What is it worth??? 96 gtx

[SEA-MONSTER]

I am looking at a project ski,(of course) it is a 96 GTX It need a engine (seized) and of course fuel lines, carbs rebuilt, pump service and I would do the thru the hull shaft fitting. It is complete and the body is filthy but in good shape, a few scratches on the hood but nothing bad, and the gauges look clear, there is no trailer. The seller wants $400.00 Bottom line ...IT NEEDS A TOTAL RESTORATION!.......What is it worth? Opinions please. PS this is a salt water ski.

 

[Matt Braley]

It's worth free-$400. He is on the high end and salt water is horrible!! Bolts snap off, nothing goes smoothly. I wouldn't even consider $200 unless the MPEM fires up and works those gauges with a hot battery in it.

 

[xcellr8]

It's worth free-$400. He is on the high end and salt water is horrible!! Bolts snap off, nothing goes smoothly. I wouldn't even consider $200 unless the MPEM fires up and works those gauges with a hot battery in it.

exactly....its worth what someone will give him....hard to tell how bad it is without tearing it apart and checking motor. If its too far gone you will either be parting out to get your money back, or have as much money dumped into it if not more then you would have if you would have bought a good one in good shape, not including all your time, and does he have the ownership with it

 

[xcellr8]

and I would also ask how long its been sitting seized for, especially being a saltwater ski
matt

 

[kicker]

If your looking to flip it, there will be no money to be made, especially if you throw your time in the equation. If the intent is to keep it and use it for a few years it might be worth restoring.

Fuel lines, selector, carb kits, oil lines, fuel float, o rings, jet pump service, gaskets, some electrical parts, etc, etc along with a couple minor cosmetic items (hydro turf, seat cover, or whatever you decide) will come to $500 minimum (thinking worst case scenario)

A rebuild will be 900-1300 with shipping depending if you do it your self. As long as it is a rebuild-able core.

End result will be $1800-2200 investment and probably 20-25 hrs of wrenching.

Not worth doing if you want to sell it, but for a $2000 ish investment it would be a good ski with a warrantied motor that should be trouble free for a bunch of years.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

I've paid $400 for better condition ski's, and $400 for similar condition. So in general it's about right, assuming the MPEM is good, if its not, its a bad buy.

MPEM and Core motor are worth $320-$400 on their own, not to mention misc. So you realistically can't lose money on your investment even if you decided to give up and part it out, the worst that happens is you break even after fee's and a lot of wasted time.

The rest is up to you, your mechanical ability, and your willingness to invest time/effort.

By the time you look at rebuild, assorted issues like cables, battery,labor,carb rebuild, pump rebuild, and unknowns, you can very quickly be in the hole about $1800 on a $1600 ski, but it will be in good shape and probably under warranty at that point.

for a personal use purchase, and doing most of your own labor its a good investment but not a great one.

As a flip its a terrible investment unless you have enough parts laying around to Frankenstein an engine and you've done this before.

You probably wouldn't be asking if you had a pile of spare parts for a rebuild and this isn't your first rodeo. so I guess that goes w/o being said.

edit: kicker was posting as I was typing... we're pretty much on the same page, and he pointed out some assorted items that I missed in my haste (lines, mats, vinyl)

 

[kicker]

I've paid $400 for better condition ski's, and $400 for similar condition. So in general it's about right, assuming the MPEM is good, if its not, its a bad buy.

MPEM and Core motor are worth $320-$400 on their own, not to mention misc. So you realistically can't lose money on your investment even if you decided to give up and part it out, the worst that happens is you break even after fee's and a lot of wasted time.

The rest is up to you, your mechanical ability, and your willingness to invest time/effort.

By the time you look at rebuild, assorted issues like cables, battery,labor,carb rebuild, pump rebuild, and unknowns, you can very quickly be in the hole about $1800 on a $1600 ski, but it will be in good shape and probably under warranty at that point.

for a personal use purchase, and doing most of your own labor its a good investment but not a great one.

As a flip its a terrible investment unless you have enough parts laying around to Frankenstein an engine and you've done this before.

You probably wouldn't be asking if you had a pile of spare parts for a rebuild and this isn't your first rodeo. so I guess that goes w/o being said.

edit: kicker was posting as I was typing... we're pretty much on the same page, and he pointed out some assorted items that I missed in my haste (lines, mats, vinyl)

Too funny, you know your on the forum to much and have done a bit of wrenching when 2 answers get posted almost identical. I forgot about the MPEM though. Your right......its a deal breaker. Its the nickle and dime stuff that gets forgotton and kills the budget on these projects too. I always count on minimum $500

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Too funny, you know your on the forum to much and have done a bit of wrenching when 2 answers get posted almost identical. I forgot about the MPEM though. Your right......its a deal breaker. Its the nickle and dime stuff that gets forgotton and kills the budget on these projects too. I always count on minimum $500

LOL.
It comes with experience...
I've been the money man on about 15 flips, and $500 seems about right.
sometimes its just take off the carb's and clean them (once) usually its a plethora of things adding up to $4-600, sometimes its a dam nightmare. (once)
But in the end $500 is a good round figure to use as a baseline.

when I was looking daily for $2-400 projects, the MPEM was always the key (no pun intended) for me, good MPEM meant that most of the time the worst thing that would happen is you part it out and break even, and have a bunch of misc left over parts for the next project.

 

[LouDoo]

Personally I prefer to spend a little more and get what I call a diamond in the rough. By that I mean a running ski, that is fairly sound mechanically but could use some TLC, maybe in the 600-800 dollar range. They're out there it just requires some patience. I bought my 96GSX a couple of years ago for $800.00, had 76 hours, good compression, but ran like crap. Bad rectifier, cleaned and over hauled fuel system, buffed out the finish, new seat cover and mats. Probably 300-400 in materials and parts. It's now my favorite ski. BTW I have never made any money on ski's I like to buy not sell.

Lou

 

[Spimothy Leary]

Personally I prefer to spend a little more and get what I call a diamond in the rough. By that I mean a running ski, that is fairly sound mechanically but could use some TLC, maybe in the 600-800 dollar range. They're out there it just requires some patience. I bought my 96GSX a couple of years ago for $800.00, had 76 hours, good compression, but ran like crap. Bad rectifier, cleaned and over hauled fuel system, buffed out the finish, new seat cover and mats. Probably 300-400 in materials and parts. It's now my favorite ski. BTW I have never made any money on ski's I like to buy not sell.

Lou

you may find this crazy to believe... But i've only lost money on One, (out of 15ish)
That was my Yamaha xl760 (paid 1K for ski + 1K in repairs over 2 year period, sold for $1400) so I lost $600 but I put 185 hours on it during that time.

 

[xcellr8]

a salt water ski that is seized and sitting for who knows how long....id rather replace a mpem anyday on a motor that rolls over with good compression in good shape..mpem is pretty easy to remove and replace,and can get them for fair price on fleabay or from members on here..compared to remove engine not knowing what your getting into, disassembly, new crank and components, top end, and many other small things and labour and down time, mpem is cheaper then a new motor....jmo
matt