300/440/550 First build: '85 js 550

[wiltonredneck]

Howdy. Im new to jet skis, and obviously rebuilds. I picked up an '85 js550 over the weekend. It has some slight knicks in the fiberglass, but overall in good shape. Fired right up! My plans for this are to strip it down, paint the bottom black, replace mat with tan camo hydro turf (already placed order) and camo wrap the rest of the ski. I know this is going to look different, but hopefully it will be one of a kind and look good!

By wiltonredneck at 2012-04-03

By wiltonredneck at 2012-04-03

By wiltonredneck at 2012-04-03

 

[garretonufer]

welcome. to the site, wlecome to skis. good luck with your semi-restore

 

[kaw440]

welcome its a great sport. as for the js you might want to think about widening the tray if you plan on riding it regularly i get so tired of how narrow it was i did a flatdeck on mine. good luck

 

[N2 H2O]

A wide tray is really nice, but I would suggest just riding and getting used to stand ups before starting a major project. The tray widening doesn't seem that hard at first, but it turns into a snowball effect and turns into a major project. I would just do some basic mods to it at first and then maybe move into heavier mods or a nicer ski. I would at least do a 15.5* impeller, pipe, ride plate, 0 or 4 degree bars, nicer trigger throttle, pole spring, quicksteer, bilge pump, and upgrade to a bn44 or sbn44. All these mods are very basic and easy to do and very important to have IMO.

 

[wiltonredneck]

Thanks for the info. What's a good impeller to get into? We have a small trailer on the California delta so I will be learning a lot this summer. A pm of a couple suggestions would be greatly appreciated for bars, pipes, etc.... Specifics or not. Thank you again.

 

[kaw440]

it depens on what your looking to do and what mods you do. bars i have 7degree bars because i like a little bend but i know other people like 0degree