2004 GTX needs rebuild, I need advice!!!

[Thecrazybadboy]

Alright so a few years ago I bought this jetski off craigslist and I never had any mechanic issues from it.

Owned it for about two or three years, only ran it a few times. Ran damn good.

Sold it to a friend who's had it for the last 3 years and he's only used it once or twice, now lives out of state. He states water got into it. I don't know if he means the hull or the actual motor, theres some of that language barrier lol. Anyways, I picked it up today from his storage unit and I didn't know he had tore the motor down. Intake and top end are off the short block. I took some pics, will try to upload from phone later.

I don't have the spark plugs but I don't see any rust or any real signs of water getting into the motor, Ill drain the oil later and check that out.

Now, seeing as how the motor is already pretty much tore out, should I stay super charged or should I turbo and pretty much build a faster more bad ass machine??? Would it really make that much different to build it for better performance??? I mean, hell, 80MPH on the water is pretty damn fast.

I will also need seats recovered, possibly the intake manifold, the steering bar middle foam part whatchamacallit aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand some fresh fluid... I hope.

Any and all advice is welcomed, I'm pretty new to this. I can do mechanic but Ive never done something this big or difficult.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mkov608]

Run away; run fast! Too many key words and phrases that raise red flags.

1. "He got [sic] water into it." You said yourself that you weren't sure what that means. You may end up fixing the engine only to find a hole in the hull.
2. "I didn't know he tore the motor down."
3. "Seeing as how much the motor is already pretty much tore out, should I stay super charged or should I turbo." Yikes! Do you really think you hit 80 MPH on the water with an '04 GTX without a J.A.T.O. bottle attached?
4. "I hope." There is no hope in maintenance, Col Geoffrey Parkhurst, 2009
5. "I'm pretty new to this. I can do [sic] mechanic (whatever that means) but ive [sic] never done something this big or difficult."

Part it out, sell the items on Ebay, and buy a different ski.

 

[Thecrazybadboy]

First of all Mr. MKOV608 I have no idea what a JATO bottle is hahaha.

I looked at the hull and theres no holes. From what he tells me Im assuming he did put the plugs in and the hull took on water and he freaked out. Let some backyard mechanic take his motor apart because he went out of town for work.

Now, from what I can see theres no rust or caked up crap on the cylinders, valve train or really anywhere. The one problem I see is some corrusion on the exhaust manifold connects to a hose or the actual exhaust. Which is normal seeing how they have a wet exhaust??? Atleast thats what I was told. Again, Im pretty new to these machines.

After lookin around online and talkin to some more people, I found out my jetski has a stage 1 kit in it. Has had it since the first time I bought it years and years ago.

Im givin the dude $500 bucks for a good hull, a good trailer and a motor that looks like nothin was wrong with it and I just need to put it back together (pay somebody to do it).

I reckon even if I spend another thousand dollars on gettin it put together and tweak a few things here and there Ill still be doin pretty good.

 

[mikidymac]

If you want a project put it back together and have a decent ski. As far as getting it to 80mph you will have many thousands of dollars in it to even come close.

 

[Thecrazybadboy]

Im not sure how accurate the speedo is. I saw 78 on it once so... Idk man.

Im not gonna do any performace upgrade. Just gonna put it back together and see if it fires up. I just never put an engine back together and honestly its a little intimidatin to me. I dont want to mess it up lol.