The weekend was pretty much spent working on the boat.
I polished and buffed the outside around the engine bay area. I didn't want to get rubbing compound all over the place with the motors in.
Here are some shots of the buffed out body panels. They turned out surprisingly good. Anyway, here they are:
I then put in the drive shaft tubes. They were completely broken off. I scraped the inside to get all the old stuff out, then used Loctite's "The Right Stuff" to form them back in place. I got both of the blue tubes off ebay for $1.95 and $4.05 shipping. They cost me a total of $6. The gasket material I keep around.
Here are those:
Once that was complete, and drying, I started to work on the pop-up ski pole. It didn't pop-up. I tried to get is out, but it wouldn't budge.
I went over to the Sea-Doo dealer, and they wanted like $50 for one. I went over to the shop, chaulked some hardened aluminum in the lathe, and made my own in about 35mins. No cost.
Here is what it is supposed to do:
I then got to drop the motors in the boat. They are sitting in place for now. I will be working on them all week. I need to make sure the drive shafts line up properly to keep any vibrations down.
Here is the motor being lowered, and then after they are in the boat:
I tried to straighten a bent reverse cable end. The guy before had broken one of the reverse locks off the side. He hit something. I tried to heat it up to prevent it from breaking, but it broke.
Now I have to buy a new $139 port side reverse cable.
Today was my short day (I have to work 4 hrs Saturday morning) so I got the exhaust system painted.
The problem now is that the exhaust looks really good, the engines.......not so much. I had a set-back with the scupper valve. Sea-Doo discontined them, and I can't get Max-Flo one here until Monday or Tuesday next week.
So I am going to pull the engines back out, and repaint both engines.
While I was waiting in between coats, I worked on getting the rental numbers off the side of the boat.
I sandblasted the complete system down to bare metal. Here are some shots of the exhaust before, with primer:
This is after they were painted back to factory colors. Boy. Is it ever hard to find somebody around here that sells PPG paint. I had to drive to Iowa City to get paint.
It was also perfect weather to paint. I did them in the driveway.
Here is the rental number that was painted on it. I used some laquer thinner to rub off the paint, then used rubbing compound to buff the shine back out.
I got both motors back out today.
I have all the exterior stuff torn off them, the ports and oil feed tubes all taped off. Tomorrow, I will wipe them down with pre-paint cleaner, hit with some adhesion promoter and paint them to match the white of the exhaust manifold.
The colors are actual Sea-Doo with PPG. They should match the orginal colors to a tee.
I'll try to get more pictures tomorrow.
I knew this project was going to be a big job. The hope was to have done this summer, but the realistic time frame was to have it ready for sale next spring.
It will be up for sale for $5950. It books out betwen $6200 - $7000.
It will have two rebuilt engines, both carbs completely rebuilt, two rebuilt jet pumps, the hull completely buffed out, the seats are perfect. It will have a depth finder, and a new CD player with a built-in drivers seat remote control.
It will have two brand new batteries. The original equipment sized starter battery. It will also have a new trolling motor battery (with a Guest) main shut off to run the CD player/radio and depth finder.
The motors and exhaust will have fresh new factory correct paint.
It has a brand new Sea-Doo factory cover, a brand new yellow custom bimini top.
The trailer will have been sanded down and repaited with marine grade paint, and the trailer has all the old light replaced with LED submersible units. I have also added a spare tire and carrier along with a roller front trailer jack.
I took the afternoon off. I did a bunch of parts retreval today.
I got the engines ready for paint today. You can see in these pictures the old paint. It looks pretty crappy beside the new exhaust manifold. It is the orginal paint code from Sea-Doo in PPG paint for these motors. You will be able to see what I mean.
Here are the photos of the taped off motors ready for adhesion promoter.
Here are the shots after they have been done, and shot with PPG paint.
While I was waiting in between coats (I put 3 coats on them), I worked on the wheels. They had some kind of cakes on crud that wouldn't come off. I ended up using laquet thinner to get the crud off, the took some rubbing compound to them. They turned out much better.
Here are the before and after shots of those:
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Once I get the boat finished up, hopefully this week, (the reverse cable has to come from Canada. It was supposed to be here today, but didn't show up) I will start working on the trailer. I have to remove the light pod from the back, weld on the new ones I have. Install the new LED side marker lights, tail lights and plate light. Remove the buckboards and recarpet those. I also want to pull both wheels and check the bearings (they have been sitting for over 7 years). Then I have the sand the trailer down and spray it with marine paint and apply the new Speedster decals on it.
Back to work on them today. I got them all put back together and back in the boat. I am now connecting all the water lines, throttle linkages, choke cables, oil lines, etc.
I got some shots of the complete engine with exhaust. They look brand new, to go along with the rebuilds. I have to preset the carbs, and then check the timing. They have kind of a goofy way of checking timing. Not like a snowmobile engine.
Tomorrow will be filling up the jet pumps with 75w80 synthetic oil, and installing the jet pumps, carbon rings and aligning the engines.
The lights went out for about 2 hours this afternoon during the storms. Hopefully, I won't lose any time tomorrow.
Too funny. Tempting offer, but I will have to pass. I want to keep the wife I have....she let's me have all these fun toys. She is AWESOME!
I was back at it today. I got the engines lined up, the throttle cables finished up, the gas lines finished up with new filters, all the oil injection lines done up with new filters, all the electrical finished up with the exception of the new battery tray.
I also got the jet pumps filled with 75w90 Mobil 1 synthetic lube, the jet pumps mounted, the carbon rings lined up and the steering connected back up.
I need to get the new reverse cable for the port side jet pump and the new battery tray for the stock battery. They I will be good to put the exhaust back on it and call the engine bay - COMPLETE.
Then I just have to route the auxilary battery lines for the radio, mount the radio and captain's controls, hook up the depth finder and mount the speakers.
All that will be left after that is dialing in the carbs, buffing the rest of the boat out and painting the trailer. It should go pretty quickly from here on out.
The next project is to get the stroker motor put back together and in the Jeep, and I should be good to go on shocks for Monster Performance after the Labor Day weekend. All but one of my projects will be completed.
Here are some shots of the engine bay and the jet pumps in their final home:
This is where I decided to put the batteries. The small battery box is to run the boat, from the stock battery outlets. I shortened the cables and mounted the box to the decking.
I removed a foam piece to make room for the stuff. The bigger battery towards the back of the boat is a trolling motor battery. It will put 15 amps for 9 hours. That is going to run the stereo equipment and the depth finder.
I am also putting underwater LED's under the rear deck, and LED's in the seating area. Those will also run off the big battery.
Here�are the reverse controls on the throttle block. They both thread through the T at the bottom of the first lever.
In the second picture, you can see how it is broken. You can see how it came apart, and the middle wire comming out of the broken housing.
At 12:36p (with Dragula playing in the background) the engine fired right up. At 12:38p (with same playing in background) the second motor fired right up.
I pulled the fuel lines this morning and used a vacuum pump to pull fuel all the way through the lines to carbs. I then filled the oil tank, and blead all the line for the oil injection pumps.
The PTO side of the port motor did not want to prime. I ended up pulling off the new check valve, and found a small hole in the oil line from being removed. I shorted it up, and then reattached, and all is well.
I just have to set the low and high idle speeds outside with the garden hose hooked up to the inlet port (to keep the engines cool). Then just put the flame arrestors back on.
Tomorrow, I am going to start polishing the rest of the boat, and cleaning up the seats. Then I can install the radio and speakers. I also have to mount the main shut off. I am thinking I may not use the Guest shut off I have. It is very large, and the stuff I have will not be drawing a lot of current, so a regular switch may work just fine.
Here are the final engine bay pictures, the covers are all in place, the hoses all connected, the idle is finished, the flame arrestors are in place and it is ready to be finished up.
Tomorrow is clean the seats, clean the and buff the rest of the boat, install the stereo speakers and stereo, mount the stereo control unit and install the accessory cut off switch.
Once the rest of the LED's come in, I can mount the cabin floor lighting, mount the underwater lights and mount that switch.
This week I will be working on shocks and the bows for the bimini top so I can get that mounted and finished.
Then I can pull the boat off the trailer and get the trailer finished up with the new LED's, the new tail light step and the new decals for the trailer.
Here is a shot of both engines running and that sweet smell of two-stroke...aaaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!!!
I think it should be around 60mph. We will see. After I get the motors broken in some, I am going to take the Rhino GPS and see what it is according to the GPS, not the speedo.
I have an appointment next week to take it over to the Sea-Doo dealer to check the timing, carbs and give a good once over. I wanted someone else who knows about Sea-Doo's to look at. I have been looking at it for 3 months now. It is all kind of blur when I look at it now.
Anyway. I took the day off today. I have spent the last 5 days cleaning this thing....what a mess. I pulled all the seats, cleaned the (what seemed like inches of) crud from under them. I also got a chance to clean all the cushions on the under side to keep them from rotting.
I cleaned the ski storage out under the boat, the cooler on the side of the boat and box that goes under the console.
After I buffed it all out, it then went back over it with marine (boat) wax and conditioner on all the seats. Tomorrow morning, I am going to lay out the holes to cut for the speakers and stereo. Then tomorrow, I can mount them and start to make the bracket for the stereo remote unit. Once I get that made, I can get it out to my powder coater and have it coated white.
I have another buddy that is going to make the lettering for the cabin lights and aux power switch. To make it a little more professional looking.
I ordered the cabin and underwater LED's today..along with the rest of the additional side marker LED's for the trailer. All the trailer lighting will be LED's along with the front navigation light, and rear beacon.
When I get back from New York next week, I am going to start on the bimini top so I can get that over to Clemens Canvas and have Tom put a yellow top on that for me.
All I have left then is to put the boat on the hoist and repaint, rewire, re-stripe the trailer. I will also pull the wheels and check the bearings and repack them and get caps for the bearing buddies.
Here are some of the shots of the cleaned boat:
Well the boat is finished up, cleaned up and I am just waiting for the Hydro-Turf to come in. I still need to get the bimini top to be covered.
Here are the semi-final pictures. I have all the lighting hooked up to the main aux battery shut off, as well as the radio and depth finder. I am waiting for the decals for the aux lighting and shut off so they will be labeled like the rest of the switches.
You can see the green underwater lighting for under the rear deck. It is partly for looks, and partly so when swimming at night, you don't bang your feet on the the jet pumps directly below the platform.
I also converted all the lighting over to high intensity LED's so it doesn't draw as much current. The battery that starts and runs the boat only has a 1.5hr reserve. This will make it last longer.
