My new 96 XP project

[Major Woody]

Gelcoat repair on bottom of ski is now done other than needing a bit of color sanding to blend into existing.
Materials used: Gelcoat from Fibreglast.com, tinted to RAL 1018, Duratec High Gloss Clear, and MEK-P catalyst. Gun used: cheap 2.4 tip HVLP primer gun ordered online, 40 PSI.
Mix gelcoat and Duratec 50-50 and then add 2% catalyst. You have about 15 minutes to spray. Surface was sanded to 150 except in the area to be blended (320 there). The color match is quite close. The photos make it look worse than it actually is. If this was in a highly visible part of the ski, I would cover all surfaces though.



This stuff is EASY to spray and requires no sanding or buffing afterward at all. Very high gloss and excellent build.





Honestly I don't understand why anyone with $30 for a cheap HVLP gun, access to a compressor and an indoor spot to spray would roll on gelcoat and then spend an eternity sanding and buffing it when you could just spray it and be done.

 

[mikidymac]

Wow, that looks really nice!
After seeing this I am kind of sorry I did base and clear on the bottom of my superjet.

 

[Major Woody]

Frustrating night. Got the hood on and went to put the battery in place and hook it up...look closely...hmmm, something is not right. The positive post is forward and the negative post is in the back. This was a brand new AGM battery that the PO bought. Obviously he bought a size 16 and should have bought a 16L. He must have hooked it up backwards, which would explain the very fried MPEM. I am thinking there is a good chance he cooked the CDI. The battery is in new condition and is a nice one. By turning the battery around so the terminals are next to the hull and re-routing the positive cable, it reaches okay. But the big negative ground wire is too short and can't be re-routed. I will need to make up a short extension wire and use it until this battery is ready for replacement.
I'm guessing I should just hook everything up, see if I get the beeps with the lanyard in, and see if I get spark. Will I get two beeps if the CDI is cooked?

 

[Major Woody]

A few more pics of the reassembly. Pretty good paint match on the hood, which used to be teal.

I replaced the front bumper, the grab handle, and the rear corner pieces. The originals were beat to hell, and the grab handle was actually broken. The rear corner pieces that I bought from eBay were faded but not gouged up. The grab handle was not rubber but was one of the later plastic ones, which is what I was looking for. I had to repair a shallow gouge in it, which I did with autobody spot putty before wetsanding. Both the grab handle and the rear corner pieces got recoated in satin black. They look excellent, nearly flawless, and the sheen is the same as original.







Made up an extension for the battery ground. That goes in tonight.

 

[emspjay]

Looks great! Amazing transformation!

 

[Major Woody]

Yesterday was a good day. Rolled the ski out into the sunshine and connected the battery. Tested my rewired VTS which works perfectly with the relay and circuit breaker mod. Tried to put the lid on but the gasket fought me. It was all stretched out from being down in the bilge with the grease for years. The Internet says that often gaskets swell up for this reason and that boiling them often forces out the grease and shrinks the gasket. So I tried it and it worked. A little glycerine as lube was needed but it's definitely watertight now.

Pulled the plugs, fogged the cylinders, bled the oil injection pump, and put the key on. Two very faint beeps, almost inadible. But all the lights on the gauge did what they were supposed to do!

With the fuel off, held open the oil pump and bled the small lines. Then put turned the fuel on and cranked it...for a while to get the carbs primed, then put the plugs in...and it ran! I was not sure about the CDI, since the PO had hooked up the battery backward. So that was good. Lots of awesome smoke drifted across the neighborhood, almost as though God himself had come down from on high through the clouds of blue to bless my efforts this winter. The idle was high...way too high. When I rebuilt the carbs, I thought I had set the idle speed screw in the right spot. But apparently NOT. Oh man, that idle speed screw is HARD to find. Eventually got the idle reset by ear to a reasonable speed. It idles smoothly. Readjusted the oil pump. Ready to take it on down to the water to get the idle exactly where I want it, make sure the low speed screws are where they ought to be, adjust the RAVE valves and make sure there aren't any leaks or weird noises.

Here are some pics! Pretty stoked, considering what a turd this was and how many people had done bad shadetree mechanic work on it over the years. I appreciate all the people who supplied parts, advice and encouragement.




Bottom looks nearly new!








The dude abides!






And here are the towing valve and inlet water filter I added.

 

[GGuillot]

Nice!! where'd you get the shut off valve coming from the pump before the water valve on the muffler?

 

[emspjay]

Nice!! where'd you get the shut off valve coming from the pump before the water valve on the muffler?

Yep 1+ on that. The ski looks amazing and I love the dude sticker where the old emblem was!!

 

[Major Woody]

Nice!! where'd you get the shut off valve coming from the pump before the water valve on the muffler?

Ebay. Half inch barb shut off valve, sorted by cheapest first. Several suppliers of the exact same thing. I doubt the hose clamps were really necessary but used them anyway.

 

[Major Woody]

Over the weekend we got some unseasonably warm weather--mid 80s so I took the XP out for its maiden voyage. Other than the idle being a hair low, it ran like a scalded cat! Lots of power and absolutely no mechanical issues at all. Tons of fun and big air!

 

[etemplet]

SCHWEET !!!!

 

[emspjay]

Awesome!! Great work! Glad it to hear it runs as good as it looks!!

 

[Major Woody]

Sad update.

We took this ski and my GSX out for a long vacation the week before Labor Day. For four days both skis ran great and we had an absolute blast at the lake. On the last day as we were headed to the dock to pull the skis out and head home, we had a bit of time to kill so we were out jumping wakes about 300' from the boat ramp. I was on my GSX and my godson was on the XP. I lost sight of him for a moment as I lined up for a set of waves, and at the last second he is in the middle of a right turn, right in front of me. Like RIGHT in front of me. I hit him broadside at maybe 25-30 mph. Fortunately he was turning away from me so the point of impact was to the center bottom of the keel, right under the engine. It was definitely the most violent thing I have ever experienced. He was thrown clear but the handlebars were in the way of my forward motion and I hit them with my knees hard enough to break the whole steering assembly. I landed 15-20' away.

The nose of the GSX was crushed and the XP was sinking because of a huge hole in the bottom of the hull. A guy was on his boat at the nearby ramp and quickly came out and towed the XP in before it completely sank. By the time we got it to the dock three minutes later, only the forward third of the ski was above water.

The impact ripped the engine free from two of its three mounts, tore off all the oil lines and sent the engine upward about six inches--far enough to break the seat pan and knock the seat off. Of course I had a nearly half full tank of oil which drained into the hull and then into the lake. As if that wasn't bad enough, the intertia of the impact also allowed the oil tank in the GSX to slide forward under its rubber straps--far enough to pull the oil lines off the bottom of the tank. A nearly full tank of XPS oil then drained into the GSX hull as well.

I don't want to talk much about why or how the collision happened. He has his boater safety card and I have ridden with him for a long time and always felt like he rode carefully, looking before turning etc. He inexplicably turned right in front of me but he did it from my right, and I should have known where he was. It goes without saying that I could have seriously injured or killed my godson in this incident yet he wasn't hurt, and somehow I managed not to break both legs or do any permanent damage to my knees. Possessions can be replaced, but people cannot. I cannot imagine injuring him. For the next week or so, I was pretty shaken and not sure if I had it in me to continue in this sport.

Anyway the reason I am posting this is that I will need some guidance on the rebuild. I found another nice hull, engine mounts, and the other parts I need to fix the XP other than the impeller shaft (bent) and a scoop grate (destroyed). I was too badly injured to pull the engine apart for about two weeks and by then the crank bearings were toast. I found some other issues during the engine teardown which I will need some guidance on dealing with. I am looking at what I guess I would call a "limited rebuild" and I want to get that process started now because of the lead time the shops need.

I am determined to repair both of these skis and have them back on the water by next season. The XP will be better than before with a rebuilt engine, aftermarket sponsons and a better seat cover, and I will certainly be an even more cautious rider than ever.

More to come.

 

[GGuillot]

Unfortunate to hear, glad you're ok. Sometimes I prefer to ride alone and do most of the time because I fear this situation happening, I'm never fully relaxed when someone goes out with me riding on another ski. When I have a buddy ride one of my skis, or one of my sons I know accidents and the unexpected can happen.

So....just like in the Army before going out on a convoy, at the dock when we launch I go over everything, who has the tow rope, if you fall off, if it flips, idle zones, hazards on the water, low lying areas, and most of all how to avoid collision when riding abreast, using signals and anticipating moves. I irritate my boys every time with the safety talk, but I don't care.

 

[Major Woody]

Update time!

Replaced the hull over the fall and winter and have it mostly reassembled. Other than the engine and the seat, it is more or less repaired. You can see the collision damage to the nose of the GSX...that is next.





The engine ingested water through the carbs before I could get it to shore--the ski nearly sank and was almost completely underwater by the time we got it to shore. The collision broke the engine mounts, tore off the oil lines and bent the impeller shaft, so the engine could not be run to dry it out. After about a week and after my injuries subsided to the point where I could walk and stand, I pulled the engine out and tore it apart. Unsurprisingly, it was full of water.

The crank bearings are water damaged. It will need a new crank. The crank was SBT (welded). I am told these welded cranks cannot be rebuilt, so I have no core and will need a new crank.

The RV area is pristine and the counterbalancer is very good.

The jugs were +1 overbore and are scored--unrelated to the accident or the water ingestion. On one cylinder, the casting is cracked around the liner and rust is present. On the other cylinder, the scoring is quite pronounced and there is evidence of welding repairs at the top of the cylinder. Did SBT assemble the engine with these messed up jugs? Probably but who knows. Anyway I think it would be better to try to find good used standard bore cylinders that just need a hone, and start over with new top end kit.




****Do any of you have good used jugs to sell me?****

Thank you everyone!

 

[mikidymac]

Check with Westside Powersports Seadoo for used cylinders.

SBT will take used SBT cranks as cores, just nobody else will.