Talked to the PO of my xp

[Boosthappy]

I was talking with the PO of my xp today and a few things he said had me scratching my head. I was informed that the ski went through 3 engines in a matter of months. Apparently it had an after market exhaust and water box, air filters and from what he thinks jets in the carb. For some reason they took out the intake grate for the jet pump. I have no idea why anyone would do that seems silly to me. I was wondering if anyone has had problems with running aftermarket exhaust/water boxes, I want to put one on later down the road but not if they kill it. I know the guy probably didn't jet it correctly leading to a lean situation. One more thing i was wondering about the ski... It has an SBT rebuilt engine, are these reputable engines? I'm just asking because i know at some point ill be buying a new engine and i don't want to buy something that will mess up.On the bright side my ski only has 10hrs of ride time on the new engine with almost all stock parts.

 

[kicker]

[MENTION=51824]Matt Braley[/MENTION] is one of the aftermarket experts here, [MENTION=41828]Minnetonka4me[/MENTION] will be able to help you as well. I know SBT engines are good recreational motor but as soon as you take what is already a high performance motor and try to make it go faster..........there will be issues. Post your AM parts and hopefully one of the guys can tell you how to tune it properly so it doesn't cost you a motor.

Honestly, if it was me I would set it all back to stock and enjoy. If you enjoy tinkering and tuning then fill your boots, there's nothing wrong with playing around but reliability always suffers, that's why I leave them alone. If I want to go faster, I'll buy a faster ski, but that's just me.

 

[Boosthappy]

Its mostly stock now. Looks to have ported carbs and an aftermarket impeller. I just want a reliable ski that will last me for a while. What do you guys know about removing the intake grate from the jet pump. Is this some sort of cheep mod?

 

[Bnelson]

Its mostly stock now. Looks to have ported carbs and an aftermarket impeller. I just want a reliable ski that will last me for a while. What do you guys know about removing the intake grate from the jet pump. Is this some sort of cheep mod?

That sounds like a good idea to me man... Stock is always the most reliable and easiest to maintain... And as far as I know on the grate it was kind of a cheap performance mod per say.... Not sure on the actual performance gain but it will definitely make the ski handle differently, a little bit "looser"


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[xcellr8]

some people have done that to try and get an extra mph on top, but I believe you lose a bit on bottom..kicker said it pretty good, these are already a high performance motor and anything you do to the motor will hurt its longevity,n motor should ever blow three times in a couple months,something wasn't done right for the mods listed, do you have someone riding with you that will be beating you by 1 or 2 mph??, if not then why bother you wont notice it too much and you still wont run near an rxp or such, plus you'll hurt your reliability,which R do you like better....rebuilding or riding? with a good healthy motor and good prop youll be close to 60 and have a fun, reliable ski...I love working on stuff but in the offseason....sleds in the summer, and seadoos in the winter...on a nice day its better to be on the water then your laneway, nothings worse then when you're scared to hold something wide open, and if you want more, drop a 951 in her lol
just my 2c, matt

 

[Spimothy Leary]

quite honestly if you have an engine with 10-20 hours and it's maintained, and set up properly, you have every reason to believe that you'll be able to ride it for a couple hundred hours (3-4 seasons for most riders, even active ones), minimum.

so don't be thinking you'll be burning through engines, they tend to last years and years and years.

 

[xcellr8]

quite honestly if you have an engine with 10-20 hours and it's maintained, and set up properly, you have every reason to believe that you'll be able to ride it for a couple hundred hours (3-4 seasons for most riders, even active ones), minimum.

so don't be thinking you'll be burning through engines, they tend to last years and years and years.

........if he keeps it stock

 

[Minnetonka4me]

Stock is good for people that want something with less maintenance.

Obviously if you make more HP and RPM a motor isnt going to last quite as long. Properly set up mods can run a long time too, but need more proactive maintenance to not have issues.

Once you ride machines with mods...you never want to go back to stock.

 

[Boosthappy]

Its going to stay stock for a while. I just wanted something to keep my gf and i occupied out here in Texas while she is in school. We are waiting for me to rebuild the carbs in the xp and re plumb her fuel lines in her wave raider. the weather is getting nice, so i hope to get them in the water soon.

 

[Matt Braley]

"Almost stock" is not stock. You said it still had "ported carbs"? I would like to see a pic. If the carbs were to run with the AM pipe then they won't be set for your now stock conditions. Please get us some under seat pics when you can.

It sounds like the PO was pulling his hair out constantly with this thing and you want to be sure he got all the bugs out of it.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

........if he keeps it stock

well, yes and not, most aftermarket parts don't dramatically affect the longevity of the ski, just incremental increases in performance.

but yes, if you go overboard and run on what i'd call the "ragged edge" than ya, the reliability and longevity drops way down.

but simple performance mods , not really.

I've never played with waterbox replacements, or with AM carbs, but a pipe/flame arrestors/rejet IMO are not engine killers, if your running ECWI and not checking things regular then you can have issues yes, with that I think its just as important to keep up on regular maintenance issues stock anyway. I think there are a tremendous number of factors involved: ride style, not hitting the zerks, outside storage, wrong oil, skipping flush's, checking oil lines etc, along with just pure dumb luck that contribute in big ways.

 

[KyleB]

Well no one asked for my opinion but here it is anyway. Unless he knows the inner workings of a 2 stroke and in particular how the 787 works with the pipe, carbs, engine, plugs, etc... he needs to keep it stock. You are right Minnetonka in that a modded skis much more fun but fun requires experience and a thorough knowledge of this engine. This board is a great asset for someone wanting to learn as all of you guys know your stuff BIG TIME. However, keep it stock unless..... :cheers:

 

[Sportster-2001-951C-Stock]

This subject always reminds me of the guy down the street "Eddie Haskel" who always was pulling "custom race modified" motors after blowing them up for one reason or another. Once I pulled up aside him in my bone-stock properly-tuned ride and blew his doors off b/c his transmission wouldn't down shift, apparently the downshift cable linkage bracket was incorrectly adjusted for the super-duper carburetor he had paid a ton of money for and installed.

If you're gonna tune and tweek and modify, you're simply experimenting if you don't know what you're doing and that comes only with experience unless of course you buy expertise. I've seen many failed experiments, thus don't trust that someone else can lead me directly to the correct setup unless there is some verifiable historical record of previous success.

 

[KyleB]

This subject always reminds me of the guy down the street "Eddie Haskel" who always was pulling "custom race modified" motors after blowing them up for one reason or another. Once I pulled up aside him in my bone-stock properly-tuned ride and blew his doors off b/c his transmission wouldn't down shift, apparently the downshift cable linkage bracket was incorrectly adjusted for the super-duper carburetor he had paid a ton of money for and installed.

If you're gonna tune and tweek and modify, you're simply experimenting if you don't know what you're doing and that comes only with experience unless of course you buy expertise. I've seen many failed experiments, thus don't trust that someone else can lead me directly to the correct setup unless there is some verifiable historical record of previous success.

:thumbsup: