RESTO 1997 Seadoo Spx Restore/ Rebuild

[manolocross]

I don't have that much time to run a thread... I love them though! I have been following all of them on here!! I have done a lot of work to it. I have never rode it YET... I did put in a new prop and wear ring, rebuild carbs, change fuel lines, change oil filter and oil. Now runnin xps2. Put on a new head pipe because of leak on weld. Fuel guage and vts work! Got a new AGM battery for it. The seat is a hump seat from a 95 Xp 800. Some guy walked in my shop with it and I freaked and bought it. Problem is I did not even have the ski yet! So I had to buy the ski for the seat! Lol hey stovetop this is to give you some inspiration!!!

 

[stovetop19]

Ok just wanted to show you my new to 97 spx. I do all the work myself and its almost ready!!!

Wow!! that thing is so clean!!! I really like it man!:thumbsup:

 

[stovetop19]

Well since i had garage space last night to work, i took full advantage of it and stayed up till about 4 am to push this thing to running condition for this weekend. Getting really close!!

First I rebuilt the pump and replaced the wear ring, had to replace the little wimpy vise i broke with a manly one so I splurged a little and got the best one lowes had haha

Didnt have a blade for my electric saw, and i was determined to get it done, so i carefully pursuaded the wear ring out with some screwdrivers and a hammer

 

[stovetop19]

Once i got the wear ring out, i replaced the bearings just to make sure I wouldnt have to worry about that later.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

I see you got the Bessey vice. I broke one exactly like that when I was trying to get the impeller off my boat's pump. It was so stuck on there, I had to take it to a weld shop where a guy locked it in his old US-made steel (not cast iron) vice, heated it w/ acetylene and used a 3' breaker bar on the thing. The wear ring was running down the pump in the end it was so hot. But yea, that vice isn't the toughest ever. I broke the jaw clean off with only a 1.5' breaker bar :/ I was sort-of standing on the end of it tho...

I completely understand your excitement to get it done by the weekend, but take your time to double check your work. People tend to make mistakes when they're tired. Once, I forgot to re-attach the main cooling hose when doing some pump work late into the night in an attempt to have it ready for the beach the next day. Damn near fried my motor and ruined the whole trip!

 

[stovetop19]

Pump continued.....

Made sure to use the special tool to get bearings pressed in to proper depth!

 

[stovetop19]

Then I went to work on getting the new engine assembled and prepped to put it. Had to do this alone since i was at home and no one was around, and im sore today since i dont have a hoist at home so i had to lift and set the engine in the hull really slow and carefully and try not to hurt myself in the process haha by this point it was like 1 am and i didnt think to take as many pictures. But I did align and shim the engine and got it mounted in the hull. Then since it was 3:30 am i stopped and hit the shower and got in bed, 7:00 am came quick this morning!

 

[stovetop19]

I see you got the Bessey vice. I broke one exactly like that when I was trying to get the impeller off my boat's pump. It was so stuck on there, I had to take it to a weld shop where a guy locked it in his old US-made steel (not cast iron) vice, heated it w/ acetylene and used a 3' breaker bar on the thing. The wear ring was running down the pump in the end it was so hot. But yea, that vice isn't the toughest ever. I broke the jaw clean off with only a 1.5' breaker bar :/ I was sort-of standing on the end of it tho...

I completely understand your excitement to get it done by the weekend, but take your time to double check your work. People tend to make mistakes when they're tired. Once, I forgot to re-attach the main cooling hose when doing some pump work late into the night in an attempt to have it ready for the beach the next day. Damn near fried my motor and ruined the whole trip!

Well luckily for me the impeller wasnt stuck that bad! haha thats crazy you broke yours though, cause it seems to be pretty stout! Yea, Im double checking all my work tonight for sure cause I was dog tired near the end of the job.

 

[manolocross]

Wow that new engine looks sweet in there!!! How did you lift and drop that in the ski alone? Holy crap!

 

[stovetop19]

Wow that new engine looks sweet in there!!! How did you lift and drop that in the ski alone? Holy crap!

Wasn't easy I can tell you that! Just lifted it up and set it down in there as careful as possible I guess. My next build (hint :drool5:hint) I will use a hoist or another person for sure!

 

[stovetop19]

Well as of today I have
- a couple lines to clamp down
- trouble shoot the beeper (dont think i'm getting power to it:banghead
- install the exhaust manifold
- install the carbs
- hook up the fuel lines
- cover the seat
- install the traction mats
- polish it up

and then I may be taking it to the lake tomorrow!! Wish me luck!

I just purchased the seadoo synthetic xps oil and a 5 gallon premix can, to get me prepared, as well. Oil aint cheap haha

 

[stovetop19]

Any of you guys who've done the handle bar pad swap from the newer style boats.... I found this on craigslist, any chance this one would could be used (with the modded brackets) on my spx?

http://dallas.craigslist.org/dal/boa/3727971432.html

 

[manolocross]

Yes that is the one that would work with modifications... Good luck !!! Let us know how it goes!!!

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

I'm pretty sure it would be cheaper buying one from [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] but I don't want to quote his prices. Send him a message

 

[stovetop19]

I'm pretty sure it would be cheaper buying one from [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] but I don't want to quote his prices. Send him a message

Yeah i've contacted him, I'll go with him more than likely!

 

[stovetop19]

Well stayed up late last night, and got up early this morning with a goal of lake testing it today. It need the cosmetics gone through still, but everything is bolted back up and I didnt even have any left over nuts or bolts!:thumbsup:

 

[stovetop19]

After everything was in, I drained the gas tank, and filled it up with new gas, turned it over till fuel pumped to the carbs and it fired right up! I quickly shut it off, grabbed my trunks and lifejacket and went to the lake! It ran great with no problems, I am soooo excited! rode it about and hour paying really close attention to everything as I ran it. No pics of the lake but there will be more pics as I really clean it up and cover the seat!

 

[manolocross]

Noooo.... Don't hook the straps to the rear bar!!! If you hit a good bump it will jus break it off!!! That's what the rear steel loop is for!!! But I'm glad to hear it ran great. Good job. I still have to water test mine! I can't wait!!!! Grrrrrr!

 

[stovetop19]

Noooo.... Don't hook the straps to the rear bar!!! If you hit a good bump it will jus break it off!!! That's what the rear steel loop is for!!! But I'm glad to hear it ran great. Good job. I still have to water test mine! I can't wait!!!! Grrrrrr!

Thanks for telling me! I didn't even think of that!!!!

 

[stovetop19]

Another long day, I've been repairing things for about 17 hours now, first work, then my gf's cars alternator went out, and finally (some me time) on to the new seat cover for the SPX!! It took me a couple of hours, it was my first try at a jetski seat re-cover, but i'm happy with how it turned out. It isn't perfect by any means, but it was done by my hands and make the spx that much more mine:cheers:

-Started with removing the old cover, strap, and ALL the staples.
-Then used some ductape to "smooth" out the noticeable bad spots in the foam and fill in the strap void
-then stapled the seat cover at 3,6,9, and 12 o'clock
-from there it was just pulling, stretching and stapling it all down
-Finally i cut off the excess and reattached the seat hardware

I'm goin to let it sit in the sun for a while tomorrow and hopefully that will help tighten it up a little bit more, but overall i think it looks good and its somuuuuch better than a half covered falling apart seat!

 

[stovetop19]

Seat pics continued

*added a pic with it on the boat

 

[manolocross]

Great job on the seat! It looks great. I don't mean to high jack you thread but since we are workin on same ski just want to show you how my ski is comin along. I just finished puttin on a fresh set of blacktip mats. Not bad for 40 bucks!!!

 

[stovetop19]

Great job on the seat! It looks great. I don't mean to high jack you thread but since we are workin on same ski just want to show you how my ski is comin along. I just finished puttin on a fresh set of blacktip mats. Not bad for 40 bucks!!!

No worries, post away!!! U might wanna start your own thread just so people really know its your boat and u get all the credit, but hey more views on my thread make me feel more popular haha:thumbsup:

Man you boat looks so cool!!! I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the rest of mine cosmetically, yours makes me wanna go with the yellow, white and black route for sure!!! Once I figure out the what im going to do with the hull, I've got black tip mats to install as well!

 

[Brian J]

I'm goin to let it sit in the sun for a while tomorrow and hopefully that will help tighten it up a little bit more, but overall i think it looks good and its somuuuuch better than a half covered falling apart seat!

Looks good, but letting it sit in the sun would expand the fabric not tighten it.

 

[stovetop19]

Looks good, but letting it sit in the sun would expand the fabric not tighten it.

Haha you know, I was wondering about that this morning as I was working on some customers boats. Oh well, the only thing that is buggin me at the moment with it is that the cover was folded for shipping and there are some slight creases, eventually they should go away. Thanks for the tip! I would have let it sit in the sun before i started working but considering it was about midnight last night when I got to stapling it, gotta get work done when you have the time right?! haha Thanks!! Theres always the next one:thumbsup: