Challenger 4tec Upgrade

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The carbon seal has arrived. I'm going to install a thick o-ring behind the accordion boot to give me extra tension in case the boot has lost some of its spring. Also, my oil catch can should be arriving today or tomorrow. Got to make a wal-mart run for that metal scrub stuff.

I'm really starting to worry that I will not be able to find the right color of vinyl for this boat. I have searched every single retail store on the internet. Nobody has this color of Teal. And looking at all the rest, I realize that this one is the best teal out there. I'm puzzled over many of the colors I find. Who would want these boring dead-body hues on a BOAT?? The old seadoos had such an awesome color, why is it not available?

I spoke with Keith from Seadoo upholstery, and he seems to know what color it is. But looking at his site, the color of the challenger in his pic is of a different teal. It too is one of the more blue ones :(
 
Went to Office Max and printed off the impeller pitch gauges I downloaded off the hulk. Since I have my pump off, I decided to pull the impeller and see what it's pitched at. Maybe I should pitch it down some while I have, because I'm pretty sure there is no way it should be a 13/23. That sounds like way tall for a trailing edge on a boat with a 185hp motor. I'd feel better knowing it's a 13/20, or even a 13/19.
 
Ive got one of my seats in my truck that is a greenish teal from zzauto and when i took a pic it looks blue but is definitely green20160429_141804.jpg20160429_141838.jpg one in the sun one in the shade so probably not much help but it is greener than the foto does justice
 
Wow. The camera hates "aqua teal" from zzauto. The orignal was dark green same as 96-97 GTX we had back in the day and doesnt have quite the same effect on the camera. It is probably some shade of blue but it looks greenish20160429_184419.jpg20160429_184401.jpg20160429_184352.jpg
 
I noticed that the 1800 challenger vinyl is s darker green than the 110.
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Today I popped of the impeller and would you look at that cavitation rash? After only 1hr..
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I knew it was bad, must have been a constant thing.
I verified pitch using my pitch gauges. It appears to be around 12/20 or 13/21.
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I had to correct a few of the blades, as they appeared to be not uniform with the rest. Also, it appears sbt sent me a gtx 155 prop, not the sc.
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Also, it seems that part of the trailing edge was cut off.
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There is hardly any overlap in the blades...
Got the new carbon seal installed. Also going to finish setting up this oil catch can. The dip shits on ebay falsely advertised one with larger ports, but sent one with tiny 3/8 barbs.
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Had to drill and tap it for 3/8 npt thread. Lucky for me I had the tap from my days putting fill holes on 787 balance shaft chambers.
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I'll go by h depot and buy some 1/2" I'D FITTINGS and see how it does. Hopefully I won't have to invest in more drills or taps, those are $$$
 
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Rode around for an hour or so hooked up to my new crank case breather can via 1/2" hose with 0 issues. The depot was closed so I had to go to Lowe's, who somehow never has quite what I need. Got an overpriced fitting that I can make work though. Will hook it all up tomorrow.

As for the cavitation, it's still bad. The new carbon seal didn't do squat. I resealed the seams along the bottom of the ride plate and intake grate last night too, no help. I'm not sure exactly of my pitch, either a 12/20 or 13/21, but I'm hiring 7660 at just above 3/4 throttle. From standstill, I violently hit the stutter box to the point where I let off. Cannot floor it. I don't get it, this prop worked fine on the ski... not much cavitation, and about 60mph top end, still turning 7660. It was only me in the boat today, so I can't say if boring the nozzle did any good or not, and it was too choppy to get a good wot run to see top speed.

The one thing that changed was when I flooded it, the cavitation remained. Maybe I didn't flood it enough...

Could it be that my prop is so off that it's causing this?
 
Although I'm no expert I would be inclined to try a different impeller. That one you have can't be doing you any favours with the trailing edges missing.

Also just a thought ( sorry haven't had chance to read the whole thread yet) could it be an issue where the jet tunnel is not big enough and is restricting the flow causing the carbon seal to leak as it's pulling too hard on the intake and the carbon seal is the next weakest point?
 
Well, I've been thinking a lot about the cavitation I'm experiencing. I read a bunch about it and researched it where I could. This video made me realize and visualize what's happening in there.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON_irzFAU9c
My belief is that if this were just air being introduced in the system, I would not be having these cavitation rashes (the light sandblasting marks on the prop visible just behind the leading edge in post#435 pic 2). It then seems that leading edge pitch is just too great, and creates an area of water vapor bubbles behind it. I'm not getting enough water into the pump fast enough to keep up with the demand when I launch the boat from stand still. I'm not sure if the newer, more powerful skis and boats have a wider tunnel, or how much difference it would make, but I think my only option at this point is to
A: buy a lesser pitched impeller
B: bend the blades down myself using my gauge to make sure all the blades are the same

As I'm very curious to try this myself, I'm going to go with option B. Does anyone know how much of a pitch difference I can have in a prop? What if I widen the gap, like go from a 13/21 to a 10/23. My understanding is that the leading edge has more to do with take off while the trailing is more top-end, but I bet they're somehow related. Can anyone point me to some good articles on this matter? For now, I'm going to try to get my leading edge closer to 11 or maybe even 10 and see what happens. Then I'll play with the trailing edge.

Can anyone measure their pump tunnel width on their 215hp craft or a 4tec boat if you have one? I'd really like to know what it is compared to mine.
Thanks!
 
I guess it isn't possible to move to a 159mm pump from the newer 4tecs? Well anything is possible but it would be a mighty big undertaking to swap pump shoes yeah?

That prop looks real funky. Any cheap ones on Ebay you can grap or surely someone from the classifieds has one they would let go real cheap. I've never seen a prop that didnt have the blades go to the base of the hub. Wonder if that's actually how the prop came from Seadoo or if its just another SBT hack job.
 
Well good news: I contacted SBT and sent in the pics of the impeller and the short trailing edge. As always, they were very responsive and professional about it. I dealt with Cesar, and after inspecting the pics he agreed that something didn't look right. He's sending me another OE impeller to compare with, and if the new one looks right, I'll send them back the old one. Now mind you, this is 2 years after I made this purchase, so HUGE props to SBT. I go through them quite a bit for all my boats, and their customer service has always been spot on :)
Best part is, I can have the prop by Saturday, when these biblical rains will finally end, and I can continue testing.
 
Got the new SBT reman prop yesterday
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, the trailing edges are perfect on this one.
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I had the party lights on over my bar, made for some cool photos :)
The old one must have been a one off anomaly, the pitch and blades on this one are mint!
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Looks like an 11/20, measuring from 1" off the edge. At the edge, the marks don't line up with any degree line. Going to try it out tomorrow.
Keith from seadoo upholstery got my seat back upholstery to me already! I couldn't believe it, I placed the order At the start of the week! It looks really good, and the color is almost an exact match. Good job and thanks Keith! Can't wait to put them on!
The meet up is right around the corner, and there is still quite a bit to do. I started the dash gauge pod, but am not sure how well that's going. It is really hard, perhaps the hardest part of this whole project. Not sure how well it'll turn out, and I might have to redo it, but I need something for the meet up besides a duct taped gauge cluster.
 
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Boom, that's what a prop should look like! Can't wait to see if that solves the cavitation issue. Seems like it very well could. Crossing my fingers for ya.
 
Well, the new prop is a big improvement, but strangely, it seemed to cavitate less when I first got to the lake and more as the day progressed. I'm still turning 7600 at wot, but I don't think in cavitating at full speed anymore. Might pull it and try going up a degree.
Also this was the first time I hooked up the oil catch can to my intake. No pressure buildup whatsoever. Engine ran great.
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that's the barb I epoxied onto the intake for the pcv.
 
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