Bought an X2 today..... now what?

[BennyB]

So I've kind of been keeping an eye out for an X2 for a couple years. I've only seen pretty high priced ones with a lot of mods and/or engine swaps. I was able to pick this '87 X2 up for hopefully a decent price, 1,200, but I'm not really sure. Either way it's mine now. I've never ridden one or even seen one in person until today but I've wanted to try one out.

This appears to be mostly stock, as far as I can tell anyway, with the exception of the bars and the gold finger snowmobile throttle. I got it to start with starter fluid and after a few times was able to keep it running. If I gave it much throttle it would want to die out. I can only imagine what's in the gas tank.

So I'll want to do a carb rebuild this winter as well as remove the old fuel at a minimum. The steering seems to have a lot of wobble front and back, side to side in the steering post inside of the black boot before it goes into the hull. Any advice before I tear it apart?


Also, I'm sure at one point there was something that held the hood up. Anyone know what I should be looking for to fix this?

Hard to tell in the picture but the seat foam appears to be missing a fair amount of material. What's the best way to fix a foam seat?



It came with a new seat cover so should be pretty easy once I fix the foam.


Can someone tell me what this knob is for that's attached to the steering?








And it came with this sweet cover.

Anything else I should look out for or know about these?

Thanks!

 

[WFO Speedracer]

It's not too late to take it back before the madness ensues.

All of the stock steering systems are loose like that , you can take some of it out by installing bearings in place of the bushings but unless you remove the tilt function it will still be very loose, this is why people install aftermarket steering systems.

The seat foam , the only replacement for missing foam is to add more foam , shape it and recover the seat , you could cut the foam down lrvel and add a layer of real upholstery foam for a much cushier seat., that would be my suggestion here .

The hood is held up by the hinge on the front, it's a feature built into the hinge, they did not have any kind of hood prop rod .

On a redheaded motor that should be a 28mm carb , very easy to rebuild but it will never be very fast with that particular carb setup , a 44 Mikuni of a Yamaha and an adaptor plate and aftermarket flame arrestor will wake it up some but , the exhaust manifold sizing is matched with the small carb diameter so to get maximum benefit you will need the newer type diverter manifold and to open up the head pipe to match the manifold .

 

[Big Kahuna]

My first ski was an 86 X2.

Mods to do first!
Intake Grate (Open Style Skat Track Deep)
Ride Plate - I preferred the Ocean Pro
Prop 15.5 Straight (I did 16 degree and it was a bit steep until I added porting, pipe etc)
Water Bypass setup. (Split the line going from head to pipe with a T and a thru hull fitting. (Prop and Bypass really woke it up).
44m carb like Terry mentioned, you can also find 44mm Manifolds vs going adapter route.

 

[kevbo]

You may as well try to ride it once so you know how bad they are. Even painfully slow stock ones will still throw a lot of water in your face. I have made one into something fun to ride by moving the steering aft 6”-9” and adding a lot of power. It does take some time and money to get there. I’ve never met a rider willing to do it right.

 

[E350]

^^^ @kevbo I have way too many unfinished jet ski projects. I have primarily been focused on keeping at least two skis running to keep us riding. But one of my dormant unfinished projects is my wife's X2.

If it isn't too much to ask, would you kindly post up a short list of what it takes "to do it right." ?

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I am quite sure several out there have done it right already Kevbo , Fletch comes to mind Glenn Church , Crab , as well as many others , I guess you didn't pay close enough attention .

The X2 is the 57 chevy of the ski world, anything that can be done has been already .

 

[cpolaris502]

• As mentioned, the hood prop is handled with the hinge. As you may have found, you can remove the hood completely by sliding if sideways in the open position. To keep it installed, but propped up, just slide it a little ways over and let it rest.
• The black knob on the side is to tilt the handlebars down. Pull it straight out.
• There are also tricks to lock the tilt out using a long bolt. It will tighten up the slop. But ultimately, an aftermarket setup is the best route.

Love my X2!

 

[BennyB]

Alright thanks for all the info! I'll probably want to ride it a bit before I do too may modifications, which is next season at this point.

@WFO Speedracer thanks for the info on the seat. I'll get some foam, cut it level, glue it down and shape it. Also, I have a 38 BN carb laying around and I think also a 38 SBN somewhere. Would either of those be worth it to swap to without doing anything else or is the 44 with new exhaust manifold setup really the way to go?

@Big Kahuna I'll definitely do the water bypass as that's quick and easy. I'll most likely take your recommendations on the impeller, intake grate, and rideplate after I'm able to ride it a bit and get a baseline for where it is stock.

@kevbo curious what makes it so bad? Just underpowered and the steering too far forward?

@cpolaris502 thanks for the info on the steering tilt and hood support. Keeping the hood u was not immediately obvious to me so I propped it open with a 2x4 haha. Also, if I end up liking this thing and keeping it I'll definitely go with aftermarket steering.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Alright thanks for all the info! I'll probably want to ride it a bit before I do too may modifications, which is next season at this point.

@WFO Speedracer thanks for the info on the seat. I'll get some foam, cut it level, glue it down and shape it. Also, I have a 38 BN carb laying around and I think also a 38 SBN somewhere. Would either of those be worth it to swap to without doing anything else or is the 44 with new exhaust manifold setup really the way to go?

@Big Kahuna I'll definitely do the water bypass as that's quick and easy. I'll most likely take your recommendations on the impeller, intake grate, and rideplate after I'm able to ride it a bit and get a baseline for where it is stock.

@kevbo curious what makes it so bad? Just underpowered and the steering too far forward?

@cpolaris502 thanks for the info on the steering tilt and hood support. Keeping the hood u was not immediately obvious to me so I propped it open with a 2x4 haha. Also, if I end up liking this thing and keeping it I'll definitely go with aftermarket steering.

Think Kevbo is only happy riding his 300sx.........

 

[mrfist9]

You may as well try to ride it once so you know how bad they are. Even painfully slow stock ones will still throw a lot of water in your face. I have made one into something fun to ride by moving the steering aft 6”-9” and adding a lot of power. It does take some time and money to get there. I’ve never met a rider willing to do it right.

this

I've tried a few times
CANNOT enjoy myself on these skis
It's a crappy alteration of a 650sx (which is the poverty spec standup despite its fun)

 

[Big Kahuna]

this

I've tried a few times
CANNOT enjoy myself on these skis
It's a crappy alteration of a 650sx (which is the poverty spec standup despite its fun)

I love them! When setup with good bars, a plate and grate that hooks up and has some decent power. There is noting like dragging and elbow in the water ripping turns............ But some reason I have never tried to get another one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotten old and lazy, Love smoking old SN's on my 4S-SJ!!!!!!!!!

 

[mrfist9]

I love them! When setup with good bars, a plate and grate that hooks up and has some decent power. There is noting like dragging and elbow in the water ripping turns............ But some reason I have never tried to get another one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gotten old and lazy, Love smoking old SN's on my 4S-SJ!!!!!!!!!

old and lazy for sure. I'd pay money to see you ride a Xylophone2

Looks like I gotta build a 1/2mile ski for next year

 

[kevbo]

An X2s center of gravity is too far forward and the hull is 24" wide up there. This makes the ride harsh and very wet. Moving the steering aft 6-9 inches gets the nose up and ride much smoother, plus it gets rid of the fire hose in my face! It also turns a lot better. The only negative is the curved chines start pulling about 50MPh. On glass it feels like a fast chine walk. I never did try a 12 vane 140 pump but the stock one needs a lot more rpm to perform. I installed a Solas Yamaha 144 12 vane and it performs noticeably better than I could ever get from a stock one turning 7000rpm. My engine is a stock big pin 750 with a full length Coffmans 650 pipe on top of an opened Wescoast manifold. It spools up from idle to full power within a second and goes 50.3 MPH GPS at 7080RPM. No mods to the engine at all. I still have the hood foam installed so it wont ever sink to the bottom. I would say keeping the hood foam goes a long way towards doing it "right". Thats a low bar to clear.

 

[BennyB]

Haha alright. Sounds like people either love them or hate them or both! I've been I guess what I'll call "X2 curious" for a while now haha. So I figured the only way I'd ever find out was to get one. I'll give this a good go through over the winter and do a few things. Guess I'll find out what happens next after I ride it next summer!

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I love them , one day I will finish mine and ride it, one day , famous last words there lol .

As far as the 38BN , don't waste your time , the 38 SBN would be an improvement but still not as good as a 440 SBN.

 

[waxhead]

Can i offer you this https://www.waxracingproducts.com/products/kawasaki-x2-billet-steering

 

[BennyB]

I love them , one day I will finish mine and ride it, one day , famous last words there lol .

As far as the 38BN , don't waste your time , the 38 SBN would be an improvement but still not as good as a 440 SBN.

Thanks good to know. I'll get a few rides on it before I start dumping too much money into it haha

 

[BennyB]

Can i offer you this https://www.waxracingproducts.com/products/kawasaki-x2-billet-steering

That looks sexy as hell baby! That'll definitely be one of my first upgrades if I do end up liking this thing.

 

[fastgtfairlane]

That steering is beautiful. I have a 93 x2. It has the squirrel cage steering and i did the rhaas squirrel cage and an older umi with pro taper pit bike bars and that changed the x2 completely. It was also a nice change cutting the back 1.5 inches off the back and flush cutting the ride plate. A hooker 9/15, dried out 650 pipe with the extension mod with the diverter manifold and a sbn 44 makes a fun stockish ski. Also adding foot straps with extra padding under the heels makes a huge difference as well.

 

[Scorn800]

X2's are fun to rip turns on. It's the only old school ski I've never owned.