Is it worth fixing my 1995 gtx.............

[JKSTI&R1]

Hey Guys,

So I took in my Yamaha xl1200 a few weeks ago to the shop ( had a bad cdi, fixed it myself and runs great ) and while it was there, the guy at the shop accidentally tore my new cover to my Yamaha. So instead of getting a new one, I was going to have them do the labor on my 95' gtx that needs the cylinders done. So I have like a $200 credit and I was going to just pay for the parts and the bore and have them fix it. My question is, is it worth it? I dont have much $$$ into the ski, it does need a few things like the seats redone and a new handle bar pad. But was going to sell it after I fix it up. So is it even worth it? What do you guys think?

 

[Coastiejoe]

I would do it if for no other reason it will be worth more if you wanted to sell it

That said, I LOVE owning two skis. Having someone to ride with is always nice.

Go to Joanne Fabrics and get an iron on patch that matches you cover color. Put it on the inside of the cover. They work fantastic. I used them on my Polaris covers.

 

[LouDoo]

On a 18 year old ski doing a top end, the bottom end isn't going to last too long. If it were my ski I would put in a reman engine.

A new top end might get you through a season or two.

Lou

 

[Strizzo]

a 657x or 717 standard engine from SBT is 745 bucks, you'll only save about 200 just doing a top end over a short block.

 

[- BiRkS_]

If you were going to flip it, and don't want to dump alot into it, do the top end. The older smaller motors last 100's of hours and can take the abuse. If you want full reliability and a waranty, then swap in a reman.

 

[JKSTI&R1]

Hey Guys,

Yeah, I have 6 ski's and im just going to fix this one up and sell it off cheap so I don't want to drop alot of money into it, also I have the 200$ credit from the shop so its going to be less than $500 out the door. So now my questions is, should I just do the cylinders myself? I heard that its not to hard to do and the shop said it books for about 2.5 hours. So should I just get the parts and have them bore out the cylinders and do it myself and be done for about $250 or is it harder than it looks?

 

[- BiRkS_]

Have the cylinders done at a shop. It's not that hard to do a top end. Key is patience, and good preparation (CLEAN CLEAN gasket mating surfaces, NEW piston circlips and wrist pin bearings) Hardest part is getting both pistons in. 2 people make the job very easy. One drops the cylinder, the other lines up the piston. Make sure to smother the piston and rings in oil before installing, and lube up the cylinders as well. You don't want any scoring!

 

[JKSTI&R1]

Hey Thanks for the reply. Im going to have them bore out the cylinders and ill try and do the top end. I want to learn and this motor looks alot easier to learn/work on than my 1998 gtx that Im putting a new motor in. That motor is big and heavy LOL. Anyways thanks for the response. Im sure now I will have tons more questions,lol

 

[RUn2it]

Hey Thanks for the reply. Im going to have them bore out the cylinders and ill try and do the top end. I want to learn and this motor looks alot easier to learn/work on than my 1998 gtx that Im putting a new motor in. That motor is big and heavy LOL. Anyways thanks for the response. Im sure now I will have tons more questions,lol

Guys, Seadoos are a little quirky, synthetic grease on the wrist pin bearing, you should use a service manual so you'll know to use a special tool to make the exhaust ports level and parallel to each other, or use the exhaust manifold, no gasket and bolts finger tight then torque down cylinders using Synthetic grease under bolt heads and loctite242 (blue) on threads for cylinder bolts, crissxcross torque to 17 lb/ft for 720cc. On the head you're supposed to use 515 (purple) in o-ring grooves in cylinder sleeve, an o-ring goes around spark plug hole too. The head bolts are opposite cylinder bolts, syn grease on threads and 242 under bolt head (disimilar metals prone to corrosion), crissxcross torque from center (middle bolts closest to the center)at 9lb/ft (108 lb/in) then to 17 lb/ft (204 lb/in). OH YEAH don't forget to measure old base gasket thickness and order the same, there's different thicknesses for deck height (for the "squish" area gap) before disassembly you can look between the 2 cylinders and should see holes in the gasket, number of holes indicates which thickness base gasket, forget which is which but dealer can help that much. If the engine is original and never apart, prior to disassembly, scribe reference marks from cyl to head so head dome will be centered in middle of cylinder when reassembled. I know, small stuff but if you do it while assembling it doesn't take more time. My heavy modded 95 limited 800 XP is a 7800 rpm engine that's 15 years old and guys at the world finals still want to lease it to race, I'm sure the little stuff didn't hurt at least. Don't know the level of expertise of the poster so gave it the long version, would be a bummer for him trying to save some $ and end up costing even more for a ski he's getting rid of. Good luck you multi ski owning dude, lol

 

[JKSTI&R1]

Guys, Seadoos are a little quirky, synthetic grease on the wrist pin bearing, you should use a service manual so you'll know to use a special tool to make the exhaust ports level and parallel to each other, or use the exhaust manifold, no gasket and bolts finger tight then torque down cylinders using Synthetic grease under bolt heads and loctite242 (blue) on threads for cylinder bolts, crissxcross torque to 17 lb/ft for 720cc. On the head you're supposed to use 515 (purple) in o-ring grooves in cylinder sleeve, an o-ring goes around spark plug hole too. The head bolts are opposite cylinder bolts, syn grease on threads and 242 under bolt head (disimilar metals prone to corrosion), crissxcross torque from center (middle bolts closest to the center)at 9lb/ft (108 lb/in) then to 17 lb/ft (204 lb/in). OH YEAH don't forget to measure old base gasket thickness and order the same, there's different thicknesses for deck height (for the "squish" area gap) before disassembly you can look between the 2 cylinders and should see holes in the gasket, number of holes indicates which thickness base gasket, forget which is which but dealer can help that much. If the engine is original and never apart, prior to disassembly, scribe reference marks from cyl to head so head dome will be centered in middle of cylinder when reassembled. I know, small stuff but if you do it while assembling it doesn't take more time. My heavy modded 95 limited 800 XP is a 7800 rpm engine that's 15 years old and guys at the world finals still want to lease it to race, I'm sure the little stuff didn't hurt at least. Don't know the level of expertise of the poster so gave it the long version, would be a bummer for him trying to save some $ and end up costing even more for a ski he's getting rid of. Good luck you multi ski owning dude, lol

Hey thanks for the info. Will do...............

 

[JKSTI&R1]

Hey Guys,

Ok after 6 broken bolts and the rest stripped out, I got the head off of the jugs and there is a lot of sand in it. the back side of the head looks to have a lot of corrosion, prolly why all the bolts broke, but if there is snad in the jugs, then that means there prolly is or going to be sand in side the bottom half right? I dont see how it wont make its way down there. So thats going to hurt the bottom end right? or will it not get down there or I guess Ill have to see. The bottem end could be f***** as well just by looking at he top end.So now what should I do? I have not spent any money just yet and Im not sure what it will sell for with a new $700 motor in it.

 

[- BiRkS_]

Look for a good used engine, or rebuild yourself.you're probably ~300 for a crank and another ~300 for a top end kit and new/used cylinders and an extra 50$ for misc, bolts, etc 700 does not sound bad, but you would have to explain to them that you do have snapped bolts, that may raise the price to 900 or more very quickly.

As for the overall value, a '95 vintage ski with trailer is worth 1200-1500. But IMO since you spent the coin on the engine, ride it and enjoy it, then sell it a couple years down the road, and you can still claim "rebuild engine" with "X" hours

 

[JKSTI&R1]

Ok, so I got them off and im going to have to drill out the jugs or get used ones off the net. Ill take it down tomorrow and have them look at it. The bottom end looks great, clean and has oil, so Im going to just chance it for the few hundred dollars it will cost me. But I took a picture of the bad piston and boy is it bad. Check out the pictures. So why did this happen? Did it not get oil and went to lean? Get to hot? Is the oil pump not working right? How can I check to make sure the oil pump is working right? Now that I have it all off, im going to change out all the grey hoses and clean the carbs. Thanks fop the help guys...............

 

[JKSTI&R1]

Ok, so I got them off and im going to have to drill out the jugs or get used ones off the net. Ill take it down tomorrow and have them look at it. The bottom end looks great, clean and has oil, so Im going to just chance it for the few hundred dollars it will cost me. But I took a picture of the bad piston and boy is it bad. Check out the pictures. So why did this happen? Did it not get oil and went to lean? Get to hot? Is the oil pump not working right? How can I check to make sure the oil pump is working right? Now that I have it all off, im going to change out all the grey hoses and clean the carbs. Thanks fop the help guys...............

So what caused this? I pulled my jugs on my other 95 xp and the same side had close to the same damage piston.... Why? What is causing this to happen and on different ski's from different owners from different states even, lol ???

 

[RUn2it]

So what caused this? I pulled my jugs on my other 95 xp and the same side had close to the same damage piston.... Why? What is causing this to happen and on different ski's from different owners from different states even, lol ???

OK, ....sand in the jugs, you mean sand in the water jacket or sand where the piston is? And both engines are 720s? The pics of the piston, which side was the bad side on, exhaust? The exhaust side is normally the side that will get a normal siezure on (not a cold seizure but one from fuel mixture/heat/low octane) but in your pics I see a ring end gap which is usually on the opposite side of the exhaust port, where is the other rings end gap? If the visable rings end gap is where its showing then the damage is where the other end gap should be (approx), was the piston in backwards? Usually the ring will catch the exhaust port edge and end the ride quickly. In the right way or wrong, it still got hot. Your broken bolts can be removed, the stripped ones are another story. Best penetrant oil is homemade, better than PB Blaster, 50/50 ATF and acetone, acetone is super thin and will carry the also thin ATF (low viscosity and high detergent). But the stripped ones ... I dunno, never done that part. The head bolts should have had synthetic grease on them as I said earlier so maybe the pistons were in backwards too, seen that before. Saw a KX 500 that had been spinning the main bearing outer race in the steel liner cast in the case half, the guy tried to spot weld the edges with a wire feed, said he "turned up the gas to keep it cool" (and he was a certified welder, certified no doubt). OK, back to bitnezz. Ounce of prevention deal, make sure the head bolts have synthetic grease on threads and 242 (blue) under headbolt flange. Let the forum know about the ring end gap, etc, can't fix it (fix it includes remedy so it doesn't repeat) unless you know why it happened.

 

[JKSTI&R1]

Im not sure where it was on the cylinder, but If i remember ( Im doing 2 different skis at the same time ) I would say it was on the bottom right hand side, with the front of the ski being on the right of you. Not sure if it helps but I think both skis had the damage in almost the same place. Also I took the carbs off to check them out and they look super clean. I was expecting like junk everywhere but they were clean ( well the one ski so far ) They did change out just a few parts of the grey fuel lines but left most of the old one there. I will put all new hoses in while I have it all apart. But I did see that a few parts of the old lines had like a green gunk in/on them, so I thought I would find that in the carbs but I havent yet. I also havent been able to get the screws off of the fuel side of the carb, was on there way tight, so I soaked with pb ( all I have at the moment ) and ill try today. Is that where I will find the filters I hear about that get clogged up? Or is it in a different area? Thanks again for your help on this.......