RESTO "Taz" A 90 717 Modified From The Start!

[Matt Braley]

It's time for me to share this ski with you guys. I have had it for years and years. I saw it on ebay not selling for $1250 and I got a hold of the guy and worked a deal with him. He had his brother deliver it to me eight hours North!! The other folks were scared off by the performance parts that attracted me to it. This is 03 we're talking.

I must have sold a hundred other Seadoos while always hanging on to this one. It's awesome and one of a kind. When it was originally sold at the dealer it was one of the few SP models that got re branded as a ST. It was the back re boarding bumper, saddle bags, and different decals.

A guy worked at a ski shop in Miami and re-built this for himself in 1994. He called it a sleeper and would race skis in the canals. I can't believe how right he got it. He put GTX sponsons and a Jet Dynamics grate on it as well as a X4 style larger and rear facing exhaust outlet. He had a steering stem made at a machine shop. The engine was a ported 657 with a Triton billet head and a APE pipe with 44mm Mikuni's on a Rossier intake manifold. It was awesome but I blew it up and sent it to SBT before I understood and valued the porting.

Now it's better than ever because I have the advantage of the 717 existing. My son is 13 now and a capable pilot for this thing so we took three long days and put a real solid ski together out of this thing. I was gonna go stock but the pipe and the airbox wont fit in the old hull so it got a Rossier pipe and a Ocean Pro flame arrestor. I deleted the accelerator pump and jetted the single carb accordingly.

This thing rips! It sips on gas, goes over 50mph and turns on a dime! My kids like the Tasmanian Devil decal so I left it. Besides, it's been there 20 years!! Wish I would have taken pics of it back then but here it is now........ please feel free to question and comment.

 

[racerxxx]

Killer! The best part is the vintage CEET cover, just f'ing rad! Love the clean build Matt.

 

[Ruskeyjdm]

Awesome! I like the history on this thing and how you held on to it, looks like your son loves it!

 

[Matt Braley]

Thanks guys. It really keeps up. We finally got to do some good riding as a family this weekend.

I forgot to mention that it also has adjustable trim. The guy put the old crank style from a 92XP. I used the nozzles from a 95XP and found a really neat pump. This pump was aluminum but had brass veins in it? I have never really seen one like that.

 

[racerxxx]

Reopened this thread by request.

 

[Matt Braley]

I have some updates to report. This little guy went along running great. Another member was looking for a good used 717 so I pulled this one out and sent it to him. I had some other things I wanted to do to it anyway. I had a 657X left from the two 95 Speedsters I bought last year that's been sitting on my outside bench with a garbage bag over it for about six months. It was crusty so I cleaned it up and gave it a can of white paint. I kept the Rossier 720 pipe and used the dual 38's that a 657X would have came with topped with Vortex flame arrestors and Outer Wear pre-filters.



This boat had a cool homemade 'UMI like" steering stem but I ran up on a good deal a while back so I got it real UMI.











This boat has the rear boarding step and recommend that for the old square nose skis. Mine was too old and the rubber cover was past it. I found this on ebay and scavenged it for the rubber and rivets.






Now I need to find some good plastic vents.

 

[Matt Braley]

Got it home and awaiting a test drive. I take a little more pride in it now. It has the UMI angled trigger throttle with a KVPI cable adapter. It's neat to have such a simple setup. The bars have a throttle and that's it. The lanyard and start button are back in their original locations but the start is now a start/stop because I'm still running the 717 ignition.

 

[racerxxx]

Are those vintage OURY grips? I saw that beaver tail on Ebay a little while back, I almost bought it just to have it.

 

[1of500]

I like it. Thanks for the 720 going to try to get it installed this week.

 

[Matt Braley]

Yes they are OURY grips. Unfortunately the guy didn't realize that there is a left and a right so "oury" reads upside down on both :facepalm:

Your welcome 1 of 5. Can't wait to hear how you enjoy it.

 

[CReynoldsMIZ]

Why is this person on the box not wearing any pants?

 

[Matt Braley]

HAHA so true. She has a tan one piece on and it's in black and white.

Racer this one was from a year and a half ago. I thought about that other one also but had to hold back since I had not even spent this one yet at the time.

 

[Matt Braley]

So I still don't have that 657X dialed in :banghead: I have upped the low speed jets to 75's and it still starves for fuel. I guess I'm gonna stick a stock pipe with welded plugs in there so I can use stock jetting. I need to verify flow through the little holes in the carb body also. It idles perfectly but starves in the mid range.

Last evening I wet tested it again and can't get there by turning screws. I can pull the choke a little and it runs fine. Anyway, I'll get it done. It was just time for an update.

 

[AdamXP800]

Did you end up getting it dialed in?

 

[Krispy]

Subscribed.

 

[Matt Braley]

I tried a set of carbs on a aftermarket manifold and it was a no-go on the wet test.

Krispy I plan to use the APE pipe off the ski that you got me. It had a APE pipe when I first got it. Now I have the APE mechanical water injection and a few years of tuning experience under my belt. I'm gonna put some time into it soon because my son has an interest in riding and nice whether is right around the corner.

If I'm feeling ambitious I can upgrade the 91 mechanical trim to the 92 power trim.

 

[wfo speedracer]

I spent about two weeks trying to dial one of those Rossier race pipes in on a 657 with high compression head and ocean pro flame arrestors, I never did get it dialed it had a lean spot down low that no amount of jetting would overcome, you could jump the ski and nail it and it would go like a bat outta hell till you slowed back down, my suggestion would be start by putting a stock flame arrestor and box on it.

My guess is you don't have enough restriction to pull the proper amount of fuel through the jets.

 

[Matt Braley]

This ski has a 657X in it at the moment that runs great. I had to use Votex flame arresters to get the dual carbs fit in the hull. I had to up the low speed jets a couple sizes( I think 80's) to get the bog out.

This is a great ski to throw someone on regardless of their skill level. It stays flat in choppy water and does not throw as much water in the riders face as an X4 does.

 

[glsmohio]

This was a good read. You know more than a few times i have thought about getting a older ski like this for a little bit of nothing and putting race parts on it. I feel like you can find them so cheep that it would be a fun little project.