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RESTO SeadooDAN's 96 XP build thread

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dgoodwin10

dgoodwin10

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I'm posting this from the gas station, so there are more details to come! I just picked this little package up from a salvage yard. 2 complete 96 XPs, the cleaner of the 2 was decked out for racing in its day. The X4 bug bit me today.
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Sweet, want that 222 ski listed on here before? Congrats!

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I'm ready to see a good build thread. The guy from that salvage yard said the motor was trashed that had the factory pipe, but the parts alone make that ski worth a pretty penny. Do you plan on building it back up with all the aftermarket parts?
 
If not I'm sure ole [MENTION=51824]Matt Braley[/MENTION] would love that nozzle and a lot of the parts
 
As I said earlier, every ski has some kind of story, so here’s this one. But first a little introduction about myself. I’m from Birmingham and go to school at Auburn for a Building Science degree and I am down here taking classes this summer. When I take off the hardhat, I’m a major gearhead just like many of you, often scouring Craigslist at all hours of the day hunting for some kind of project. I grew up on the lake and I like to get out on the water any chance I get, though we have never had our own Seadoos. I made the plunge into the 2 stroke Seadoo world back in Janurary of 2011, buying a 1997 GTX, whose build thread can be found here: http://www.seadooforum.com/showthread.php?66483-Restoring-a-1997-GTX-quot-The-Hostage-quot Ever since then, I had been looking for another project ski, but had several deals just not work out.

Aside from the lake, I have been into off roading for many years, starting with 4 wheelers when I was little. Recently, several of my friends have gotten into the Polaris RZR scene, so I have been shotgun numerous wheeling trips with them around the southeast. These guys also originated my new nickname: SeadooDAN. For probably 2 years I had been plotting a single seat ‘RZR Killer’ build, with the goal to be about 1/3 of the cost of a RZR, but this was mostly a pipe dream since I didn’t have the income to make this happen. Back in April, I had my tax return burning a hole in my pocket and stumbled across a friend selling an ’02 Kawasaki 650 Prairie for $500, which even with the Side by Side market like it is still brings $2000+ when fixed. He thought it had a bad rod bearing and was just looking to unload it, so I bought it and put it away for when I had time to work on it, with the goal to use it for parts in the buggy or to fix and sell.
 
Now, fast forward to the first of this month and to tie all this together. As I was cruising Facebook, a bright yellow ’96 XP came down my News Feed at a local motorcycle/ boat salvage yard. Having learned quite a bit about the 2 stroke market since I first picked up my GTX, I know what a beast the ’96 XPs are and I immediately wanted this one, but since I really couldn’t justify spending the money on it, I figured the least I could do was post it up on here, hoping someone could save a built XP. That thread has already been posted up here. My intention with that thread was to try and get those aftermarket parts to some of the guys on here that really wanted them. I began talking with 7.3Diesel and Matt Bradley about this thing, since the aftermarket stuff is a bit new to me. 7.3Diesel began talking with the salvage company about the ski, but with him being 13+ hours away, this simply wasn’t feasible to come get. I still wanted to see someone revive this XP and when no one was able to pick it up, I got to thinking. I didn’t have cash, but I did have a Kawasaki to trade. After a lot of thought and discussion, I emailed the salvage yard about a possible trade and I could immediately tell he wanted my Kawi pretty bad. After talking with the forum guys, I knew I was going to be able to get some parts in the hands of guys that would put them to much better use than I would. Since this place was only about 20 mins away, I decided to go take a look at this ski just for kicks. What I came to find was a 4 acre lot piled with hundreds of skis, many of which had been pretty picked over. All except #111 and another ’96 in the front of the shop. I gave #111 a good once over and it was exactly what the pictures had looked like; the hull was in good shape, and it was complete, save for an MPEM. Bummer. So I gave Minnatonka4me a shout on pricing out a new one, as well as some stock parts. I had forgotten to email the salvage guy back on my Kawi and I got a message from him one afternoon asking about it again. At this point, I figured I would go for broke on a trade. I asked about #111, the other XP (to serve as a temporary parts ski and another future resto candidate) and a double trailer. I knew it was a shot in the dark, but it was worth a try. To my surprise, the guy said if I put up $250 cash, he was willing to do the trade, as long as I could pinpoint the issue on the Kawi. Since it’s about a 2 hour drive from Auburn back home, I didn’t want to make 2 trips, but also not knowing the shape of the PWC trailer, I ran by a friend’s house on my way home for Father’s day to grab a tandem axle trailer to take the Kawi down on and bring the skis back on. Friday night I get this picture, and needless to say I was beyond stoked.
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On Saturday night my dad and I got the Kawi to fire up, and boy was it knocking! But this wasn’t in the motor- It was the primary on the CVT; the motor was fine, which meant I was good to go on this trade. I knew the double trailer was wider than the deck on the tandem axle trailer, so my dad and I grabbed some scrap 2x6’s and made a platform for the trailer to sit on. I rolled back into Auburn late last night and went to classes today. Luckily, my last class got out early, so I made a mad dash for the truck (yes, the trailer was still attached on the campus parking lot. Whoops.) and made tracks for the salvage place. And never mind the trailer fender...that wasn't my doing!

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When I got there, the guy gave my Kawi a good once over and was pleased, so I unloaded it and backed up to my new set of toys. We hooked a chain to the ski trailer, ran it through a D ring on the trailer and used a bobcat to pull the skis up on my tandem axle. The thing had no tounge weight on it, but since I didn’t have far to go, I took a gamble. To top this off, the guy let me grab another complete MPEM and threw it in on the deal for free. After about 10 straps, I rolled out with a huge grin on my face. I made it home in time to take a shower and make it back to campus for a review session. Once its daylight tomorrow, I’m going to give these things a good once over and see what other goodies #111 has for me.
That brings me up to now. Sorry for the narrative… but stay tuned! This should be a good’n!

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sweet you will be jumping and spining like a mother f in no time. I just built a nice one from 2 this winter good luck on the project lots of pics keep them coming.
 
I had a chance this morning to give these things a good once over, and so far I am pleased. Cosmetically, #111 is in really good shape, with almost no scuffs on the hull at all, save for the Hydro Turf being beyond salvageable. The hull really just needs a good cleaning.

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After crawling up under it, I confirmed the stickers on the hull matched what aftermarket parts were on it: a R&D grate and an impeller. It also has the Factory Pipe, flame arrester, sponsons and the UMI goodies on the handlebars, as well as the Hydro Turf splash guard, which is still in good shape. I pulled the plugs and turned the motor over by hand and to my surprise was smooth as could be. At this point, I'm dying to know the shape of the top end. This is what I found:

PTO
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MAG
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The debris you see in there is some of the copper sealant the PO used to seal the motor up. Needless to say, I am stoked by these initial findings, considering it still had the gray fuel lines in it, which I expected to have wasted the motor. I still plan to pull the motor and make sure everything is in spec and reassemble it, but for this to be a 'trashed' motor, I say this is doing pretty good.

Now, on to the other '96 that I have nicknamed #2 since, at the moment, that's about what it looks like. I got this ski because it was complete, not because of its looks. It is as rough as it looks, but there are no cracks in the fiberglass and the bottom of the hull is in really good shape. This motor also spun over free by hand, so I'll be pulling the heads off it soon to see what's going on inside.

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It appears to have sat with the seat off for some time judging by the fading, but everything is there, and that's why I picked it up.

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The plan for #111 is pretty straight forward. I love the look it has going on right now with all the race stickers, so those will be staying for now. Mechanically, it will get pulled apart, inspected and reassembled. Nothing too crazy there. The goal for #2 currently is to serve as a parts ski to get #111 in the water. As time and money allows the hull will get cleaned up and all the graphics pulled off and I will pull the motor and get everything back in working order, replacing anything that I pulled off earlier.

Until next time....
 
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I have a small update since I've had little free time to do much of anything lately. Here's what I found when I pulled the head off #2: MAG side
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And the PTO side
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I think with a quick hone and these would be ready to run. There was a small amount of pitting on the PTO cylinder as if there had been debris in there at some point, but both RAVES were smooth, which to me says that the cause had been fixed. Granted, this motor is a long way from being fired up, but what I'm seeing in the top end has me encouraged for the rest of the motor, especially considering there's oil still in the tank feeding the bottom end. Until next time...


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Wow, just wow. I don't think there was anything left in the tube when he was done. That's just disgusting and wrong. That stuff will just ruin your day on the water, couple of those snots will jamb up the passage.

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Update Time! I had some time free up, so I figured I would pull the parts off #111 that I've sold and get them on the brown truck soon. I popped the seat to start wrenching and on a whim figured I would check the oil tank, since I couldn't really see what was in it. Here's what I found:

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:facepalm::cuss::ack::puke: That sure has a striking resemblance to regular motor oil, huh? As clean as the cylinders are, this had me stumped, since running on this oil any length of time would have wasted this motor in a hurry. I had to pull the jugs off to get the Factory Pipe out, so a couple bolts later we had this:

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Save for the 18 tubes of copper gasket on this thing, it looks promising to sat the least. It doesn't look like the motor was run hardly at all on this last rebuild. Upon closer inspection, I found I have 1mm SBT pistons that are in great shape, as well as an SBT crank judging by the TIG bead I saw.

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Speaking of copper gasket, how's this for improving water flow in the motor?

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It's becoming obvious that the previous owner wasn't the guy who build this thing due to all the hack jobs on reassembly. Needless to say, this one will be getting pulled and reassembled to make sure everything is done right. I am curious if this is in fact an SBT reman, since the RAVE caps have some factory-ish white overspray on them. Are there any signs to look for to tell if this is a reman?

Another thing I noticed was that the bottom end of this motor was bone dry- not a drop of oil in it, or any evidence that there was any. What makes me think that the motor had little run time was that the bottom end bearings feel fine and show no signs of excessive heat buildup. While I was at it, I cut open a fuel line and was suprised to find this:

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Looks like the gray fuel line gremlins hadn't gotten to this one quite yet, thankfully. Overall, I am excited to get to tear into these things after this summer semester is over. It looks like there will be another X4 terrorizing the lake before this winter hits after all. And just for kicks, here is my super awesome shop for the afternoon! My neighbors love me...

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Until next time....
 
AdamA96XP said:
Looks like XPS to me, bombardier oil. Before redline began manufacturing it
Click to expand...

Interesting. I had no idea. I'm hoping that is the case.

AdamA96XP said:
I see some nasty a$$ green goo, I'm not sure what you mean the grey fuel line junk isn't there
Click to expand...

Compared to my '97 GTX, this is nothing. The only spot it was breaking down was after the flare on the carb, so it doesn't appear that any made its way into the carbs. Fingers crossed the carb filter caught any more if it.
 
After doing some looking, I'm starting to think I have a Premium SBT motor since I have a silver motor and white magneto cover and white rotary valve, along with the SBT pistons and welded crankshaft. Does anyone know if SBT resleeves or bores these motors out? I know I have the 1mm pistons


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I doubt it is rebuilt by SBT, just because I doubt it would have all of that gasket sealant on it. Unless it ran out of warranty, then had a problem and that was someone's "fix"
 
My engine has a white magneto and white rv. It has this because that's what they had in 96 and I did not re paint those parts.
 
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