1998 GSX-L need help identifying what i have

[PierceAndrews]

Hello, I’m new to the pwc world and am having a hard time figuring a few things out about my ski. I picked this thing up for $200 a few months ago and is overall in good shape, but has been sitting for 3 years due to piston damage.

It appears my 951 is Frankenstein’d together. I have a white exhaust pipe, white exhaust manifold, white rave valve mounts, and white cylinder head. However the cylinder jug and crankcase is silver. The paint on all parts appears to be factory. I removed the engine because I am restoring the entire ski and the number 1 cylinder almost has a hole burnt through it with significant scoring.

My question for that is it common to take those parts from a white engine and put them on a silver engine? Also what are the differences between the white engine carbs and the silver engine carbs? The carbs on it have a manual choke, i saw something about the white engine carbs using fuel to “choke” it?? Having what appears to be mis-matched parts have me confused on what this thing actually is and I can’t find a manufacture date on the engine, just the placard by the mag. Is there a way to look up what I have by inputting the motor number somewhere?

Also my ski has a manufacture date of 12-7-1997 and is a red hull with a silver top the “gray ghost”. It is titled as a 98.

My question for that is what was the manufacture date range for the 97.5 GSX-L? Manufacture date range for the gray ghost? Do I have a 97.5 or a 98? I see some of the 98 GSX-L are red hull and red top, when did that start? Did the gray ghost only come with the white 951? Also, when looking up parts I get 3 codes for the 98 GSX-L; 5625, 5629, and 5845. How do I know which one I have?

A lot to unpack there I know, but I’ve been scouring the internet trying to find answers to these questions and I’ve been either coming up with nothing or getting mixed answers leaving me still wondering my same questions. I apologize if these have been answered already, but trust me I have looked far and wide for these answers.

 

[mikidymac]

If you have the silver and red ski it is the 1997.5 and came with the white engine. What happened is someone blew up the original white engine and swapped in a silver short-block.

 

[mikidymac]

Also found this...
So I have been doing a little research on my colleague's 97.5 GSX. (Grey Hull)
Seadoo tested the 951 using the public in the grey hulled GSX. They produced them for only a half year. Most of the ones produced blew up and were rebuilt under warranty via a class action lawsuit and subsquently became a silver motor for all practical purposes. Cooling issues along with other things like not enough piston clearance etc were the white motor's demise. All this I know.
What I did not know was if could you swap a white to a silver relatively easy.
After doing some post searching I found that all you have to do is change the silver magneto cup to the white magneto cup on the flywheel. Then re route a couple of cooling hoses, along with some other minor things.
The exhaust will bolt right on and actually give a little better performance. Their are other minor issues depending on which carbs are used. The white carbs are 180 degrees (front to back) of the silver carbs. That would just be a matter of re routing the fuel lines, as well as, the throttle and choke cables.

 

[PierceAndrews]

Also found this...
So I have been doing a little research on my colleague's 97.5 GSX. (Grey Hull)
Seadoo tested the 951 using the public in the grey hulled GSX. They produced them for only a half year. Most of the ones produced blew up and were rebuilt under warranty via a class action lawsuit and subsquently became a silver motor for all practical purposes. Cooling issues along with other things like not enough piston clearance etc were the white motor's demise. All this I know.
What I did not know was if could you swap a white to a silver relatively easy.
After doing some post searching I found that all you have to do is change the silver magneto cup to the white magneto cup on the flywheel. Then re route a couple of cooling hoses, along with some other minor things.
The exhaust will bolt right on and actually give a little better performance. There are other minor issues depending on which carbs are used. The white carbs are 180 degrees (front to back) of the silver carbs. That would just be a matter of re routing the fuel lines, as well as, the throttle and choke cables.

Thanks for the reply. As far as the carbs go, how can I tell if they are white or silver engine carbs? I know the whites are upside down, but just looking at them I don’t know if they’re upside down or not.

 

[mikidymac]

They are not upside down, The are turned 180 degrees from the later 951's. The throttle and choke cables will mount from the rear for the white motors and from the front with silver motors. You can turn them to match the newer silver motors.
Jetting should be updated to the silver spec motors.
62,5 LS jets with 165 high speed jets. N&S 2.0 and 95 gram springs

 

[PierceAndrews]

They are not upside down, The are turned 180 degrees from the later 951's. The throttle and choke cables will mount from the rear for the white motors and from the front with silver motors. You can turn them to match the newer silver motors.
Jetting should be updated to the silver spec motors.
62,5 LS jets with 165 high speed jets. N&S 2.0 and 95 gram springs

I guess I’m confused. Turned 180°, but not upside down? My choke cable comes in from the mag side and mounts to the bottom side front of the mag side carb via a bracket mounted to the diaphragm cover, throttle cable comes in from the pto side and mounts to the bottom side rear of the pto carb via a bracket mounted to the fuel pump. I wish I could find an illustration of the difference between the 2 and I don’t understand why this info is so hard to find via a simple google search lol

 

[mikidymac]

If the fuel pump is on the PTO side it’s setup the white engine way. If it’s on the MAG side it’s the sliver way.
Basically the white engines were not ready for public use and the customer got stuck as the beta testers. The silver engine fixed the issues. Seadoo fixed a lot of blown up white engines under warranty.

 

[PierceAndrews]

If the fuel pump is on the PTO side it’s setup the white engine way. If it’s on the MAG side it’s the sliver way.
Basically the white engines were not ready for public use and the customer got stuck as the beta testers. The silver engine fixed the issues. Seadoo fixed a lot of blown up white engines under warranty.

Ahhhhh I get it now. It’s currently setup the white engine way. So just by changing the jetting to the silver engine way it won’t have the carb issies? Or do I need to change the change the configuration somehow also?

 

[mikidymac]

From what I have seen it is recommended to change the configuration to the silvey way also.

 

[tobytd]

Didn’t white carbs go towards lean in a hard left or right turn?
( jetted, lean to begin with)

 

[PierceAndrews]

Didn’t white carbs go towards lean in a hard left or right turn?
( jetted, lean to begin with)

From what I understand yes that’s why they changed them.

 

[PierceAndrews]

From what I have seen it is recommended to change the configuration to the silvey way also.

So from what I’m beginning to understand is to change the carbs to the silver configuration you need rejet and replace needle and seat and flip carbs around? So what is now the mating service between carb and intake manifold on the white carb configuration will now be facing outward toward the air box? And the white pto carb will now on the mag side and visa versa? Sorry for the dumb questions, but there is literally no info like this to be found or it’s hard to find. Everyone only says “they’re flipped 180°” without much context and I can’t find any side by side pictures or videos of people doing this mod.

 

[PierceAndrews]

So from what I’m beginning to understand is to change the carbs to the silver configuration you need rejet and replace needle and seat and flip carbs around? So what is now the mating service between carb and intake manifold on the white carb configuration will now be facing outward toward the air box? And the white pto carb will now on the mag side and visa versa? Sorry for the dumb questions, but there is literally no info like this to be found or it’s hard to find. Everyone only says “they’re flipped 180°” without much context and I can’t find any side by side pictures or videos of people doing this mod.

So from what I’m beginning to understand is to change the carbs to the silver configuration you need rejet and replace needle and seat and flip carbs around? So what is now the mating service between carb and intake manifold on the white carb configuration will now be facing outward toward the air box? And the white pto carb will now on the mag side and visa versa? Sorry for the dumb questions, but there is literally no info like this to be found or it’s hard to find. Everyone only says “they’re flipped 180°” without much context and I can’t find any side by side pictures or videos of people doing this mod.

Or do I have to get a set of silver engine carbs because I cannot mod the white engine carbs to fit that way?

 

[mikidymac]

You are overthinking this. Just turn the carb assembly so the fuelpump is on the MAG side. Linkage and hoses between the two carbs stay the same. You will also have to change the top plate for the airbox so it is facing the correct direction.

 

[PierceAndrews]

You are overthinking this. Just turn the carb assembly so the fuelpump is on the MAG side. Linkage and hoses between the two carbs stay the same. You will also have to change the top plate for the airbox so it is facing the correct direction.

Ok, last response for the carb topic because I think we’re getting somewhere and my confusion is now at a minimum lol. Earlier you said they’re not upside down compared to the white carbs. However by flipping them 180° so the fuel pump is on the pto side they would now be mounted upside down. Right now my linkages are on the bottom when looking down at the engine, flipping them 180° the linkages would be on top when looking down at the engine, correct?

 

[mikidymac]

Yes.