 bladed, maybe a different model.
@@worldofrandometry6912 yep.
The propellers are interchangeable, through all models.
Gear ratios are the same, very simple motor, the units I owned were at least 30 years old when I got them, and they ran perfectly, they are noisy, but a great motor.
It's a pity the 1 Mustie got was a total disaster , internally.
@@jeffreylord8172 The propellers are not interchangeable through all models.
I have five of seagulls, all still working! Wonderful little engines !
I have had loads of these over the last 45 years, still own 6 of the smaller version, really a simple bullet proof & reliable engine, plenty over here in the UK, getting replacement parts.
A true classic British outboard, produced in many forms for over 50 years!
I have owned several of these Seagulls.
The engines are Villiers based.
They run on such a heavy oil mixture that it is almost diesel.
3/4 of a pint of sae 30 to one British gallon of petrol, was the original mix.
The drive spring is Seagulls version of a shear pin.
The bit at the front, in the slot in the propeller, is designed to straighten out if the prop hits something, it straightens out disconecting the drive, instead of breaking the drive gear.
They were tough old beasts, the original owners manual said if an engine got submerged in sea water, on recovery, the should be flushed through with fresh water.
Then dry the ignition out, clean the points, and get it restarted as soon as possible.
All the cranshaft bearings are phosphor bronze bushes.
They could be heard for miles over water when running, most of the noise was induction noise.
They were not built for speed, but even the smaller engines could push large boats steadily.
We had one of these thirty five years ago as a back up engine on our boat all ways remember the instruction book clearly stated This engine does not need gentle running in.
I had a 1.5 hp Seagull on a rowing boat. Didn't exactly break the water speed record but it chugged along for ever.
And they say the Germans over complicate the obvious!
Hope you are doing well, wondering why no video this last Sunday...? Great videos
Hey, you and I are getting up there in age!! You do so much more than lazy me, so don't overdue yourself.. Hope your neck starts feeling better soon!!
I had a 2hp 40 years ago it was a great motor on a row boat in a lake. Those motors were easy to work on . Only usually took 30 mins to fully service including re-ringing.
I figured you would have to refer to your light as a torch, and your wrenches as spanners for this episode...🤓
British speak. Lol 🤪
@@danielsweeney6742 Yeah, the Brits know how to speak proper English. 🙂
You've never seen so many twitchy gun hand Police pour out of a Watch house at a Los Angeles Police Station in 1979 when a Kiwi wanders in and asks where he can buy a Police torch.....
The female counter server screamed "He wants a Police flame thrower" at those inside the office.....
An old detective also came out and said "You're not from around here are you???
No Sir
"We refer to them as a flashlight....
see X on Y boulevard they sell Police flashlights".
Kel Lites that were invented by two serving Police and ultimately resulted in the Mag lites of today.
On the flywheel, the flywheel is being raised for use as momentum to pop it off the shaft, in which case hammer speed is important, so I would us a smaller hammer but swing it faster.
..."Limey lingo"...(?)
Ooh my word, these are absolutely CLASSIC machines, pure simple with a very rich fuel/oil mix I believe. No gear lever so constant engagement.I love the outboard repairs.
The plain bronze bearings require far more oil than roller or ball bearings....
Some of these engines were fitted with lignum vitae wood bearing for the one way crossing of the River Rhine in 1944. Legend has it that some were returned for servicing by locals after using them for 20yrs still with the wooden bearings. Spares are still being made by the original company although new outboards cannot be sold for environmental reasons.
That will green things up alright
@Turnipstalk Lignum vitae is so good that we harvested it almost to extinction.
Big ships often have stave bearings made from phenolic laminate.
Those are great little putt putt motors. I love the sound of them.
Darren, you should get 10 gallons of evaporust and you should soak these in it for a week before you start. You would be amazed at the amount of rust that it would remove, it has no acid so it would be safe for the entire unit.
The spring is also the shear pin to keep from breaking the prop or drive gears. Pretty good engineering.
One of the most reliable very best small outboard cheap engines so easily maintained.a good work little! Work horse…
Missing your eclectic knowledge and approaches from my feed couldn’t remember if you said you might take a week off but hope to see you this Sunday
Happy Fathers day all Dad's. My father had a similar seagull outboard on his 16 ft yatch as an emergency engine. I was about 10 then Now 65 all i remember he rebuilt it before he used it so that engine is quite old. By my reckoning the one you have is a series 40 dated around 1955. Thanks for the full break down.
Yes more outboard stuff mustie. The time and weather are perfect for some vintage outboard motoring on that lake👍😊😋
I follow everything you do with small and older engines, and your humor is great. Thanks for all you do for us who watch your videos /Per Sweden
I have worked on a few of these seagulls Mustie and the I am pretty sure the Sliver is one of the high end models where you actually had neutral. There is a good website from the UK where you can put the serial number in and tell what year it was made and all the info on this particular model. You can still get parts from the same site. Some new old stock but a lot good used gear and some good reproduction parts. Can't kill these smoky old seagulls. Still watching the video and your trying to get the top cover off. Bet you get it going. The Six fin props are for the larger barges in the canels and or sail boats coming into dock. Mustie Monday in OZ.
He wrecked the engine through impatience...
A sorrowful video to watch....
Thanks for the tear down. That motor is trashed bigtime. Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there.
This is an interesting video. I have never seen a British Seagull being taken apart before, and especially in that fashion. Lol. Sad that most of those outboards are so badly neglected. Another good video.
My old dad had one of those seagull engines years ago back in the 80s and Im sure there're parts available still available here in the UK..
Nice find, in 1989 I sailed with a fully serviced Seagull. It's a great engine.
The stories I heard years ago were that the Seagulls were lifeboat engines and the military specs were that they had to last two days. If you weren’t rescued by that time the chances were you weren’t going to be. They were intended not to move the lifeboat around but to keep headway into the seas to avoid capsize. The story also was the tool kit consisted of a 2 size spanner and a screwdriver so an ordinary seaman could do minor repairs. To everyone’s surprise the engines proved to be much more durable than they were speced to be. I’ve seen them on many sailboat dinghies. I believe they’re still being manufactured.
Didn't notice your shirt right away. Really cool place to visit. Beautiful mountains and great places to ride. See you next week.
RIP British Seagull ...Just watch out on physical therapy, I had a compressed spine and went to a chiropractor (Quack) a recommended one at that. The quake twisted my spine and pinched two nerves, I suffer now; can't stand in one spot longer than 15 minutes before my leg goes completely numb plus I now have arthritis in my neck and lower spine. Change of weather hot to cold , cold to hot always brings on pain. Hope you fair better than I!
I had 2 of these engines. Bulletproof. Used them as a backup to my Yamaha 30. I never needed to use the Seagull backup because the Yam never let me down but I would use them on a smaller boat and they never failed to start and run well.
A do not remove warning is like an invitation for Darren 😁
Thanks for the videos Mustie. I have really enjoyed watching and learning. I have a 12-year-old Toro Bagging mower that I have babied, and it never let me down until I forgot to check the oil, OH, OH. Engine seized mid lawn and I thought I ran outa gas. Plenty of gas, checked the oil dip stick and "Oh My" I let the machine cool off then tried pulling the rope, no bueno. Pulled off the air filter and got to the throttle bore and squirted penetrating fluid down the throat then pulled the plug and put some oil, trans fluid and 3 N 1 into the cylinder. I flipped the machine on its side and stood on the cutting blade and jumped on it until she started to move and turn the crank. I did that until I thought to give the rope a pull and with great effort she moved. I filled the sump with 30 weight. and kept on pulling until it loosened up some more and then pulled the drive bar and yanked the Mother until she was coughing and belching smoke. I let it run for only a few moments and let it cool. Pulled the rope again with much less effort and she's a'go'in. Fixed a disaster instead of throwing out a couple hundred bucks to replace. Mustie, U da Man!
Please remove the plug, before you Stand on the Blade😮😮😮
One thing about these is you can get just about any part for these from the company that bought BSS when they decided to close down in 1996, whilst not common in the US they are to be found in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and much of Asia esp Hong Kong where these were used to power small junket craft around the harbours and those would migrate to other parts of China like Shanghai etc. Over here in the UK £200 buys you a fully working clean 1970's version, a resto from the 60's for about £80 and £130 a 1950's dry stored "barn find". Whilst they were not racing engines they did propel a craft well, in short these were the Mini engines of the water, solidly and well built very dependable machines. British Silver Seagull didn't actually go bust, they decided that with the takeover of much of its business markets by Chinese and Japanese imports globally their market share was dwindling and decided to just shut its doors and lay down its wares peacefully, kinda like Reliant did not so many years after.
They couldn't keep going without a total rework of the design for environmental reasons. Seagulls are crude beasts, no seals on the lower unit (it just floods with water that mixes with the oil, which in turn slowly leaks out) and bronze bearings in the engine which forced the use of very oily premix, in short they're a mobile environmental disaster. Staying in business would have required a clean sheet engine with proper seals, roller bearings (so the premix could be more like 50:1), and of course the modern conveniences like a recoil starter. The cost of that kind of development work was more than the company could bear.
It's sad that they weren't able to continue, because the seagull philosophy of swinging a big, slow turning prop is ideal for pushing larger displacement hulls around. Their Asian competitors all spin a pathetic little propeller really fast, so the engine does more work stirring the water than moving the boat. Perhaps if they'd been able to get ahead of the game and put a reasonably quiet and reliable 4-stroke on an updated lower unit... ahhh well, a man can dream.
I still believe you can make anything run. This is not your failure. Love your videos. Makes me go ahead and try it out.
The Daddest dad posting on Father’s Day, my day is complete
Happy Dads Day ! I have seen a few Seagull motors over the years, and all were fitted to sail boats due to their long shafts.
They came in long and short shaft variants. Friend borrowed mine to put on his Wayfarer dinghy and lost it off Swanage UK when the transom broke. That was over 60 years back. Great motors that did the job.
That poor thing looked like it spent some time at the bottom of the lake. Interesting and amusing video nonetheless. Thanks for all you do.
Always great to spend the morning in the garage with you
Mustie I hope y’all are enjoying the lake during this heat wave! Would love to see an update on the cabin and pontoon
heat wave ? nah "frequencies on" , Haarp
Wow! That 'elevator' worked out great! All those bikes and vintage outboard up there in the loft! Bravo!
i miss my father, him and i used to tinker all the time. thanks for letting us tinker with you on this day.
Good morning from Montreal Canada 👍🇨🇦
I think the last time this outboard ran was docking the ARK to Mount Ararat, for sure it sat on the bottom of a lake or pond for many years. 😮
These British Seagulls are pretty nice and simple little motors. I found one in our storage some years ago. It had belonged to my wife's grandfather, who passed in 1973 and nobody used it after that. It had once taken a swim, but was recovered and ran just fine afterwards. When I found it, it had a seized piston just like yours.
I took it to our summer cabin where I thought it belonged -the cabin was built by the grandfather you see. My dad told me to remove the sparkplug and pour some fuel and oil in it and let it sit for a couple of days. About a week later I was back at the cabin and tried turning the flywheel. Not a great idea when indoors and on a nice rug. The thing puked all that oil/fuel mix on the rug when the piston released! My wife wasn't sharing my excitement at all for some reason. Then I revived the electrics by spinning the flywheel with a cordless drill, gave it a new sparkplug, some oil rich fuel and tried starting it. I think it was three pulls and it was running! I was feeling pretty proud of myself!
We have done some short trips with it, but it tends to shut off after like 20 minutes and won't start again until it's cooled. I need to find out what's causing it.. Any ideas?
The British Seagull is a legend. Rumour has it that one fell off the back of a boat in the Solent and was hauled up in fishing nets in the Irish Sea and was still running! Do all that you can to save it!
I also agree on saving a Seagull that doesn't try to steal your lunch.
We had one on the back of our 'kingfisher ' inflatable dinghy in the late 70s! Many a day mackerel fishing between the piers roker beach Sunderland!
Lol. There's one on Ebay in Southampton for £145, I work in Southampton and live on the River Bourne near Salisbury. Umm tempting, always wanted to make a Coracle! 😂
Seems THAT is the engine Mustie1 bought and the story is a "tale" as it turns out. 😉
Hence it's "a little rough."
My dad had one in the 60's, would never start when needed.... Not Britain's finest...We needed the Japanese to show the rest of the world what "design for assembly, maintenance, and repair" looked like...Mustie, I applaud you for your persistence and good spirit. This repair started hard and went downhill from there. This was the first of your postings where I thought: he will never fix this...Keep them coming!
Fuel, spark, air.
Sort these to standard and it must run.
Watching from Queensland Australia
Mustie … I been watching for years now ….awesome person u r !
I thought , when I was watching this video , that I wished you would go back to those days when your videos theme was creative bike building …. But I think your videos now are more creative & with a narrative of projecting cool insight . Thank You ,our friend for your Sunday creative genius 🇨🇦😀😊🇨🇦
Made here in Dorset too... considered one of the toughest outboard motor makes out there and I know the Marines based also at Poole used to have some of them for their inflatables :D
Wow, this is the first video i have seen you give up on a project. I see why with the damage to the piston. Still enjoyed this. Makes for a great sunday morning.
Thank you and rest your neck.
Good morning from MI / Happy Fathers Day
Where in Michigan? Im near Traverse City .
Gaylord here
@JAKE.PARKER Am in Upper Michigan myself 😊
@@Philc231 Shelby Twp. / 26 miles north of Detroit
Mustie 1, I think you are the most interesting and informative person on your channel. I was always a gopher for parts, tools or a beer for my father. Didn't learn as much as I could have or wanted to. Your way of working and explaining procedures are great. I'm 73 yrs. Old but never to late to learn. Thank you very much.
After my car accident I went to a Functional Neurologist and that solved the issues for me and my wife as well. No PT needed!
You gave it your best,Darren..
She's knackered, mate!
That motor had been underwater for a while. You basically did an autopsy on it but it was fun to watch. I'm always interested to see the engineering that goes into these old Motors, it's amazing. 👍
The spring is, the drive for the propeller, the lever is a clutch , and it has drive forward or neutral.
Fun to watch the dissection of an unusual engine. Some can identify with me as a youngster, I used to take machines and electronics apart to see how they worked, even if I could not put them back together again. As long as they were junk, my dad didn't care.
Good Morning from Massachusetts USA ! Happy father’s Day !
I hope you feel better soon Darren. I've seen every one of your videos from the start,and were getting older and it sucks don't it!! Always fun to watch you. You need your own TV show. It would be a big hit!!!!
Happy fathers day to all the dads and heavenly dads around the world! Mustie1 Sunday complete!
old outboards are tough. That one just was not happening. Like the other ones you did. OMG cant believe they actually worked.
It was sad to watch the destruction. There are methods to get it apart without breaking and cutting everything. Ive restored many old engines and it takes time and care not to break unobtainable parts.
A couple of minutes on Google would have saved the flywheel from destruction.
These had a unique sound to them when running and think to reverse ya turned the motor around. Great video thought bro. Safe travels. Ken.
I got hit on a 3 wheel bicycle last August. Pt sucks, but works. Don’t give up
by a car? Jeez..how'd they not see ya, thats crazy
Dear Mustie1.
😱 I was shocked to hear that you still suffer from back/spine problems caused by the car accident. Hope the insurance of the other driver pays your physiotherapy bills. Get well soon, Sir.
Best regards, luck and health in particular.
These are legendary little outboards, not designed for speed, but long efficient use in small fishing boats. They are well built, and made to restart after a dunk in the sea.
That is a well used looking example.
The drive has no shear pin to fail, it jumps if the prop hits or tangled in a net.
I’m sure you can revive it, they are pretty robust.
Spoke too soon, to free the flywheel wedge it like you did, but many gentle taps with an air hammer will release it.
To free the piston, air hammer with a rubber tip, stick it through the plug hole and rattle on it for 20min or so usually does it.
It’s horrible watching, going ‘no don’t do that’
That piston is fine, the rings are stuck, clean up the outside, then stick it in a pan of motor oil. Heat till it’s about to catch fire, then let cool, after a few (maybe quite a few) cycles the rings pop free due to different expansion. When free, clean the ring grooves, should be good enough to run.
The company still sells parts, so you could fix it still, with a new flywheel, a brave man would weld it back together and call that good.
Everything is fixable if you throw enough money at it
@@bensmith4563 sure but parts are not expensive, 40 ukp 50 Dollars for a rebuild kit, including pump, gaskets, head gasket and piston rings.
Flywheels can be had in Canada for 13-15 dollars.
Happy to source and forward the overhaul kit from the UK if wanted
got one hanging in my barn in running condition, winterized... picked it up fro a guy for $50...thanks for a video
these were popular in Australia in the 50's, they are popping up here and there at garage sales now, $300 aud for running model. hardware should be SAE or whitworth type, reverse is just turning the engine around on the mount to pull the other way
Hope you got out of the hospital this morning as planned fell better Darren !
Instead of Kroll oil, you might have used Evaporust. Evaporust ‘removes’ the rust and makes it way easier to take rusted parts apart.😊
He was too impatient for Evaporust. Plus, Evaporust costs money.
@@georgepretnick4460they could sponsor it, just saying.. Though I'm not sure Mustie would be on board with that kind of arrangement.
@@macbeth2354 He was previously sponsored by 3-in-1 Oil. That didn't go so well.
Greetings from the Balkans! American traveling in central Europe, and I was at the "Museum of Science and Technology" in Belgrade, Serbia yesterday, 6 July 2024, and saw one of these British Silver Seagulls in their collection of outboards!
I told my significant other, "Mustie just had one of those on a few weeks ago!" Response: "Who's Mustie?"
I thought you were a household name now, among 40-something American women! 😂
Spooky ! .......in the last year we have been working on three of the same engine......two were resurrected, one has spark issues and looks to have beaten us, spares being the problem.
Thank you for this superb fun channel, you inspired me to go fix things !.......Thanks is not enough.
Stay Safe ☮🕊☯
If you have a lack of sparks from a Villiers magneto and the contacts are in good condition, probably there is an insulation breakdown or a gap in the wire in the high-voltage coil. This is a well-known problem with Villiers magnetos and there are firms that can rewind the coil.
@@cedriclynch Thank you for your reply and observations.......rewinding the coil is pretty much what we think is the problem and have considered doing. It's cost vs benefit as we are a not for profit charitable group. Or we keep it and break down for spares....Thanks again !
@@2pie2mash Another thing you can do is to rewind the magneto coil yourself with a few hundred turns of approx 22swg enamelled copper wire with one end connected to earth. Wind each layer neatly and smear it with the original slow-setting Araldite. Connect a length of flexible insulated wire to the outer end of the winding. When the Araldite is set, fit this coil back in place and connect the flexible wire to the contact breaker and the condenser, and also to a wire running through a grommet in the backplate to the outside. Connect this wire to one low-voltage terminal of a traditional motorcycle or car ignition coil, and if there is a second low-voltage terminal connect this to earth. You should now have a better spark than you have ever had before, but the system is lacking in authenticity.
@cedriclynch we have two electricians working with us, could be a job they could do....better than me for sure......I've seen the copper wire rebound on a starter motor armature before and amazed at the craftsmanship.... thank you for the detailed description 🙏
It might also be possible to use a coil off of an old 2 stroke chainsaw or dirt bike if the square hole in the middle of the coil is the exact same size. Pull off the coil from the Villiers lamination and swap it out with another more commonly available coil. You need the original lamination to work with the rest of the ignition, and these never go bad. Glue the new coil on the Villiers lamination with Gorilla glue.
I absolutely love this channel!,, Mustie is so funny! Great sense of humor 👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Good morning from Detroit,Mi..
Hi D. Man, I hope your neck gets better!! If you don’t have it, there is a cream called BlueSpring that has Emu oil and a warming gel that really helped my neck last year. I had a pinched nerve. Awesome tear down video!! Thanks for powering through to bring us great videos even through the neck pain!! Again, hope you get better!!
Seagulls are great motors. Made to be fixed easily and push a displacement hull
love watching Mustie videos but the real pleasure is reading the comments on these videos with old weird things in them and realizing how many people know what things are and how they work. Comment sections are so funny, half of us are just here to toss out a few smartazz comments then the others are here actually giving out decent info. Thanks to both of these types of people!!! LOL
That's a 5hp Silver Century Plus, clutched with forward and neutral only, for reverse you literally spin the whole engine in it's transome clamp,Amal carb with a float bowl tickler button for enriching the mixture for staring, absolutely bullet proof engine, I've personally witnessed one jump off a transom and go under water and come back up still running 👍 fabulous British engineering from a time when we actually had a decent manufacturing industry
Good morning from New Hampshire/ Happy Fathers Day
I was rear ended at low speed, but I was leaning forward and looking to the right, and snapped my neck on impact. The driver was an unlicensed 15 year old who took his mom’s vehicle without permission. The bumper was scratched, but no other damage. Three days later, I couldn’t move without extreme pain in the neck. The emergency room gave me some muscle relaxers, and some good pain pills. A few days later, no more issues. Whiplash is a real thing.
It needs up to 12% oil mixed in the gasoline. Good that you save this Seagull legend. Midsummer regards from Stig Österberg from Dalsbruk in Finland.
Morning from sunny MN Coffee crew!!
very fun video as usual. I glad you found a way to share with us what you would do without anyone else even knowing what you are doing. those of us who like taking things apart and fixing them if we can are great-full to know that we are not we are not so weird or unique
I resuscitated an old 4hp Johnson last year that had been submerged, and both pistons were stuck bad. I finally put the block in my grill for a bit and that did the trick.
you put your johnson on the grill?!!!
@@jase171973
"There I was, tugging on my Johnson".....stuck in the grill.......
Mustie, I've come to the conclusion you're a 'Hoarder' of many things - mechanical and otherwise... But I enjoy listening to your ramblings - always educational and often amusing!
Brit here, very concerned you seized this engine. We want it back! Thanks in advance.
Absolutely the easiest outboard to service and repair. Not environmentally ok nowadays but still great.
Nothing Mustie works on is tree hugger friendly, lol
Because it’s a two stroke ? A little smoke is not unfriendly . Millions of tons of lithium is the danger to the environment. Not a little oil burning .
@@Philc231
Millions of gallons of oil spilled into the environment every year are orders of magnitude worse than lithium mining.
Look are the facts before spouting irrelevant BS.
They are as you can see impossible to work on due to corrotion issues together with strange thread sizes..
They usually end up as junk..
@@Philc231trouble is they use 10/1 mix. More than a little oil 😳
Some modern 2 strokes use 100/1
Love the video! Rough handling and if the cylinder and piston was in better shape, it would have been a cool unit to have for sure! Good stuff mustie.
Mustie 1, "Lets Wrench". God Bless
Hope your are feeling ok. Take your time to heal
Coffee and Mustie1 great start to Sunday morning.☕️
I actually have one in my shed, here in Australia it's a runner when I put it there 😂 only 20 years ago 😂 thanks for sharing, all the best to you and your loved ones
that's a seized water pump or water jacket has rusted through these are bomb proof I've seen them come back to life after 2 years underwater