'94 Blaster Build

[Fathom]

I bought this ski last year as my first B1 and got it running strong. The hull itself was in very good shape. I wanted to build it up from the start but it was peak season and I was encouraged to just ride it and take it down for reinforcement in the off season.



I found that besides the waterbox being shot, the pump seal was missing.


The whole ski was poorly maintained and needed a good grooming. I went through the whole cooling system and replaced all the cooling lines. I went through the fuel system, and basically cleaned everything up.

 

[Fathom]

I installed a Riva water box to replace the broken stocker, bought new Lord mounts for the pipe, added some wider bars, grips, finger throttle, and basically had a season with the regular issues and kept up with things.

Sometime in November, Zimmy had a shoddy repair job go bad on him and his transom exploded. He and I decided to take them down to do some reinforcement. It seemed there was never a good time to do it but I had my SJ up and running so it wasn't like I was down too hard.

We decided to do the work at my place and had Derm and Beachjunkey available for technical help since Zimmy and I had no glassing experience.


Once we gutted the skis, we commenced the bondline filling and laying of glass:

 

[Fathom]

Once the areas were prepped, the bondlines were filled:

 

[Fathom]

Here's the twins prepped for transom work:


The skis were set upright to allow for the transom to be filled and glassed.

 

[Fathom]

I laid some glass at the grab handle area in case I ever needed to use them as a tow point:




In hindsight, I should have used biax but was concerned about being able to get the handle hardware back on.

I look back at these photos and think that we would never be completed.

 

[Fathom]

Things slowed for us and we kind of let things sit for a while. We finally regrouped and got the transoms closed up.

Zimmy needed to get his ski back up and running so he did a quick paint job and went right into doing rolls.:barrel:

I, on the other hand, bought another Blaster for the wife and rode it while I got my crap together. I spent a lot of time doing prep work. I sanded the ski, filled the area where the oil level plate was, sanded, filled, sanded, filled . . .

I actually spent several months looking at the ski and working a little here and there and doing some more sanding.

 

[Fathom]

Recently, Beachjunkey and I got to painting. I got a phone call last week stating the primer was laid. My prep work paid off as the ski looked virtually flawless in primer.


I'm cleaning after a wet sand.

We shot it (well, I tried but got in the way) with single-stage DuPont Imron. Several thin coats were laid and it looked good.

As you can see, there is some orange peel.

I personally did not care too much about it and was glad to have the ski painted but after Beachjunkey looked at it in the morning, he just was not happy with it. He thought it best to sand it down and re-shoot with a bottom feeding gun because the coats were too thin causing the imperfections.

He ended up spending 8 man-hours sanding and prepping for the second go.

 

[Fathom]

With the help of Beach's Pop-in-law, the master painter, the ski was shot and looks freakin' awesome.

 

[Fathom]

So, now the build really starts. I'll be bringing it home today. The parts on hand for the build include everything that came off of it and include:

THE OLD:

Factory B pipe, Limited chamber, Parr's screws with T's
Stock 144mm pump but, I tapped for dual cooling.
Jet Dynamics grate
Stock plate
ODI Rouge grips (silver rings)
MSR bars (black)
Dakine straps
UMI billet throttle lever (silver)
UMI tank cap (black)
Billet 45 degree pissers (silver)
Atwood 500 gph pump with JSS short switch
Single duckbill
Riva CDI
Riva waterbox

Now, for the new, I had been gathering parts and slowly getting the things together from nearly the day I bought the ski with the intent of this time coming. Below is the list of new parts going into this build:

THE NEW:

701 Freestyle ported by Keith Head (Head Enterprises)
R&D one piece pump gas head with dual cooling
Epoxy filled 61x cases
Freestyle ported 61x cylinder
Wiseco pistons
Carbon Tech reeds
48mm Blackjack carb, Tau Ceti flame arrestor (stocker in standby)
Port matched 61x intake
Monkey Grips mounts
Lightened 61X flywheel
Solas Yamaha YB-CD 13/16 set back impeller blueprinted and balanced w/ rec finish
Hydro Turf mats (black)Hydro Turf seat with shaved hump (yellow/black/silver)
Jimmy Visser style seat retainers
Odyssey dry cell battery

Fortunately, everything is ready for installation and it's only a matter of time at this point to complete the build.

 

[Fathom]

I have asked Jeff at N2 Graphics to help me with some vinyl. He has done some fantastic work on a few Superjets and race cars among other things. He has an impressive portfolio.
We tossed around some different ideas but I love this helmet color scheme as it matched the silver/black/yellow of the ski and components. Jeff stated he could work with that.



I am giving my Blaster to him as a blank canvas to work his magic.:hail:

 

[Mike W]

Very nice so far. Not a big fan of yellow but that looks damn good.

 

[blaster800]

nice build and its lookin real sweet ! keep up the posting !

 

[beachedflunkey]

Can't wait to see how it finally ends up :cool2:

 

[Fathom]

Went and got the hull today. Beachjunkey, you do damn good work!

 

[Fathom]

I am near completion and have taken plenty of photos along the way. I need to resize them since they are too large for the site. When I get some time, I'll load them up.
Everything went back without too much trouble. One missing spring and washer for the bendix/flywheel cover, one broken ground cable lug, and a missing gasket for the head pipe. Just wrapping things up tomorrow and the ski will be ready for N2 Graphics to do something with it and then I'll add the turf.

Stay tuned for photos . . .

 

[Fathom]

Instead of resizing, I took some additional photos for now. It's a bit dirty because I got too excited to clean it up after going for the initial start.

I have :brap:

I went for the start it it did. It idles and revs but needs a water test and tuning. It's off to N2 Graphics sometime tomorrow.:arms:

 

[Fathom]

Additional photos.

 

[Jetaddict]

Wow. Excellent writeup, and the B1 looks sweet!

 

[Air Gramps]

Nice.....

 

[blaster800]

OOOOOHHHHH yea !