Sea Challenger Questions

[indyradar]

Hey guys, I purchased a 1996 Sea-Doo Challenger with the single 787cc engine. My main purpose is to take this to my cabin on the Columbia river in WA state and just have something to screw around with. Were kinda off the grid up there so i'm doing a lot of stuff that is more preventative and less repairing. I have some questions tho

To date I have done the following.

Re-ringed the pistons (155 PSI Both cylinders)
Repaired leaking expansion plug on exhaust side of motor (was leaking oil)
Replaced carbs
Cleaned Bilge (was full of oil from expansion plug leak)
Replaced wear ring
New Solas Concord 14/22 impeller
Refitted drive shoe
Replaced neoprene gasket on housing
Had Impros refurbish stock impeller
Bought a additional impeller housing on ebay and fitted the refurbished impeller in it (spare)

My questions:

Its winter now but I did manage to take it out twice before it got real cold.

Top speed is 41 (GPS) is that normal? For the first 2-3 mins in the water, it acts like a car with a bad clutch, when I go WOT it just sits there. If i baby it for 2-3 mins and just put around, then go WOT...works fine? (carbon seal?) If I replace the carbon seal should I upgrade to the one that has the metal half clip? If I do, from the back of the drive shaft (opposite from the motor) clip/o-ring or o-ring/clip?

I did remove the motor, BUT NOT THE MOUNTS, so I shouldn't have to align anything correct.

I have not used the replacement jet drive yet, but it is the much lighter plastic unit. It has several dime side "chips" in the jet vanes (remember its a spare) but there all there. Will this cause major problems or am I wasting time?

Last night I took off the other jet housing to perform a oil change, inspection, ect. It spun freely when I took it off. Now that I changed the oil (75w90 full synthetic gear oil) it turns, but not the same, feels like its dragging. Is that normal after a oil change.

Thanks in advance for the comments, this is a great site.

 

[LouDoo]

Hi and welcome to the SeaDoo forum. I'll try to answer as may of your questions as I can.

Your compression is good 155 actually is a little on the high side (a fresh engine should be 150psi), I would keep an eye on it, check it at about 10 hours if it's excessive, over 160, you might want to check the squish area.

Your question, I'm not sure what or where the expansion plug on the exhaust side of the motor is, so I'll leave this for someone else.

Drive shoe, not sure about this either, maybe ride shoe? If this was removed you will need to align the engine.

41 on the GPS for a single engine boat sounds great. Since you are experiencing cavitation and since you have replaced the impeller and the wear ring and neoprene washer, the next place I would check would be the carbon seal, and yes if it needs replacing use the newer type two piece clip.

Since you had the motor out I would definitely check the motor alignment, this could be the cause of your cavitation. When you removed the motor did you put the shims back where they were originally located?

And finally your last question about changing the pump oil, no there shouldn't be any drag when you change the oil. I suppose you could feel a little drag if the oil is cold due to the viscosity of the oil, so again not sure about this one.

BTW the question or comment in the 2-stroke PWC section is very confusing, you may want to go back and edit it, if you want the thread deleted let me know.

Lou

 

[indyradar]

"BTW the question or comment in the 2-stroke PWC section is very confusing, you may want to go back and edit it, if you want the thread deleted let me know".

Lou[/QUOTE]

Yes. I couldn't figure how to delete it.

Thanks for the reply. It is the Ride shoe that I removed. What does the alignment tool do? I went into the manual again, It does not mention aligning the motor after ride shoe repair and I thought if the motor mounts were correctly shimmed and left alone, it wasn't required either when removing the engine. I'm by no way an expert, just going by the manual...but if you say it needs it, it needs it...just gathering info. Is there a tool I can make at home to do this or is something I hve to buy? Whats your opinion on the jet vanes being chipped in the previous post?