OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums Repairs and Maintenance Questions on Engines Questions on Other Engines Hurricane Engines

G'day all, long time reader first time poster.

I am looking for information (adverts, manuals, parts lists etc) on Hurricane Engines, and in particular the Hurricane 185A and the Surefire Powermaster 200 which was water-cooled.

Also interested to hear from anyone with Hurricane mowers and/or engine parts available for sale.

Thanks & regards,
AusAnzani

Hi AusAnzani, and a warm welcome to the forum. It's great to have you aboard.
I have sent you a PM, have a look for a flashing envelope next to 'My Stuff' in the toolbar above.

Thanks for the warm welcome Deejay, and for the pm.

I've managed to find some information, now looking for a neglected hurricane mower. There was one on eBay earlier in the week $25, 2000kms away and pick up only. Lets hope another pops up soon a little closer to home.

I'm basically in need of everything (except for the cowl) from the magneto up plus fuel tank and straps.

Here's what I'm playing with. Hurricane Surefire Powermaster Model 200, water cooled engine. It's a variation of the Hurricane 185A used in many of their mowers.





Any idea?

Regards,

You can widen your interest I you like...Amplion used the hurricane engine and are very nearly identical mowers. Although both rare I find the Amplion comes up more..but seriously I only see a few a year, getting very hard to get and people ask stupid prices for them usually thinking they are victa. I got my last engine of a hg palmer for 25.00 but just lucked it as no one noticed it. My amplion ive had for 20 years and is one of my favs....

Hurricane supplied engines to several mower manufacturers including AMPLION, COLDA, COLLECT-O-MATIC, CROWE, MOFAST, PRECISION, PYE, TECHNICO, CHAMP CHAINSAW, VERSATILLER & PACE. They also produced their own outboards, supplied engines to other outboard manufacturers and even entered into branding agreements ie producing outboards that were sold under a different brand name.

They seem to have been a pretty progressive manufacturer for their time.

Yep all spot on. As for progressive, Im unsure as volume spoke success during this period. Unfortunately all the mower brands listed saw very limited success often selling very few but for Pace",and often less than generic store brands. The amount of mower brands probably made engine volume appear higher,but compared to Victa, Villiers and Rover to name a few,they fell far short and this is highlighted by their very limited availability today. A very good engine none the less and one of my favourites when fitted to hurricane Amplion and Pace and a brand id love to have more of, but they are just to hard to come by....

Thanks for that, it makes a lot of sense. Quite a few outboards out there with the Hurricane 125 but not a lot with the 185A or the 200.

Started tearing it down yesterday, cleaning the parts and getting things ready for reassembly later. As mentioned before there's quite a few parts missing, so whilst i won't be able to finish the restoration until I've got those, I'll go as far as I can. A few pics.





It's clearly had very little use! Absolutely no slack in the big or little end. Very little carbon build up on the piston, the bore looks fantastic and all the water passages are clear.



Gasket removed, surfaces and piston given a bit of a clean.





Re-painted the cylinder/head, flywheel and base plate and cleaned all the brass brass and copper fittings. Aside from some prior spanner damage, they've come up nice.

All stored for another day. I like to use styrene boxes where possible as there are no openings for small components to escape. The plastic bags contain individual parts eg the stripped down carb, stripped down ignition etc. Prevents anything from getting lost, and when I'm ready to work on something it's all there in one bag.

I must say mate, Ive never come across either the 185 or 200. Intriguing looking engines!Love the barrel assy and The crankcase is almost identical to a Villiers 70cc found on Villager/Typhoon Pace and Austral. Flywheel also looks like Wico found on lauson and Kirby/Tecumseh, if it is then maybe some of the parts you need may interchange? It has come up really well. Hope you find the bits your after as this is a really sweet looking Engine. If you have images of the others or parts you need ill keep an eye out as im always looking for unusual engines to restore. Looking for a Marvil" if you come across one:)

You're definitely on the ball Monaro, that is a Wico flywheel in the box. The ignition is all Wipac. Hurricane engines are easily identified through the rib around the crankcase where the two halve join. What I need for this is everything from the flywheel up, including recoil starter (although I'm prepared to go without), fuel tank and straps.

I'm not familiar with the Villiers 70cc, but it's interesting you mention that as there is a Villiers Villager on Ebay at the moment.

Done deal, I'll look out for your Marvil. You keep me updated on Hurricane!

BTW, my old Holdens include HR Prem, LC GTR XU1, HQ Monaro Coupe, & LH SLR5000. Kicking myself now for selling them off years ago. Brother had a sweet HT wago and still owns a all numbers matching HJ Monaro Coupe.

Progressing as and when I have some spare time, working mainly on smaller parts like the carb and ignition system. Need to go over the some of the brass components again, as many have only received a first pass / quick polish so far.

I love the old school look given by the brass and copper against the cast aluminium paint finish.





Have also done a bit of work on the trunk and with the help of a good friend with a lot more patience than myself, have managed to free the two seized bolts on the transom bracket. I'll continue on with that, before moving on to re-assembly.

BTW, when I tore it down the gasket that sits between the crank case and cylinder didn't appear to have has any sealants applied. What is the standard practice guys. Do you apply sealant to this gasket, and if so what type do you recommend.

Thanks & regards,

Very nice:) Permatex aviation cement,sparingly. But generally barrel to crankcase dont have any sealer other than the gasket.

With several other projects out of the way, I've been able to get back on to the Hurricane.

Spent a lot of time reworking the trunk and transom brackets, and although not perfect, I reckon they've come up better OK. I don't have a bead blaster or anything like that so the aluminium was attended to with a wire brush (larger areas) and a dremel (hard to get at areas). All nuts and bolts etc are original, just cleaned up with a wire wheel on the drill press. Literally countless hours spent on these parts.

Refinishing the chrome trunk and carry handle was pretty simple. All that was neded was a once over with some metal polish and extra fine steel wool. A few dents and scratches remain, but that adds to the character in my opinion.





With that out of the way, it was time to start the reassembly. The power head (engine), lower dust cover and carry handle are secured by the 4 engine bolts and are therefore fitted together.









Searching various vintage outboard and mower forums, I stumbled across a post by a gentleman stating he had just purchased a manual for a previously unknown Hurricane Engine on Ebay. With nothing to lose, I made contact with him and he kindly provided a scanned copy. Turned out to be for exactly this engine (Hurricane model 200) and answered question I had about spark plug and points gaps etc. It also contained some exploded view drawings which will come in handy for identification of any missing parts.



Haven't got around to setting the gaps yet, but thought I'd drop the flywheel on regardless, just to see how she looks so far.





More later.

It's been a while since my last update, but in reality there hasn't been a whole lot of progress to talk about anyway.

Spent a lot of time polishing the Muffler and Leg (mount for gearbox) to a chrome like finish and have refitted those to the outboard. I also spent countless hours reworking the Throttle Lever but can't refit that until I find a replacement tiller tube. The original tiller had been broken and re-welded by the previous owner and doesn't look quite right on a restored outboard, so a replacement is needed.







Not a whole lot left to do now until missing parts have been sourced.

Any help with that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks & Regards,

Stunning Restoraton Aus...I too am often guilty of hitting the buff for hours lols. Great you found that manual. Points gap would not have been an issue since its running Std Wipac pretty sure my cover plate actually has it written. Sorry cant help with the parts you need as ive only seen this engine once before. I dont know of any hurricane enthusiests page or group,but you need to try and find others that are into these engines as it will help greatly with parts. Troll some of the old marine sites and you may find some info:) Anyways its coming along beautifully and im a little envious I dont have one lols:)

Sooner or later, I'll stumble accross other people who have the same or similar outboards or parts thereof. It's just a matter of time and mixing in the right cirles, and as you say the forums are the best place to start.

Biggest challenge is going to be the gearbox. I have only seen 2 of that particular style so far, and both on Hurricane outboards.

I'm hoping the recoil starter (or rope pulley) and parts that fit between either of these and the flywheel will be easier to find.

In the meantime, I've got other vintage outboard waiting to be restored. They'll keep me busy I'm sure.