For some reason, having sold a nice clutch driven, long-range-tank Century 100 (brass leg pic) with almost all new parts 15 years ago (it was a hard starter and too heavy for the 17ft Old Town canoe I owned)..I suddenly decided recenly that the king of the range was worth a look. Buying a project Silver Century Plus from 1969 ( 4-5 1/2hp), I brought my purchase home, having been gassed for an hour in the car by rotten fuel, on a hot day. Note to ebay sellers..please drain your old motor before you sell it to me.

Hung it from the garage rafter and proceded to beat it with a weighty hammer, Seagulls need this treatment , just to show who's boss from the start. I lie, it's the means by which you can (single handedly) remove the flywheel. Flywheel off I was expecting a nice clean stator plate, with set up ignition (after all this was the chap's Dad's project - with lots of 'new parts'). It is the WIPAC ignition version and the coil and points were a mess. The magneto plate was cracked and I had to chop it up to remove it, so I just bought the whole gubbins 2nd hand off an ebayer. Cleaned it all up and did the massive 12:48 ratio 'gearbox' which was filled with globules of salt, old rust and some water and a lump of indeteriminate grease. Clean EP140 was added once :I'd done the clearout.

The tank was filled with foul smelling fuel and bits of hardened oil. Cue the Mr Muscle Drain Clearer and a serious jet wash following...the chemicals react with the brass in the tank. Fresh 10:1 mix, full choke, ful throttle and it started 1st pull.

Now all I need is a barge to get that 5 blade 11 inch diameter prop working...