Sprinklermagician
Active Member
Hello everybody, I'm new here to the forum. I just bought a 2001 GTI 718 which had had the exhaust bolts shake out twice. I bought it this way and so as of yet I haven't ridden it yet. I haven't even had it running. I spent a lot of time researching everything I could to find out how to fix this problem. I didn't check alignment or replace the motor mounts or decrease the idle, but I did everything else: New manifold (used manifold that checked out), hi temp permatex on both sides of gaskets, torqued all bolts in proper sequence, molycote 111 on the exhaust mounting bolts, proper loctite on all the bolts and studs, new rubber bushing and sleeve to mount the pipe to the engine, proper torque sequence on the pipe to exhaust manifold, I bought all my parts from the parts catalog online so they are exact part numbers for my machine (I didn't want to take any chances).
I did this last night and as I did I realized a few things that I'd like to get some opinions on before I take it out.
1. The last guy who did it tapped out the manifold to a wider diameter hole, the bolts he used were way too big for the new bolts to go into. As a result the holes for the bolts to slide through on the pipe are way too large as well. It looks like that is the way it was before because there look to be female threads there, I supposed that when it was rattling around after it got loose that the bolts made those imprints on the aluminum. But now I think the guy who repaired it last time just used a tap to widen the holes, he probably only had so many sizes and used what he had which resulted in a wider hole than necessary which led to the problem happening again. But I don't know. When I took the pipe off I noticed the holes were wider than his even larger bolts but I figured that was the way it was supposed to be but not I am not so sure. My question is are those supposed to be tight against the bolt (the same diameter) or is there supposed to be a little wiggle room there? If there is supposed to be a little wiggle room there then I suppose that more wiggle room is okay. If not then I need to get it welded and drill holes.
2. Lots of sources said do everything the way the shop manual tells you to do it. Other sources said that Seadoo decided later on that the flat washer between the bolt and the pipe should be a lock washer. I bought some grade 8 lock washers and put them on there. Tell me if I made a mistake.
3. The bolts and stud that I bought came with stuff on them, the bolts had yellow stuff on them and the stud had blue stuff on it, I figured that the yellow was a substitute for the loctite 243 and the blue was a sub for the loctite 648. I put my own on anyway, but I didn't clean them of the stuff they had on them.
4. The three bolts that came were hex head which made torquing the one on the same side as the stud really difficult. I guess it is okay though.
Should I ride this thing to test it out or should I address the holes on the pipe? if so does it need to be tight or what is my tolerance there.
I did this last night and as I did I realized a few things that I'd like to get some opinions on before I take it out.
1. The last guy who did it tapped out the manifold to a wider diameter hole, the bolts he used were way too big for the new bolts to go into. As a result the holes for the bolts to slide through on the pipe are way too large as well. It looks like that is the way it was before because there look to be female threads there, I supposed that when it was rattling around after it got loose that the bolts made those imprints on the aluminum. But now I think the guy who repaired it last time just used a tap to widen the holes, he probably only had so many sizes and used what he had which resulted in a wider hole than necessary which led to the problem happening again. But I don't know. When I took the pipe off I noticed the holes were wider than his even larger bolts but I figured that was the way it was supposed to be but not I am not so sure. My question is are those supposed to be tight against the bolt (the same diameter) or is there supposed to be a little wiggle room there? If there is supposed to be a little wiggle room there then I suppose that more wiggle room is okay. If not then I need to get it welded and drill holes.
2. Lots of sources said do everything the way the shop manual tells you to do it. Other sources said that Seadoo decided later on that the flat washer between the bolt and the pipe should be a lock washer. I bought some grade 8 lock washers and put them on there. Tell me if I made a mistake.
3. The bolts and stud that I bought came with stuff on them, the bolts had yellow stuff on them and the stud had blue stuff on it, I figured that the yellow was a substitute for the loctite 243 and the blue was a sub for the loctite 648. I put my own on anyway, but I didn't clean them of the stuff they had on them.
4. The three bolts that came were hex head which made torquing the one on the same side as the stud really difficult. I guess it is okay though.
Should I ride this thing to test it out or should I address the holes on the pipe? if so does it need to be tight or what is my tolerance there.
