Self Induced Pain

[OldSchool]

So, my 16 year old son has been enjoying his 98 GSXL quite well this year, spent a couple dozen tanks of fuel and not caused any real trouble with his friends and their skis.

I however have created a pickle for myself. I removed the factory plastic resonator/muffler that is embedded in the footwells of the GSXL (It had a hole in it from the previous owners) and by-passed it using Schedule 40 PVC that was routed perfectly to the thru-hull exhaust fitting. It fit like it was OEM, heck even better than OEM because you could actually work with it. I used PVC cement on all the joints except the one I missed. These pipe parts are always tight fitting and I didn't notice an issue.

Well.. Apparently, that cement is important because the exhaust came apart, leaving a 2.5" hole right at the dock of all places. However, the exhaust came apart on the other side of the lake and my son rode it back to the ramp. I tried to tell him to drive it on the trailer (it was backed in the water the entire time he was riding) but he doesn't want to mess up his machine, so he stopped and the back end of the ski went down.

The ever so sensitive 951 ingested water. I immediately operated, yanking plugs, airbox, lubricating with grounded plug wires, got it home quickly following that, repaired the exhaust and then got to firing up the machine. It ran, I burned all the crap away and fogged it pretty good. Found exhaust manifold leaking at this time, spitting up stuff right at the intake though (the manifold bolts were loose because hack that did motor swap doesn't know how to use lockwashers) So I pulled the exhaust manifold to replace the gasket and sure enough, there was some scoring on the flow side of the mag side piston, none in the back. In fact, it looked good.

I am going to tear the entire machine down this offseason and build it to my liking. From scratch. So I wonder if I REALLY need to go and do a jugs job on this craft if I am going to tear it down anyways in just a few months. I have seen machines run for years on pistons that were scored, none of them were 951's.

Should I start a poll? Run it and rebuild in a couple months?

Or do the top end only to go back in their again and toss about 350-400 in parts?


I am a cowboy at times, so I am thinking of running it, but I wonder.. What would you do if you needed the thing quickly and for a short time?

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Uhhhh wtf you used schedule 40 piping instead of just replacing the rubber pipe??? You never would have had this problem if you didn't do that probably!!! You probably paid more in the piping than just replacing the part! Sorry to tell ya that

 

[OldSchool]

Uhhhh wtf you used schedule 40 piping instead of just replacing the rubber pipe??? You never would have had this problem if you didn't do that probably!!! You probably paid more in the piping than just replacing the part! Sorry to tell ya that

Hold on there a minute.. So, you are telling me, that there is a rubber hose made that comes off the water box, up and over the VTS (to prevent backfill) and then takes a 45, that takes another 90 to the exit pipe fitting?

Because I still have all the rubber hoses.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Lol yes, at least there is on the 787s. No homemade construction should be required. Whatcha say [MENTION=17278]SabrToothSqrl[/MENTION] ? Pm [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] for parts

 

[OldSchool]

Uhhhh wtf you used schedule 40 piping instead of just replacing the rubber pipe??? You never would have had this problem if you didn't do that probably!!! You probably paid more in the piping than just replacing the part! Sorry to tell ya that

You should know that I made that by-pass last year. It has been running on it all season, until it separated. Ran fine and I would not have done it if I hadn't seen it before. In any case, the resonator it replaced was made of much thinner and tolerant material. I am going to have a metal one fabbed up at the exhaust shop out of stainless, but for now, this will work fine.

 

[OldSchool]

Lol yes, at least there is on the 787s. No homemade construction should be required. Whatcha say [MENTION=17278]SabrToothSqrl[/MENTION] ? Pm [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] for parts

Are you sure we are talking about the same thing? I don't recall any of the 787's I serviced ever having the exhaust part I bypassed. At least not as late as 97.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Seadoo-PWC-OEM-Exhaust-Resonator-1998-1999-GSX-Limited-947-951-/290948146920#vi-content

But hey, if someone was crazy enough to make a Rubber hose that is formed to go from the waterbox, up and over the VTS while crossing the machine, then curved 135 degrees in total after all that to line up to the exhaust fitting, I will buy it!!! Hope it isn't as flimsy as the current rubber pipe.

 

[OldSchool]

Lol yes, at least there is on the 787s. No homemade construction should be required. Whatcha say [MENTION=17278]SabrToothSqrl[/MENTION] ? Pm [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] for parts

Still nothing?

You made it seem like such an obvious thing, I expected mass response to this part.

Guess it doesn't really exist? LOL.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

I'll try and take a picture...

 

[AdamXP800]

Minnetonka should have the pre formed hose you need. No need for the make shift PVC exhaust set up

 

[OldSchool]

View attachment 20842Minnetonka should have the pre formed hose you need. No need for the make shift PVC exhaust set up

Why would I replace what I already have, from the factory that is in great shape? In the picture I posted, the hose you are referring to is the hose on the left side of the PVC. In your picture 97GTX, the watercraft is not a 951 GSXL. Your boat did not come with the part that the PVC replaced either.

 

[OldSchool]

I wonder why these guys didn't use the hose. As it is, the hose from a 98XPL may function for this application, I am however unsure.

replaced resonator with PVC

More PVC or auto parts store "Homemade"

Greenhulk had one, but can't link to that site.

 

[OldSchool]

Uhhhh wtf you used schedule 40 piping instead of just replacing the rubber pipe??? You never would have had this problem if you didn't do that probably!!! You probably paid more in the piping than just replacing the part! Sorry to tell ya that

CReynolds, thanks for PMing me the link to OEM resonator. Unfortunately, that is not a rubber hose and is also the part I was trying to eliminate in the first place.

This thread was not a request on how to handle the bypass, it was simply one of whether or not I do a top end now, when I know that I am going to rebuild the entire machine in October.

You gave me a "WTF" and LOL to start your replies. Stating that I could have just replaced a hose, which is not accurate. You mentioned that it would have cost less than the PVC parts I used, which is not even close to accurate, then PMd me a link to the exact site that I posted when attempting to explain to you the part I was bypassing. If you are familiar with the resonator, you would understand why so many bypass it. Schedule 40 PVC is a very viable substitute in this application. Done properly, it will outlast the baffle material used in the factory resonator which never should have been designed into any of the 951 powered machines. PVC has been used in many nonstandard PWC applications over the years and I personally trust it's integrity in an exhaust that uses water. If it fails due to lack of water, it won't be the only thing that fails.

Now, if you want to poke fun at my mistake in missing the PVC cement on the one exhaust joint that separated, by all means do so. It was a human mistake and one of the many that I have been witness to out of the hundreds of Seadoo watercraft that I have serviced over the years.

I admit, if there were an OEM option that didn't require the use of the resonator, I would be thrilled to use it, regardless of cost. As I stated earlier, it appears that I may be able to use the OEM hose and exhaust outlet from the 98XPL, but even that isn't verified yet.

I tried to PM this information to you in a reply, but it appears that either your mailbox is full, or you are not accepting PMs from me. I hope you understand where I am coming from.

 

[smc0922]

Stop right here. What are the compressions? Over 120? Run it.

 

[OldSchool]

Stop right here. What are the compressions? Over 120? Run it.

Both exactly 130. Which I remember being normal, but this was an SBT engine from 99, which required carb changes and such that I needed to do. Whoever replaced the engine never had it right so it is actually fresh. Well it was until it swallowed H20. I never serviced the post 97.5 production year machines, but read the the compression was a little higher on those.

 

[donkey]

as far as using a hose from a 98xpl,good luck,i looked for a long time,then switched n went to the 99xpl exhaust,with the resonator,lost performance and went to a pvc bypass also,just to get rid of the resonator part.been on the ski now for 1/2 of last summer n 5 trips this season,so far so good.
at 130comp. id be running it.

 

[OldSchool]

Well.. I replaced some gaskets after drying it out, lubricating and checking out the exhaust. Back in the water she goes.

Just give me 10 hours baby.... I promise I will build you right this fall if you don't leave junior stranded, waiting for me to find him. Seems to be running just fine. I know I have seen machines run a long time on ingested motors, but the 951 is just a little sensitive.

Just a few more weeks

 

[OldSchool]

as far as using a hose from a 98xpl,good luck,i looked for a long time,then switched n went to the 99xpl exhaust,with the resonator,lost performance and went to a pvc bypass also,just to get rid of the resonator part.been on the ski now for 1/2 of last summer n 5 trips this season,so far so good.
at 130comp. id be running it.

I am trusting the PVC quite well. Oh man I wish I would not have missed that one joint with the cement though. With that Ski, it used 3x45 and a 3" piece of straight to match up perfectly with the outlet, while keeping the rubber hose nice in line. We actually used to use the stuff all the time on aftermarket jobs and there were kits that literally came with PVC as part of their install. Nice XP BTW