Challenger 4tec Upgrade

[Mekanix]

How about a seperate alternator run off the pto?
Just add a pully to the pto and fab a bracket.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Barely any room back there as is. Besides I'm okay with the system the way it is. I rarely go out for more than a few hours at a time,so recharging at home is not too bad. I just plug in a special plug into the cigarette lighter port and let it charge up. The days I go camping, I can just charge the deep cycle up a little while riding with the stereo off.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

BTW, here are pics of the dead rectifier

that black crud came out of the rectifier, and the wires would all pull out if I tugged on then

 

[snikwad003]

It literally took a shit

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Haha, ya, a big flaming shit! I have that new 32amp mosfet rectifier coming from Compufire. Hopefully it'll be here this weekend.

Meanwhile, I can address the water refraction issue in the steering nozzle. The footage I took was not quite on plane, or maybe just barely planning.

I wonder, what if I bore out my steering nozzle? I have seen some that are not a nozzle at all, but rather a wide tube. What are the pros and cons of widening a steering nozzle?

 

[beerdart]

Steering nozzle should be a few mm larger then the exit nozzle. What does yours measure?

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Steering nozzle measures 86mm, while the reduction nozzle I bored to 84mm. I'll definitely be boring it out.

Is there a benefit to having the steering nozzle narrower? Why not just have them all bored really wide to ensure no additional resistance?

 

[Andy4k6]

If they were way too open you wouldn't get much thrust from the jet there would just be lots of water being pushed out.

Think of a garden Hose pipe, with nothing on the end lots of water comes out but with very little pressure, put your finger over the end and suddenly you have loads of pressure or in the case of a jet drive propulsion.

Andy

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

I mean the steering nozzles. The reduction nozzle has already speed up the flow

 

[beerdart]

Ill measure mine tonight but I think the steering is 10mm larger then the out.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

10mm? Wow. Somewhere I read it should be 6 or 7mm wider, elsewhere, I read 2 to 3mm. Looks like the RXP stock had a 3mm difference, as the reduction nozzle should be 83mm and the steering is at 86mm

 

[beerdart]

Not sure why I remember 10mm but I was way off my 07 215 Speedster exit nozzle 84mm and steering 86mm.

 

[beerdart]

 

[beerdart]

OK just measured my race ski and it is 82mm exit and 92mm steering. I knew that 10 rang a bell. Note the ski has trim with auto drop.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Wow, 92? Damn. What motor in the race ski?

 

[beerdart]

Triple piped Polaris 785. She is pushing approx 160HP. In a SLT hull @ 425lbs.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Yea [MENTION=83161]beerdart[/MENTION], that looks like a whole lot of fun. Does it spin around like a stock X4, or do you have the rails bolted on? I've been trying to perfect the true 360 (where your nose ends up pointing in the same direction) It's fun as hell, but I'm still too much a wimp to cut it full throttle, and that's about what you have to do.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

[MENTION=82130]snikwad003[/MENTION] Thanks for that trailer light schematic. I finally got the relays wired up. They work like a charm. Looks like a miniature bomb when you take the lid off lol

 

[snikwad003]

No problem dude. You need to post a pic of your relay can.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Update: got the new rectifier/regulator in. It's a nice, beefy unit. Heavy and seemingly very durable. Rated for 32A, it should be able to take the full brunt of what my stator has to throw at it. I need to think of a new place to mount it, where it can both breathe, and not catch anything on fire. The most optimal place would be in the air intake tube, but it's plastic, and if I ever have a repeat of what happened with the other rectifier, I'll melt the tube. At least I'll be able to smell it quicker.

I also bought two small voltmeters. Debating on where to install them. Thinking of the steering wheel, as they're about the size of a half dollar each. I want them where I can always see them. Going to have one for each of the battery systems.

Going to also install the new depth finder I got from my folks for our 1-yr anniversary. That should help keep my marriage off the rocks. Going to mount it where the fuel gauge used to be, above the steering wheel. This will necessitate me moving my vts gauge to the space above the cup holder. It's a less visible spot, but VTS is way less vital than depth. Oh, I just picked up a pretty mind 95xp with a perfect VTS and gauge. It's dead accurate and works perfectly. Going to swap it

Lastly, I need to bore out the steering nozzle and see if that releives some of that backpressure. I'm wasting a bunch of power on pressure washing my transom every time I ride.

I have a few days while I wait on GTI parts. Should get most of this done by then.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

No problem dude. You need to post a pic of your relay can.View attachment 36500

It's ugly, but it works

Best part is I didn't have to run a fused wire from the batt. Vw was kind and thoughtful enough to provide a dedicated auxiliary plug in the trunk. I just tapped into that and VOILA, fused power.

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

Tested the new rectifier. Got around 13v at idle, then 14.5 at 5k rpm. Proceeding to mount it in the plastic air intake tunnels. Going to put it on the port side where I don't have the Styrofoam block that can catch on fire. In the event it fails, molten plastic can rain down onto the 5/8in thick fiberglass that forms the bottom of the boat and interfaces with water. I should be able to smell it long before that. Besides, I'll have the volt meters and instrument cluster to warn me of any trouble.

 

[wfo speedracer]

I was going to say that on a 4tec it is mounted in the air intake, you might also consider mounting it in some kid of plastic box with a 12v computer fan blowing on it, anything to dissipate the heat

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

I thought about putting in a little fan, but deemed it too much trouble. This is a better unit than even the oem, which, until my blatant abuse was doing just fine baking in the heat soaked engine bay. This unit, being in the air intake duct will have air moving past it every time the engine is running. Besides those fans are not water proof, and I'd have to come up with a way to make it run while the engine is running. Too much trouble for little gain. I think getting it out of that engine bay is the biggest improvement aside from moving it away from the fuel tank lol

 

[IDoSeaDoo]

So I finished relocating the rectifier and running the wiring. Had to pull it and sheath it in different parts of the loom but the lengths worked out perfectly. Here it is in its new happy home

Having finished that I moved on to the very troubling inability of my boat to pump fuel when it gets below 1/3 full. I thought that maybe the baffle was losing it too fast somehow. When I opened it up though, I found the opposite problem. It couldn't fill itself fast enough. I checked the fuel pressure and got a prefect 45psi every time. I pulled the pump and attached a length of hose to the end. With it plugged in, I attached the key and watched it pump fuel at various levels of submersion. At 1/3, it was barely sputtering.

So I took off the two fuel strainers.

There is one inside and outside the baffle. They were both hopelessly clogged. I don't know how the boat ran as good as it did. The strainers held water!
Jetski plus had them both for 20$. They're on their way.