RESTO My semi resto 96 XP project

[IDoSeaDoo]

Sweet man! Glad you're bout ready for the water. The weather should turn nice soon. I need to get my ass in gear and fix up one of my X4's. I was going to build my moddded one first, but now I think I'll bring the stock SPX back to life. I'm desperate to compare the EGT readings on it to my Challenger (Same motor). My PTO runs 100degF cooler for some unapparent reason. Some guy suggested that it's just how these engines run due to the pipe config. but I can't see that being the case. I need to take a couple cylinders and get them bored out. .18mm piston to cylinder clearance is a bit much, considering .2 is wear limit. Hopefully I can join you soon with my own ski, otherwise, I'll look for you on my boat. Listen for a 97 Challenger with a loud sound system

 

[suke]

HOLY SHIT! My registration decals came in. WOW they are truly the icing on the cake. Anyone need any decals that want them printed hit up CCW on GH. I cut them so they would flow with the curves of the ski.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Dear lord that looks amazing...i could just sit and stare at pictures of your ski all day!!!! I might dare to say that [MENTION=59515]suke[/MENTION] has the nicest, cleanest ski on seadooforum. And that is saying alot because there are some excellent skis on here!!!

Great job buddy! Now get to riding her!

 

[suke]

Hah! Yeahhhhh I've watched that video I put together prolly 30 times. I can't get over it. It's been cold as balls here and rainy like hell. So it hasn't even been nice enough for me to want to back it in the water and see if anything leaks. Doh!

 

[suke]

Thanks, but I think my buddies 95 xp 800 is nicer than mine. They should look good riding next to each other on the lake.

 

[suke]

Dammit! Kinda figured this would happen. Soooo during lunch today I ran the ski down to my local ramp to give her a quick dunk and see if anything leaked. Sure enough......there's a leak. Appears to be coming from the exhaust hose where it meets the thru hull plug thing. Even just sitting there water was coming in at a decent stream. Figured it was on the trailer and wouldn't fill up all that much decided to start her up.


So on to the upside. Started fine on the trailer, appears I need to bump the idle up a bit as it's a bit low in the water. Wouldn't turn off, but low enough it needs adjusting. No biggie. Also water comes out the back pee hole, and no other leaks!!!! I'd call that a success for completely tearing something apart. I'm going to loosen that clamp and see if I can't push it down further than crank the hell outta it.

Sadly for me it's never that easy, but I'm going to try the easy stuff first for once instead of over analyzing the shat out of a situation to the point I over look the stupid obvious.

 

[blairwill4]

That looks better than new. Truly impressive ski you have there. And it makes it all the better because you did it all yourself. Built not bought Great job!

 

[suke]

Here we go! Shake down run for both the skis to make sure they're ready for the weekend. Gonna take them out after work tomorrow so tossed them on the tandem trailer. All tied down and ready to go as soon as I get home.

 

[racerxxx]

Sweet! I think you need a smaller Yamaha or a longer trailer, LOL. I can hear those little tires screaming, Get this heifer off me. Looks good Suke, can't wait for the ride report. :cheers:

Watch out for the other boaters, they're gonna be crashing left and right checking out the XP!

 

[kicker]

You got to be proud of that Suke, job well done. I just love the look of the ski, the decals, seat, mats etc they all tie in nice together.

 

[suke]

Sweet! I think you need a smaller Yamaha or a longer trailer, LOL. I can hear those little tires screaming, Get this heifer off me. Looks good Suke, can't wait for the ride report. :cheers:

Watch out for the other boaters, they're gonna be crashing left and right checking out the XP!

The dude I bought the trailer from had 2 3 seater 4 strokes on it. The tires are actually bigger than they look. It does look hella small though with the wave venture on there. I'll see how it tows. If it sucks I only have $500 invested in it. At this time in the season I could easily get $500 back out, possibly more.

 

[suke]

You got to be proud of that Suke, job well done. I just love the look of the ski, the decals, seat, mats etc they all tie in nice together.

I watch the vid I made of my resto about once a week! I'm about as proud as I could be of it. I'm also about as nervous as I could be. Checked for leaks last time at the ramp and only had one. Think I got that one wrapped up and didn't see any leaks when I put the hose in there. So we'll see. I'd really like to be able to ride it and get the carbs dialed in before the weekend. I know my wife is going to want to ride and the yammi was dialed in last year. She'll be on that and is already itchin to go. So really don't want to have to spend the time futzing with it. Not to mention the lake will be stupid busy.

 

[donkey]

aw geez man! lemme know what lake u ride that thing in,i dont wanna go there,so mine dont look so horrible!,ur ski is almost to nice to put in water!
super nice job man,impressed!

 

[suke]

aw geez man! lemme know what lake u ride that thing in,i dont wanna go there,so mine dont look so horrible!,ur ski is almost to nice to put in water!
super nice job man,impressed!

I'm going to Harris lake tonight since I live like a mile from the boat ramp. Otherwise Gaston will most likely be where she can be seen.

 

[suke]

Never even got a chance to try it. Pump leaks like crazy. Didn't do it last time I took it down. Can I get some kind of sealant locally to work?

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Where do you think it is leaking from. There are only a few places that a ski will leak. Usually it is a pump hose that goes to the head that has came off, there is a hole in the big exhaust tube, or the carbon seal. Unless it is leaking from the pump shoe where the couple plastic lines that go through the hull into the bilge area are messed up. Did you put the bailer lines back on the pump? If not they will leak there also

 

[suke]

I can see it. No guess work here. Carbon seal is dry as a bone just sitting. It's coming in through the bailer tubes between the tube and fiberglass. Guess that explains why they had 10 lbs of sealant on the back of it. Now question. I found some 3m 4200 at over tons about an hour from where I live.just picked it up. Can I just seal it from the inside where I saw water leaking in, or do I really have to pull my pump? Gag I just want to ride her!!!!!!!

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Pull the pump. Whats it take, like 5 minutes to pull the pump? You did use a neoprene seal, right? Put a bunch of sealant around where the tube mashes up aruond the hull. Didnt you see all of that sealant on there when you pulled it off? I assume you peeled it off and didnt put it back on?

 

[suke]

Yup used a neoprene seal. I pulled the pump and put a metric shat ton of sealant on there. Also changed pumps. Yes I removed all the old sealant .

 

[suke]

Everything back together now. Just need to button up the VTS and steering nozzle. I put a TON and I mean a TON of sealant on it. I put it on thick on all sides of it. No idea how water got in there, it had quite a bit of sealant in there. SO now it has more. Upside is I got to put the new pump on and will most likely sell my old pump.

 

[suke]

This is the old pump. It was both the line from the head and the baler thru hull fittings that were leaking. Not quite sure if I fixed the other one either. Could see any water coming in there, but also didn't really check. Was too focused on how bad the leak was coming from the cooling line and balers.

 

[donkey]

crap,i just hate it when stupid little things happen,rives me crazy! hopefully the next trip will be all good for ya!

 

[black&yellow96]

What kind of sealant do you use and where can you get it from?

 

[suke]

crap,i just hate it when stupid little things happen,rives me crazy! hopefully the next trip will be all good for ya!

YUP. Worst thing is I STILL don't know how it rides. So the challenges may have just begun.

What kind of sealant do you use and where can you get it from?

3M 4200 Sealant. I got mine at Overton's. You can get it online at Amazon, or if you have a west marine local you can get it there. From the factory they use something similar but it's black.

 

[suke]

Another attempted trip, here we go.



Back down the ramp, pop up the seat after sitting there for a minute or so, and this:


Throwing just about every expletive possible. Ramp was packed so tossed the seat in the back of the car, backed the yammi off, and wife parked the car/trailer. Went out and played for the day no the yammi.

When it was time to go I decided to take a better look as to where the water was coming from. Appeared to be coming from the exhaust side AGAIN! VTS was dry, steering cable was dry......I'm at a loss at this point.

So get home pull off both hoses that attach to the thru hull exhaust fitting and put 3m 4200 sealant on both and shove them back on and cranked down on the hose clamps.

The ONLY thing I can think of is I remember that exhaust hose FIGHTING me to the death to go on. Is the water box size bigger than the other? So did I essentially install the exhaust hose backwards?



Now it sealed like a mofo, but it didn't seem very tight on that thru hull fitting back there. The hose clamp obviously makes it tight, and now there's not chance of it leaking with 4200 back there. Just seems like that shouldn't be necessary since it wasn't necessary before.