Flipping couches for fun and profit

[Myself]

On the decals...........I've learned if you spray that outer paper covering with water and let it sit a few minutes, the paper releases off the decal a LOT easier.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Also if you just leave it alone for 10 or 15 minutes it usually comes off without peeling the decals up , the alcohol takes a bit of time to dry the water up. but yeah I am impatient, I know it's a character flaw , probably too late to change now.


Time to go stretch some vinyl on some seats I suppose.

 

[Myself]

I'm working through a GTI LE rfi right now that one of you darn flippers worked on...........LOL! Some random flipper ripped this young kid off. So the story is,.....kid really wanted a jet ski. Found a nice looking yellow 2005 GTi LE Rfi. Grandma gave him 3k to buy it cause it started right up and had low-ish hours. DID NOT water test it. Him and his dad bring it to me cause it dies in the water. Kind of hard to start back up after they pull it out. Put it back in the water and it dies out........rinse and repeat. OK, I start my initial checks and find compression slightly lower in front cylinder, new base gaskets, and a silver color head instead of black. I also notice missing PTO cover, no zip ties on the oil inline filter, starter solenoid ears broken and it's just hanging out there by the gas tank and ecu, fuel line has been cut and aluminum inline filter installed with ZERO hase clamps, broken reverse cable and nut, wear ring completely gone..........OMG, RED FLAGS EVERYWHERE!!! OK, go ahead and pull the head (several loose bolts) because of all the red flags and a bit lower compression up front.........OK, cylinder o'ring on front burnt up and actually missing about a 1.5" section........YEP, that's why it dies out in the water. Rear also looks sort of used up. WSM standard size pistons, and NO crosshatching AT ALL! Like, we can't be bothered with that honing stuff! AT this point there are just SO MANY unknowns! My wife calls the father and explains everything. He gives me the go ahead to replace o'rings, true up the head, replace reverse cable and wear ring. I got some emery cloth down in both holes and gave the cylinders some 'tooth', wiped it all down nice, and measured the bores. Rear at 3.5 thou and front at about 6.5 thou. That doesn't bother me in the least, but still kind of confused about the different color head and new pistons.........I mean........pistons don't just need replaced for no good reason right? Anyway, I installed the wear ring today and noticed a bronze large hub 155mm pump. I thought "Hmm, I guess this was replaced at some point, and with a new delrin wear ring the whole thing is a nice upgrade"......in my opinion. I buttoned the rest up, reset the TPS, and cleared fault codes. Fired it off and tested the voltage, OK, good to lake test. Starts right up, idle straightened right up after about a minute or 2. Ran it around some just sort of feeling it out, engine sounds happy. Cranked it up aaAND...........blah, only 5200 rpms. Slow down, try to hammer it all at once........less than stellar. Then it HITS ME..........BRONZE PUMP........this damn thing is OVER PROPPED! Pulled the reverse gate and nozzles off after dinner tonight, YUP, 951 impeller. OH YA, that would also cause pretty bad deto and ruin a piston or 2 huh? Fixed the problems to find the next problem. Poor kid got ripped up one side and down the other. I think I've got it whipped as soon as I get the right impeller for him. Some of these side job flipper folks are just out to make cash at anybody's expense.

 

[orangefinger]

its so common, more fixing other people's attempts and poor craftsmanship ad lack of actual knowledge how to fix them correctly.

I found a metal basket instead of the plastic battery tray in the rear of my GP, wood and newspaper stuffed into a hole that was fixed with Bondo on a 650 sit down ... no epoxy to be seen , spliced cables and electrical outlets wrapped in packing tape, and so on ..... and always the wrong screws with wrong threads in multiple places ....

 

[WFO Speedracer]

I have no issues swapping stuff but it has to work when I get done , period, I won't let one go out the door unless it is right and tight , call it a character flaw, old school values , work ethic whatever , it's the right thing to do , I sent you a message about the impeller , if it comes down to it I do have one on a ski here but I would prefer to leave it with the ski, what I do a have is a brand new 3D impeller here and I also one out of my 3D as well , those are both 787 RFI 155 mm big hub impellers and should work.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

its so common, more fixing other people's attempts and poor craftsmanship ad lack of actual knowledge how to fix them correctly.

I found a metal basket instead of the plastic battery tray in the rear of my GP, wood and newspaper stuffed into a hole that was fixed with Bondo on a 650 sit down ... no epoxy to be seen , spliced cables and electrical outlets wrapped in packing tape, and so on ..... and always the wrong screws with wrong threads in multiple places ....

The best two I have seen so far is the car distributor bolted through the oil pump hole in the mag cover on a 750 Kawi and the guy that ran wire through the trim cable housing on a GP 800 , he made a loop in the wire and would pull it by hand to trim the ski , brilliant , those two were epic.

Most of my career has been spent fixing stuff other people either screwed up or couldn't find anyone else that could fix it , so nothing new to me here .

 

[WFO Speedracer]

On Hiatus from couch flipping for a few days, I had to retrieve a 2016 Seadoo GTI from a customer for repairs ,it needs a wear ring replaced , that's an easy job so I left it there , while I was up there I got a customer to drop off a Waverunner XL 760 for repairs and consignment sale .

I do these sometimes , I put all the repair money in , provide all the labor , when I sell the machine I take my service , parts and commission money out and the customer gets what is left , this way they spend no money out of pocket to get rid of a ski they have no use for anyway.

I also had this 650SX follow me home it needs major engine repairs, it ran hot and smoked at least the top end, I have to break it down and see what is what..

All three are long term customers .

 

[orangefinger]

well well well .... sometimes just sometimes you get lucky .

I rebuild this engine last year and today i got a phone call from the 1 Owner only Owner of 1994 Polaris SLT , always garaged, all paperwork in place, even the Manual (posted the MFD instructions know some people were looking for that) ..... and .....and .....and ....... she gave us the ski for free ... ?? Im like you can sell this and make money, Im like I can sell it for you .... but she insisted that it goes to a good jet ski family and wanted us to have it for free ...... She is 82 and decided to just keep her 2017 yamaha 4 Stroke.

 

[Myself]

HA!! Can't beat free.
I bought a '98 GTS this week that looks CLEAN but has noisy low end bearings.
Also bought a Polaris Genesis ficht injected that some meth head was working on. Left a bunch of bolts loose and the center cylinder got loose enough while running to break a chunk out of one corner.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

A lot of the skis I get were given to me, that is partially why I keep the service business open , usually they want to dump the ski and keep the trailer though , free is always a good place to start on a flip ski.

 

[orangefinger]

NEED HELP

so I have been working on this dam 750 SX single Keihin carb and just can't get the licoriceer to idle and run. (WILL NOT CONVERT TO MIKUNI)

- Compression Good 145/145
- Replaced fuel tank seal ( or lets say put one in )
- Genuine Keihin rebuild kit
- Unfortunately, the guy rebuilt the carb before with some dump Chinese kit so I had to toss all out ...
- Put my test carb on it and ski runs and holds idle, so i know its carburetor related ... or at least runs with that carb. Would this rule out the reeds?
- Checked tank valve appears ok ( could i take that out and just put an inline one in ? )

BAD NEWS the guy tossed the original spring at time of rebuild ... and the High and Low where 2-3 turns out.

We are dealing with aftermarket flame arrestor

The OEM jetting specs i found is

140 MAIN There is a 145 in there right now
75 Pilot
Spring ... .... 7.4mm 8.7mm 9.2mm or 11.7mm .... ..or what would u use

HS 7/8 +-
LOW 1/2 +-

The weird part is that when I hold my hand over the carb to pull fuel it appears weak and almost not pulling fuel

Pump pressure tested works

I can get it to run by giving it fuel and then feathering it , but it wont hold any idle and it appears to be running high RPMS

Any help appreciated

 

[orangefinger]

HA!! Can't beat free.
I bought a '98 GTS this week that looks CLEAN but has noisy low end bearings.
Also bought a Polaris Genesis ficht injected that some meth head was working on. Left a bunch of bolts loose and the center cylinder got loose enough while running to break a chunk out of one corner.

Holy poop ... and it ran wow

 

[Myself]

On that Keihin.......did you put a keihin flapper on the back of the jet cover? Just like a Mikuni, if it's aftermarket and too thick it can cause serious running issues. Also popoff should be real low on those, like 15-20psi.

 

[orangefinger]

pop off is 20 currently, what flapper ?

 

[WFO Speedracer]

In the pic below in the box marked 10687 but they do not have a separate part number for the check valve .

 

[Myself]

When I said jet cover I was thinking about the CV carbs I currently had apart.......BUT it's that triangular shaped piece 'check' valve. Most of the aftermarket crap is too thick and causes all different kinds of issues. If yours is thin flimsy Keihin brand, you're good.

 

[Batteryman]

I don't like to make a habit of it but just every once in a while it's good to be wrong , I haven't even put the secret sauce on it yet.

What is this secret sauce you ask, well I can't tell you because it's a secret , just kidding it's Zep floor wax , specifically the wet look commercial polish in the link below , a gallon will last you forever , you can but it at Home Depot or on Amazon .

I usually do about three light coats , I don't get picky with application , a folded paper towel will work just fine , when it dries buff the hell out of it by hand with a soft cloth . the results are amazing .

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www.amazon.com

Floor Polish is definitely a secret sauce My dad used to use Future floor polish on our dirt bikes as a kid. it gave the plastic a good shine! They dont make it anymore. Ill have to pick some of this up.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

When I said jet cover I was thinking about the CV carbs I currently had apart.......BUT it's that triangular shaped piece 'check' valve. Most of the aftermarket crap is too thick and causes all different kinds of issues. If yours is thin flimsy Keihin brand, you're good.

I have never had to deal with one that was too thick before I do know if it's missing or damaged it will not idle at all.

I would also double check the series of holes under that plate and the black plastic piece if one or more of the bypass holes is clogged it won't idle either.

 

[orangefinger]

I cleaned all the little bypass holes and the idle holes inside the carburetor with my little wire cleaner, the check valve ( flapper ) is Keihin OEm genuine from the package ...

Anything else we could think of ?

Thx for al the help so far

 

[WFO Speedracer]

An air leak somewhere , worn out throttle shaft bushings ?

I have seen some weird stuff go down on those Kehin 38's and I have also seen carbs that should not have ever run work just fine , they are funky like that .

I ran one for years on my fixie 650SX that was pieced together from parts , it should never have run but it worked just fine.