RESTO My semi resto 96 XP project

[Molotok]

Awesome progress so far! Im so jealous of your detailing skills and knowledge, and will be intently following your thread as I do my winter project.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Jetskigoodies]

so the plastic ring around my tow eye broke.......any ideas?

Yup, just replace it. On the inside of the hull there is just 2 nuts holding it on with some silicone. Take off the nuts and pull the tow hook off and the ring will come right with it. Just look on ebay for one. I have one from a 96 gtx in good shape. $15 shipped. Just make sure you put silicone or another sealent around the tow hook when putting it back in. I had to do this a couple times before. My ratchet on my trailer was not in the right place and kept rubbing and eventually cracked the trim ting too.

 

[suke]

Yup, just replace it. On the inside of the hull there is just 2 nuts holding it on with some silicone. Take off the nuts and pull the tow hook off and the ring will come right with it. Just look on ebay for one. I have one from a 96 gtx in good shape. $15 shipped. Just make sure you put silicone or another sealent around the tow hook when putting it back in. I had to do this a couple times before. My ratchet on my trailer was not in the right place and kept rubbing and eventually cracked the trim ting too.

yup! Not much to those things.

 

[suke]

Here we go! Decided just to smooth it on. Too much to worry about otherwise trying to get it sprayable.

Heating up the garage and area above 60*. It's about 70* in there right now, and about 79* right at the keel. So perfect temp.

Fixing this stuff

All patched at this point and curing.

This one is going to need filled just a bit more. Guess when it cures I'll sand it right quick and put more down.

It matches a lot better than it looks in the pics. I mixed it then pulled out the stick and held it next to a good section of the hull and it looked pretty damn good. Not perfect by any means.

 

[Molotok]

Close enough for the bottom! Nicely done

 

[suke]

Yup, I agree. I ordered the spectrum color match kits for the chips on the top side. Also a majority of that damage is gonna be covered by the keelguard anywho. So not all that concerned.

 

[suke]

All patched, just need to sand/wetsand and buff. Color doesn't even come close to matching. Oh well.

Sanded smooth

All buffed out.

Keelguard on.

Sealant on

Hull is completely done!! Now just need to put on graphics and start reassembly! Still some small clean up items I need to do before assembly, BUT I'm getting closer to assembly now.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

excellent work sir !!! excellent !
and great pic's too.

 

[suke]

Slow going with the updates. There's not many small tasks I can get done after work in the evening. The intake grate was missing most of it's paint/powdercoat. So figured might as well strip what's left and then paint it with some appliance epoxy paint.

All the paint stripped and scuffed ready for paint.

First coat.

 

[Rosie2514]

looking good suke!

 

[Spimothy Leary]

hannnnnng on suke,
suke hang on....


sorry, now I have that song stuck in my head.

 

[suke]

Forgot about the after pics....

Completely done. Thing feels smooth as silk.

Now I've got another project that I need to get done in December, so the ski is going on the back burner a little bit. I'll prolly get some done here or there, but nothing major. Still need to buy the graphics. That's the next big thing.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

a word of caution,
my buddy did his grate and ride plate on his... and it started flaking off around the 3rd ride.

granted nobody saw it but him anyway, but just letting you know, and i'll be curious if your's lasts longer.

 

[suke]

a word of caution,
my buddy did his grate and ride plate on his... and it started flaking off around the 3rd ride.

granted nobody saw it but him anyway, but just letting you know, and i'll be curious if your's lasts longer.

I coated the hell outta it(3 thick coats) to hopefully combat those issues. I've only heard of a few other people using this stuff and no one else had any issues. Hell even the powder coat or whatever was on it didn't last. So I'm not expecting $5 paint to last forever. Even if I have to pop it off once a season to repaint.....I'm ok with that.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

I coated the hell outta it(3 thick coats) to hopefully combat those issues. I've only heard of a few other people using this stuff and no one else had any issues. Hell even the powder coat or whatever was on it didn't last. So I'm not expecting $5 paint to last forever. Even if I have to pop it off once a season to repaint.....I'm ok with that.

true, they pop off fast anyway, but after my buddy's flaked on him, (i was just about to paint mine) i decided just to leave it bare and put it back on. i actually rode w/o a grate for about 4 months, and i liked it !

 

[suke]

true, they pop off fast anyway, but after my buddy's flaked on him, (i was just about to paint mine) i decided just to leave it bare and put it back on. i actually rode w/o a grate for about 4 months, and i liked it !

Mine will see some salt water use, so I wanted something to cover it.

 

[manolocross]

Hey suke what gel coat patch kit did you use?? I ask because I think I got the same one and I want it to match better colorwise...

 

[suke]

Hey suke what gel coat patch kit did you use?? I ask because I think I got the same one and I want it to match better colorwise...

It was the evercoat patch kit. Comes with a bunch of colors to mix to make your color. Just use plain yellow. I mixed in some white since it looked too dark. I think JUST the yellow would have matched better.

 

[suke]

so not much of an update. Nothing getting done at this point. Saving up the cash to buy the graphics since it's $400. But I stumbled upon this and picked it up for dirt cheap! It's MINT!!!! Came from a 98 SPX. Guy took it off when it was new and he's been storing it since. Looks brand new.

 

[racerxxx]

Nice score! Almost makes you want to not use it it's so clean.

 

[suke]

Nice score! Almost makes you want to not use it it's so clean.

I've spent soooo much on other ones that were "clean" that I definitely have other options. lol Everytime I've seen one pop up that looked decent I've bought it. Most haven't looked half as good as they did in pics. So I'll see if I can clean em up and sell them on next summer and hope to make some of my money back.

 

[suke]

Welp graphics order has been submitted to exotic signs. This is what I went with. Sort of a combo between 96 and 95 color schemes. About as close as I could get to stock.

 

[racerxxx]

Nice! Please take some hi res pics when you get them, I'm curious to see them. Also not sure if they print their name on the graphics but they are on there when you "build" your decals, could just be a watermark for the website. If you look straight up from the first O is DOO you'll see the blip and if you zoom in tight on their site you'll see it. Either way they look cool and I think I might be as anxious as you are. I hope they are nice quality. How long until you get them?

 

[suke]

Nice! Please take some hi res pics when you get them, I'm curious to see them. Also not sure if they print their name on the graphics but they are on there when you "build" your decals, could just be a watermark for the website. If you look straight up from the first O is DOO you'll see the blip and if you zoom in tight on their site you'll see it. Either way they look cool and I think I might be as anxious as you are. I hope they are nice quality. How long until you get them?

I'll def make sure to take some pics. I just emailed my order in literally a few mins before I posted here. So I haven't paid and everything yet. Still waiting for them to contact me to handle all of that. Yeah I saw the exotic signs logo on the graphics. To be honest I'll be ok with it since they are so small if they actually are there. Heard really good things about this place, and never heard anything negative. So I'm looking forward to seeing how they actually turn out.

This is really all I'm waiting on to move forward with my project. Was holding out until I got my bonus.....but it keeps getting pushed back. Hate buying things without the money in hand first, BUT got tired of waiting to move forward.

 

[racerxxx]

I real curious to see if the thickness is the same or better than OEM. I'm stoked for ya!