New user with a 97 GSX

[Major Woody]

Hi folks!
As the title says, I just picked up a 97 GSX from its original owner. I paid $1300. This is my first ski.



The ski has 68 hours on it. I have all the service records since new. Other than yearly winterizes/dewinterizes and batteries, the ski did have a top end rebuild performed at the dealer about 15 hours ago during the summer of 2013. The owner says they were "zipping across the lake" when the ski made a noise and died. The compression test showed 145/30. It was bored and honed and oversize piston kit installed by the dealer. The cause of the failure was not indicated, but it would probably be reasonable to conclude that it was lubrication related. With such a sudden failure, it almost sounds like a piston broke. I wish I knew what they think caused it, but the service record is silent on that point. They must have inspected the oil pump and injectors as part of the rebuild, but I can't see that this was actually done. What should I do to verify that I don't have a time bomb here? I would rather not convert it to premix unless I have to, but I value others' opinions on this.

One sponson was damaged by an impact with a dock in 2012. It was replaced with a black one, so I have one purple and one black. I think I will paint them both black. I am not going to try to paint over the remaining purple parts. I thought about it, but have decided to leave things as they are.

I did test ride it when I bought it. It runs strong, pulls hard, accelerated smoothly. Top speed on slightly uneven water was 57 indicated. I think it would go a little faster on glass. I believe that is about as fast as this ski is supposed to go.

Compression is about 150 on both. I cannot see any damage to the impeller or the wear ring, and with 68 hours I would not expect the wear ring to be an issue.

The ski is very clean inside and out. It was never used on salt water. There is no corrosion on anything anywhere.







The mats are puckered up. I am ordering black/red Hydroturf after I receive my samples.



The fuel indicator stopped working in 2009. It seems highly unlikely that the problem is with the gauge. I know there is a test for that, but I can't find the thread. I presume there is a little piece of sender sitting in the bottom of the tank, waiting for me to retrieve it. I watched a video on YouTube showing how to open up the baffle and put the metal thing back on the float. Seems simple enough. As I understand it, with the 15 gallon tank on the GSX, the baffle needs to come out through the hole for the steering assembly. I can do that.

The start stop button needs to be replaced. I ordered one on ebay. It needs grips; I ordered those as well.

I have downloaded the shop manual.

 

[Major Woody]

Here is what I have been able to gather from reading old threads/posts:

1. The old gray fuel lines need to be replaced with 5/16" diameter fuel line, preferably fuel injection rated so it can stand up to ethanol. When I do that, I should clean the filters at the carbs as well. I see no reason to pull the carbs apart as the machine runs very well. Am I correct? How many feet of this line is required for a dual carb ski? Fuel line is expensive; I don't want to order more than I need. I would like to order it before I tear into the ski.

2. Since I am repairing the fuel sender, that would be the time to replace the fuel lines. I tried to remove the fuel selector knob but it is not giving up its grip on the shaft. Any tips on how to get it off without messing it up? Not much clearance between the knob and the bezel it is recessed in. No flat surfaces on it to grip on either.

3. I see oil lines and what appears to be an oil filter. Should I replace the large diameter oil lines? They are original but they do look ok despite being 18 years old. Should I replace the filter?

4. Is an aftermarket fuel filter recommended, ahead of the carbs?

5. I do need a new cover; the factory cover has seen better days. Poppy's covers come with mirrors and she won't make them without. The ski doesn't have mirrors and I don't want them. Do any of you know of another source for a cover at a reasonable price but where the mirror pockets can be deleted?

6. I thought that it would be a good idea to replace the pump oil. This was last done in 2010. It is probably time. Agree?

7. I know these skis are picky about 2 stroke oil. I neglected to ask the seller what he had been using. I have done a forum search on this topic but am still not clear on what brand/type of oils (other than Seadoo's own lube) would be acceptable in this ski. I'll buy oil at the dealer if that is required and I want to use whatever oil will be best for the engine, but I also don't want to waste money. Input on oil appreciated!

8. Should I remove and clean the RAVE valves? This looks easy. I would think that the dealer should have done that as part of the rebuild ten hours back. If so they should be clean but it seems to me that it would be wise to inspect them.

Thanks everyone!!

 

[96spxpos]

can I eat off of your ski? or take it on a date? its so dang purrrrdy...welcome...
I had bought a 97 gsx a while back just for pieces of it, (no motor, etc) and the more and more I see one, I think I should've kept mine. im assuming they made two colors that year bc the one I had was more red I think (actually dragged it to the curb as a whole and someone actually took it this time, didn't have to chop it up like the last one)...

and yes, you're on the right track with what you mentioned above. people have carrying opinions on the premix, but the consensus is that for the most part, the seadoo oil injection system is quite reliable.
good luck!

 

[AdamXP800]

Fuel line have to go, fuel injection hose is not necessary



96 XP800!
Keep the 2 strokes alive!

 

[digital sol]

can I eat off of your ski? or take it on a date? its so dang purrrrdy...welcome...
I had bought a 97 gsx a while back just for pieces of it, (no motor, etc) and the more and more I see one, I think I should've kept mine. im assuming they made two colors that year bc the one I had was more red I think (actually dragged it to the curb as a whole and someone actually took it this time, didn't have to chop it up like the last one)...

and yes, you're on the right track with what you mentioned above. people have carrying opinions on the premix, but the consensus is that for the most part, the seadoo oil injection system is quite reliable.
good luck!

They are buuut it only has to fail once to kiss a motor goodbye. I found out the hard way

 

[AdamXP800]

It's really a preference on premix. Yes the system is reliable but if it puts your mind at ease to premix, go for it. Just make sure you do it right, remove the gear, add plate and cap the nips.



96 XP800!
Keep the 2 strokes alive!

 

[jammin777]

i would be more worried about them grey fuel lines than the oil pump. also replace the fuel selector.
nice deal on a clean ski btw. i had one just like it that i bought brand new back in the day and loved it.

 

[bigJake]

1.

Yes, pull the carbs and clean. You will be surprised at how gunked up the internal filters are. They could even be the cause of the original engine failure (lean condition causing a melted piston) so yes that is a ticking time bomb and i would NOT run the ski prior to doing the fuel line/carb maintenance.

2.

The fuel selector should come out very easy, from memory, pop out the little rubber insert, remove the phillips head screw, unscrew the plastic hex nut, the selector should then drop down into the hull. might take a slight tap.

3.

large lines should not need replaced, replace the oil filter and the small injector lines from the pump

4.
Yes

6.

Yes, At very minimum, unscrew the set screw on the pump cone and check the condition of the oil

7.
1000's of threads debating which oil to use. Basically comes down to what brand oil that meets the required standards is readily accessible to you. Personally I run Amsoil Interceptor (NOT INJECTOR) because it is what is easily available to me.


8.
Absolutely! If they are really gunked up, a simple way to clean them is put the raves in a ziplock bag with a little ammonia and let it sit overnight. the fumes from the ammonia melt thru all the gunk and it wipes right off. if you don't want to wait overnight some use oven cleaner but it's more work.


Also, remove and disassemble the Water regulator valve to assure it has no restriction (it;s the thing that looks like a rave on top of the water box). Also, remove and clean the fuel filer/water seperator under the hood. I soak it in superclean or purple power for 20 minutes.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

1.

Yes, pull the carbs and clean. You will be surprised at how gunked up the internal filters are. They could even be the cause of the original engine failure (lean condition causing a melted piston) so yes that is a ticking time bomb and i would NOT run the ski prior to doing the fuel line/carb maintenance.

2.

The fuel selector should come out very easy, from memory, pop out the little rubber insert, remove the phillips head screw, unscrew the plastic hex nut, the selector should then drop down into the hull. might take a slight tap.

3.

large lines should not need replaced, replace the oil filter and the small injector lines from the pump

4.
Yes

6.

Yes, At very minimum, unscrew the set screw on the pump cone and check the condition of the oil

7.
1000's of threads debating which oil to use. Basically comes down to what brand oil that meets the required standards is readily accessible to you. Personally I run Amsoil Interceptor (NOT INJECTOR) because it is what is easily available to me.


8.
Absolutely! If they are really gunked up, a simple way to clean them is put the raves in a ziplock bag with a little ammonia and let it sit overnight. the fumes from the ammonia melt thru all the gunk and it wipes right off. if you don't want to wait overnight some use oven cleaner but it's more work.


Also, remove and disassemble the Water regulator valve to assure it has no restriction (it;s the thing that looks like a rave on top of the water box). Also, remove and clean the fuel filer/water seperator under the hood. I soak it in superclean or purple power for 20 minutes.

I have a nice, waterproof canvas cover that is a fitted cover made for a gsx. $60 and it's yours. Send me a pm

 

[Major Woody]

Big Jake, thank you very very much! I'll tear into this on Saturday morning...hopefully I can have it on the water for some labor day weekend fun by Sunday.

 

[Major Woody]

Update--
Sent title transfer and registration in to the State Marine Board.
Ordered, received and installed new start-stop button cover from eBay. Ordered new oil filter, $9, not yet received. Ordered Hydromat samples, not yet received.
Removed all the gray Tempo fuel lines except the vent lines. They were getting soft but luckily I did not see any evidence of internal deterioration.

No debris in the fuel/water separator/filter, and no debris in the carb filters. For that reason and because it is running well, I did not further disassemble the carbs. The fuel selector was also cleaned with carb cleaner and compressed air but it too was clean and not in need of replacement.
Replacement of the fuel lines on this ski requires just a hair under fifteen feet of new hose. I am using Gates Barricade line, about $2/foot at the FLAPS. This line is supposed to stand up exceptionally well to ethanol.
In order to get the baffle out, I had to remove the steering head and the cable where it attaches, the MPEM (but not the bracket), the oil and fuel sender wires, and the filler hoses for the fuel and the oil tank. Was able to slide the oil tank back while sliding the fuel tank forward.



Sender did not have any internal faults on the circuit board, but the float didn't float anymore which is why the gauge read zero. Here it is sitting on the bottom of a pint of gas. Hmmm. How hard is it to make a float out of something that actually floats? But I digress...



New float, part #295500438, is $11 at the dealer. Popped it in and the resistance readings are as they should be.



All buttoned up, just need to cut and install the fuel lines.

 

[Major Woody]

I decided to go ahead and add mirrors. Not for the mirror in them, but to use them as speaker pods. I don't want to cut holes in the deck to install speakers so I am going to go with speakers in the mirrors instead.
In addition to the mirror-mounted speakers, I'm also going to add an 8" subwoofer inside the nose ahead of the storage bin. I'm going to fiberglass it in, using the existing shape of the nose as in an enclosure, in order to keep the weight to a minimum. To power it I'm thinking of a Kicker bluetooth amp/controller PXIBT502, which I should be able to install without cutting or drilling any visible holes in the ski.
Because I don't need to be able to see out of the mirrors, I am open to using any factory mirror that's the correct Viper red. I don't really want to use the big mirror base. There are several on eBay but the prices are a little on the high side. I know there are plenty of forum users parting out skis...should I just place a WTB ad? I don't want to break any rules here.

 

[Major Woody]

I found a set of used mirrors on ebay and made them into speaker pods. You have to break the mirror glass to get to the screw that allows you to remove the pivoting mirror holder. A little time with a dremel is necessary to clearance the interior of the mirrors.
I made the mirror face out of textured ABS. It is held in place by friction and red RTV silicone.




The speakers I used are (I believe) the same ones used by other suppliers of waterproof PWC speaker systems. They are sold by Vidsonix and are totally waterproof. There is a 2" tweeter with built in crossover and a 3" mid. They are four ohm speakers and are connected in parallel.



Vidsonix has its own website. Not all their products are shown. Best to call them in order to get exactly what you want. Price was very very reasonable and the service was excellent. The tweeter comes with multiple grill options--everything from satin black to full disco fever.

 

[Major Woody]

I thought I'd share photos of the new mats I ordered through PWC Muscle. As suggested by others, I just drilled off the heads of the old rivets, pressed the remnants down slightly below the surface of the deck, and covered the hole with a dot of epoxy. These are nice mats.





I also got a new Poppy cover. They are excellent and well worth the money.

Very much appreciating the help offered here.

 

[howie099]

The ski looks to clean to drive. That thing was in the garage and out of the water when they were done with her. You don't need to replace the pump it has 68 hours on it it has a long time to go and its in oil all the time. I am not sure if I would drill the holes for the mirrors. The mirrors might bring down the value since it all looks to shinny (lol). Do the all the lines, change the cone oil, clean the carbs, service the oil injection. I added an extra filters on my seadoo boats also. It won't hurt it, keep the OEM to catch water so you don't kill the carbs.

 

[Major Woody]

I went with a pair of Kicker amps. They are intended for vehicles with limited charging systems and are rated for exterior use. To mount them, I first cut a piece of stainless sheet and adhered it to the flotation styrofoam with contact cement, then drilled holes in the stainless to mount the amps.
The control amp is the Kicker PXiBT50.2. It has two channel output, 25W X 2 @ 2ohm. I have two 4 ohm speakers wired in parallel so I am getting the full output. It also has a low level output that feeds the second amp, PX200.1. That amp is a single-channel, subwoofer amp and has a low pass filter built in. It powers the 8" Polk Audio Marine subwoofer and is stable down to half an ohm. The subwoofer has two 4 ohm voice coils, so it presents a 2 ohm impedance to the amp and results in a 50 watt output from the amp.
These amps are fully digital so they don't overtax the ski's charging system.

 

[Major Woody]

Here is the subwoofer enclosure. Ever mindful of weight, I used the ski's hull to create the sealed enclosure. In order to achieve this, I only needed to use two pieces of 1/2" ABS and some fiberglass to enclose the space. The ABS pieces are bonded to one another with standard ABS pipe cement and bonded to the hull with fiberglass. I did not remove any flotation.
Access to do the fiberglass work was unpleasant but the end result is clean, lightweight, rigid, airtight and doesn't affect the balance or storage capacity of the ski.

Without sub, just after fiberglass work done


Finished

 

[Major Woody]

Next task is to mount the control keypad without cutting any holes in the hull and clean up the wiring a bit. Here she sits without the keypad yet in place.

 

[AdamXP800]

Very interesting project and nicely done. Do you plan to listen to music while riding or while beached and relaxing? With my riding style I'm afraid I would destroy every bit of this work within 5 minutes lol. How did you wire this in to the power supply? Is it direct to the battery with a shut off switch?



95 XP800!!!
Keep the 2 strokes alive!

 

[AdamXP800]

Also with the seat on and everything, do you think the subwoofer will be heard over everything?



95 XP800!!!
Keep the 2 strokes alive!

 

[Major Woody]

It is direct to the battery.
The amp comes with a waterproof keypad where you can turn the system on and off, adjust the volume, mute it, and change tracks. That is one of the main reasons I bought it--I did not want to be fumbling with my phone every time I needed to turn down the volume. Eventually the phone would either get wet or end up on the bottom of the lake. This way I can pick a playlist, put the phone in the dry compartment, and leave it there where it is safe.
The amp also has a USB port so you can charge your device.

A subwoofer is not directional. It can be anywhere and you hear it just as well as if it were right in your face. It uses the hull of the ski as its audio chamber. That is why in a car, the subwoofer can be face down in the trunk--it doesn't matter where it is.

This thing is very loud. I am sure I will be able to hear most music quite clearly at WOT. Boat stereos are of course a lot louder but I don't want to be a total nuisance and these skis have a very limited charging system so there are constraints on what you can do.

 

[1of500]

I would suggest a second battery just for the sound system.

 

[Minnetonka4me]

Oh you will hear it, its pointed right at you and less than a few feet from your ears. Plus Subs sound so awesome "in the water" bc alot of resonance is knocked down by the water. I was amazed at how good some of the boat stereos we did over the years sounded. We had a "craigslist special" stereo on my buddies 32" wellcraft. 10 6x9s, 7 12in subs, huge sony ES 6 channel amp, 3 farad of caps, 6 batteries....we would drown out guys that had 20k into their systems. We had a total of about a $800 into it all! LOL

Depending on how aggressive you ride I would be worried about that sub and your amp mount tearing apart. You would be amazed at the damage Ive done and the nose of the machine takes the biggest "thumps"

You gotta steal on that ski though, as clean as a few Ive fixed up over the years.

 

[Major Woody]

Thanks for the props guys.
I figure I will take a volt meter out with me for the first few runs and check the battery after an extended period of ripping around with the music on. If it is borne out that the stator can't keep up, a second battery and an isolator would be something I would consider. I don't want to add anything unless I know it is worth the extra weight.

It would take a tremendous amount of force to affect the sub enclosure. That sucker is stout and half inch ABS ain't no joke. The amps are just little things, about the size and weight of a cheeseburger. Can't imagine they can possibly tear loose but of course I'll update this thread from time to time and if I have any equipment issues I'll be sure to note it.

Once I finish this up, I'll be on to ski #2--looking for a 96 XP or a 99 SPX and I know you guys will be there to steer me straight.

 

[Minnetonka4me]

The95xp800, 96 XP, then the 97-99 spx are essentially the same machine with small changes over the years. The 95 800, 98 and 99 SPX are much more rare than the 96xp and 97 SPX. Depends on what you can find, and what your tastes in color schemes are.