dgoodwin10
Active Member
This won't be a very tech-heavy thread, but I did want to show what a blank canvas the GTIs are and what some elbow grease can get you.
I bought this 99 GTI from a friend that ran when parked for dirt cheap. The ski is all original and has never had a wrench turned on it. Mechanically, all the ski needed was the typical carb rebuild, fuel lines, etc. Genuine Mikuni kits were used in the carbs and fuel lines came from fuel-line.com. All parts came from Nick at Westside Powersports or OSD Marine.
Here it is the day I brought it home:
After a few hours removing decals and buffing, the ski was cleaning up great. A heat gun was used for decal removal and a Harbor Freight DA polisher was used for buffing duty. I followed Jetskigoodies thread using various grits of Mother's compounds. The ski was cleaning up well, but the yellow and purple wasn't cutting it.
I've always thought the 2000 and 2001 white and blue GTXs looked awesome ( I restored my 97 GTX to look like one), so I made a trip down to my favorite salvage yard (that has now been closed and property cleaned up) to grab a hood and other random goodies. It was sketchy to say the least.
And yeah, they had stuff. LOTS of it.
New GTX hood installed.
Here is a closeup of 'before'. The hand painted letters took some time to get off. The buckets are the rig I use to drain gas out of Seadoos. It's nothing more than a bucket with an inline fuel filter and a cheap fuel pump. Works like a charm.
Part of the 00-01 GTXs charm is the trim pieces on the hood and hull. Using existing holes for reference, some painters tape and a paint pen, I transferred the hole locations onto the hull and drilled them out.
Knee pad painted to match and Blacktip seat cover and traction mats installed. A note on these covers, they are fine for the Black Friday price and are adequate for a flipper ski or a tight budget. If you're going full restoration, spend the money and get a quality cover.
Oh, and my long travel Rhino 686.
And the finished product. I had a local company custom cut the registration letters for me.
Since the color on this ski is limited to the hood and seat, you really can make this ski your own. The 717 has plenty of power to be fun and will last long time.
Feel free to ask any questions!
I bought this 99 GTI from a friend that ran when parked for dirt cheap. The ski is all original and has never had a wrench turned on it. Mechanically, all the ski needed was the typical carb rebuild, fuel lines, etc. Genuine Mikuni kits were used in the carbs and fuel lines came from fuel-line.com. All parts came from Nick at Westside Powersports or OSD Marine.
Here it is the day I brought it home:
After a few hours removing decals and buffing, the ski was cleaning up great. A heat gun was used for decal removal and a Harbor Freight DA polisher was used for buffing duty. I followed Jetskigoodies thread using various grits of Mother's compounds. The ski was cleaning up well, but the yellow and purple wasn't cutting it.
I've always thought the 2000 and 2001 white and blue GTXs looked awesome ( I restored my 97 GTX to look like one), so I made a trip down to my favorite salvage yard (that has now been closed and property cleaned up) to grab a hood and other random goodies. It was sketchy to say the least.
And yeah, they had stuff. LOTS of it.
New GTX hood installed.
Here is a closeup of 'before'. The hand painted letters took some time to get off. The buckets are the rig I use to drain gas out of Seadoos. It's nothing more than a bucket with an inline fuel filter and a cheap fuel pump. Works like a charm.
Part of the 00-01 GTXs charm is the trim pieces on the hood and hull. Using existing holes for reference, some painters tape and a paint pen, I transferred the hole locations onto the hull and drilled them out.
Knee pad painted to match and Blacktip seat cover and traction mats installed. A note on these covers, they are fine for the Black Friday price and are adequate for a flipper ski or a tight budget. If you're going full restoration, spend the money and get a quality cover.
Oh, and my long travel Rhino 686.
And the finished product. I had a local company custom cut the registration letters for me.
Since the color on this ski is limited to the hood and seat, you really can make this ski your own. The 717 has plenty of power to be fun and will last long time.
Feel free to ask any questions!
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