John's budget SJ build

[tbaer]

i hated how my ski used to be blue and red. i ripped the red stickers off of it and left it blue and white... well now it's black and orange

 

[Waternut]

lose the cover and turf it... it will match the tray... plus the gray looks good next to the black pole.

That's not a bad idea. I do have a spare chin pad that doesn't have the pad... Maybe I've got some scraps of turf that will still fit. If I do, it'll be cheaper than buying another $7 can of vinyl paint.

 

[N3vrSat1sfied]

That's not a bad idea. I do have a spare chin pad that doesn't have the pad... Maybe I've got some scraps of turf that will still fit. If I do, it'll be cheaper than buying another $7 can of vinyl paint.

x2 on the Turf!

 

[Waternut]

It's amazing how fast things get completed when you don't run into problems. I bought some red prism letters for my registration numbers and I'm missing one page...with the letters that I need. WTF!!

Intake gaskets from my wiseco top end gasket kit don't fit. They are really close but don't fit so I can't pressure check the engine which means I can't install it, setup the total loss, etc.

I also realized that the brake lever I want to use for the throttle hits the chin pad because of the straight bars and shortened turn plate. My dad used to work on cars, engines, etc. and I now see why he just pays people to do all the work for him.

 

[McDog]

It's always something.

 

[N3vrSat1sfied]

o well keep on diggin john. youll get there and have a awsome ski when its done

 

[Waternut]

Finally a little bit of luck! I tried 3 different pole springs and even tried one and half pole springs and none of them offered any resistance so before buying from Blowsion, I went to tractor supply and bought a rake spring (whatever that is) for $2. I had to cut the tips off the spring because it was too long but here are the results... Hopefully that hood hook holds up to that kind of thing.

 

[Waternut]

Back to business as usual... Finally got my intake gaskets in today and installed them. Did a quick pressure check on the engine and sure enough...there's a leak between the case halves. One of these days I'll be able to fire it up.

 

[Waternut]

Worked most of today putting everything back together and shock and awww...something else F*cked up! I now have to cut a hole in the bulkhead to get the nut plate that fell into front foothold. I mean...honestly...if the engine shoots a rod through the bottom of the hull the first time it fires, it would complete the picture.

 

[McDog]

You poor bastard. Keep pluggin!

 

[tbaer]

i know how you feel man. we got jordans ski back together and go figure it didn't have spark. turns out his stator or pick up is bad! he just got it back from jss too!

 

[Waternut]

Well I cut my hole and dug out the nut plate. I was thinking of fiberglassing over it but I'm thinking now that it might be smarter to just leave it open to eliminate the problem that I'll inevitably see when the foothold fills with water. I just drilled new holes in the total loss mounting plate.

You can see my 800gph bilge pump here too. It's a really tight fit so we'll see how that goes. Got it on closeout for $5 at the end of the season last year at Walmart and 2 months later they're selling the same thing at full price.

 

[Waternut]

I finally got it back together today. It sparks and it actually started as well but I immediately shut it off because I freaked since it was louder than I expected and I had turned up the idle screw a good bit to make sure it had enough. Then the battery was too dead to fire it up again.

I didn't hook up the bilge yet and I haven't installed a primer thanks to A&D discount performance taking over a month to get it to me. I figured it would be ok this time since I wasn't in a rush but it's been 3 weeks. I suck at buying new parts...always order from the place that messes up orders or takes forever.

 

[McDog]

Looks good man. Your engine bay has all the colors of your 750!

 

[Waternut]

Yeah you're right...haha. I didn't even think of that. The red cooling lines were coincidence though. I had a decent air hose reel that I let touch the compressor lines and it melted the hose so I decided to upgrade and use this stuff for misc. jobs...like cooling lines. :Banane09:

 

[Waternut]

I got the ski to fire up, then it shut off, fired up again, shut off...gave it a bit more fuel and something fired up but it wasn't the engine.

That beautiful clean hull has been tainted with my bad luck. That beautiful clean hull has been tainted with my bad luck along with bits of fiberglass, rivets, and soot.

Although I gotta count that as good and bad luck for me...my ears still hurt but it didn't blow the tank up, I still have my eyebrows, and as far as I can tell, the engine is ok. Though when it blew, I saw a big flash on the polished chamber and thought I blew the chamber up.

 

[Cliff]

damnit! that thing just dont want to run.

 

[BruceSki]

get a stock roundnose box. they go pretty cheap if you can find one

 

[McDog]

You are the only person I know who can explode a waterbox....twice.:261:

Too bad I just sold my waterbox.

 

[N3vrSat1sfied]

Man,
Good news is Atleast you know your not the only one having problems with your build.