RESTO Semi-Resto

[Reardon41]

97 GSX Resto

hey guys! Bare with me here i'm new to the forum and since i decided to start documenting my little project i figured i would post some stuff. So i have a 97 gsx, nothing really wrong with it, i started this project mainly to clean the inside of the hull and all the components. Now I've turned it into a semi-resto (ocd kicked in) lmao. Anyways i started pulling everything out the ski and cleaning, i apologize for the lack of pics when i was removing everything it wasn't till i had everything out that i realized i should be documenting it more.


The day i got her last spring!


Next day went out for a little with some buddies.



After testing it out i knew i had to do a few things like fuel lines, Rebuilt carbs, RV cleaning, service the jet pup, few other things i cant remember of the top of my head. Also got rid of the stock airbox an put some R&D filters on.

After servicing everything i went on to have a great summer lol. i fell in love with the gsx






The seat ended up ripping so i taped it up for the remainder of the year (gorilla tape FTW) lmao


Made my own finger throttle from an old bike brake lever


And then there's this creature...

 

[racerxxx]

Welcome aboard some nice skis there. As far as the last pic, yeah those old Yamahas sure were creatures, LOL

That one pic or your GSX alone with the sunset is awesome man.

 

[Reardon41]

97 GSX Resto




Sorry for the unnecessary pics lol anyways, fall came quick so it was time to get her ready for winter. i made this little stand for her to sit on.

After thinking all winter if i actually wanted to go through with my plan i finally committed to it and started.
(again sorry for the lack of pics when i was removing everything)


Got the engine out!


Hull was pretty nasty.. lots of jetski poop especially under those black mats under the gas tank haha

Stripped her down completely to pressure wash the inside.

Started cleaning..WOW looks new expect the stains under those mats.



After all the cleaning i noticed that the gasket on the bottom of the jugs was slightly leaking (you can kind of see in the pic above) so i started to pull it apart and found the pto side piston had some scoring.. weird part is the cylinder wall didn't have any scoring (sorry i dont have a pic) little bit of surface rust but no scoring ...interesting anyways the other piston/cylinder looked great. i was surprised because this ski was 100% stock when i bought it. So i figured if i could find a OEM piston and rings that i could just replace that one side. I went down to the local seadoo dealer and ordered the parts, I actually was expecting them to be discontinued but luckily they weren't!



The flywheel looked good! cleaned up a bit and installed the oil blockoff.



While i waited for my parts to arrive i continued to clean things then decided to install "the trim fix".



Not sure why some of the pics are sideways. im new lol if anyone knows how to fix that just let me know.

 

[Reardon41]

After a few days my parts arrived! 1 new OEM piston and ring set, 2 c clips and new caged needle bearing.



Got the new piston on. I took my cylinders to a buddies shop to have him hone them out. (sorry no pic)


Finishing up the engine. Torquing down the head bolts. this is as far as i got so far, still have a little cleaning to do and waiting for the weather to warm up a little bit and then its time to paint this bad boy
Stay tuned for more updates! also if anyone has any questions or anything feel free to ask thanks guys!

 

[Reardon41]

Welcome aboard some nice skis there. As far as the last pic, yeah those old Yamahas sure were creatures, LOL

That one pic or your GSX alone with the sunset is awesome man.

Thanks man! I love that picture. yea we have a pretty good group of skis lots of variety from yamis to polaris to kawasaki and of course lots of seadoooos lol. That little yami is a puss but its fun to ride lol my buddy loves it he restored it and now the thing is mint! so clean and runs great, very reliable and great on gas. Funny story about that ski too, after his rebuild he went to fire it up and BOOOOM!! Sounded like a bomb went off! the water box blew apart due to a little mouse nest inside from it sitting so long lol crazy stuff.. so he put a tdr waterbox in and now it sounds cool lmao

 

[Reardon41]

Also if anyone has any pointers for me as a new user that would awesome! lmao i know im a noob. i noticed my pics are small and you have to click them to blow them up. other people already have big pictures and the tags people have under what they write on the post to their other posts or there skis. i thought i put up a dam profile pic but it only shows when i click my profile lol im just a little confused on how to make a good profile any help is appriected!

 

[jammin777]

nice ski, brings back memories of the one i had that i bought brand new. loved that ski

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Re: the pics, use a photo hosting site like Photobucket. Basically create an account (free), the copy your images over there, and then you can choose to click a link, it will say

 

[92rslt1]

Stupid question, but how stable is the gsx at idle compared to the xp skis? I have ridden the older xp and the limited xp ski and the wife hated them for how easy they dunk you. The gsx appears wider and once I fix mine I hope it will be ok. Even with my son on my xpl with me, if he sneezed we were going in.

where we launch sometimes there is long lines when loading up at the end of the day and as you can imagine idling in line, in a canal, while boats pass both directions isn't fun on a xpl.

 

[Reardon41]

Stupid question, but how stable is the gsx at idle compared to the xp skis? I have ridden the older xp and the limited xp ski and the wife hated them for how easy they dunk you. The gsx appears wider and once I fix mine I hope it will be ok. Even with my son on my xpl with me, if he sneezed we were going in.

where we launch sometimes there is long lines when loading up at the end of the day and as you can imagine idling in line, in a canal, while boats pass both directions isn't fun on a xpl.

Way more stable lol. The x4 body are super tippy but the gsx is alot better, dont get me wrong you can definitely still tip but it woild take both of you leaning to one side to much. You as the "driver" should be able to counter balance it anyway.

 

[Reardon41]

**UPDATE**

So i decided to buff the hull and restore the colors. I bought this Hula boat care 3 step gel coat restoration kit.


This stuff worked amazing considering i didnt wet sand as much as i should have. I did a little wet sanding before i put away for winter but i didnt start with course paper. I think i did 1000 grit and then 2000. It worked alright but definitely should have started lower. The red came out great, looks brand new but the white was really tough in some spots where old decals or stickers were, it took ALOT of buffing. Im pretty happy with it but i may try and re sand an buff where the old reg numbers were, its very cream colored around that area.




I also found this and was a little scared at first but after further investigating, I determined it is just cracking in the gelcoat because it is still very strong. I tried to put pressure around the areas and i couldn't make the cracks thinner or bigger. So im just going to seal it a little with some silicone or something.


Had some perfect painting days weather wise so i went for it. Dont mind my way of hanging the engine lmao, it worked great btw.

Layed some primer down.

So i wanted to do the metallic red to match the ski (deff would have done the scheme different if i had that color). But at the local store they had a sale on the VHT engine enamel and of course all out of red so i went with the burnt copper and black for other parts. After i painted it all copper color it looked great but i got a little bored and my inner Picasso kicked in lol and this happened. I guess it came out pretty cool but not what i originally wanted so this will do.


Btw this copper color is super sparkly. It looks a little dull in some pictures but it looks awesome in the sunlight!

You can see a little chip in the original paint underneath that i missed but oh well.

Then after that was all done i started on my jet pump rebuild.


It was pretty easy, i replaced everything but the impeller and the shaft. Once i got it back together i was a little nervous because the impeller would graze the wear ring in in 2 spots. A few guys on here told me its fairly normal and should shave down a little when i run it, so thats a little relief because i knew i had put it together right.

Hydro turf showed up!

I will have another update soon. Just have a few other little things to do and then i start putting everything back in her!

 

[nitr0genics]

LOVE that burnt copper colour not sold on the black yet though, it looks funky but looks a lil "theres a hole in the case and oil pissing everywhere" LOL

making me want to pull my block now! not found any of that colour anywhere in the UK in stock yet though, just as well, I'd probably paint everything I own

nice work!!

 

[WhiskeyD]

LOVE that burnt copper colour not sold on the black yet though, it looks funky but looks a lil "theres a hole in the case and oil pissing everywhere" LOL

Exactly what I thought haha. Love the orange though!

 

[Reardon41]

Haha i guess it does look like oil. I can assure you theres no holes lmao.