Shonuff's 1996 SuperJet from Grand Rapids

[Shonuff]

I bought my newest SuperJet from Josh Lambert, the owner of Opie’s Motorsports in Grand Rapids, MI. It was a situation where the asking price was in my opinion worth the list of mods alone but in hindsight, I wish I would have known more about the condition of the hull and I would have talked him down.

The ski was listed here on X-H20. In IceRocket's description, it listed with the following mods:

Factory B Pipe
Novi 46MM Carbs
Prok filters
Girdled head
MSD Ignition Enhancer
UMI Steering & Bars
Skat Prop
Intake Grate and Ride plate

Here are the photos from the ad in X-H20’s For Sale Section

 

[Matt_E]

What was the matter with the hull?

 

[Big Kahuna]

how about resizing the pics..........

 

[Shonuff]

I live in Memphis, TN but I’m from Muskegon, MI and I’ve made the 10 hour trip countless times so I know it very well. Since I have Thursdays off, I figured I could drive up after work on Wednesday, stay somewhere en route, then finish the drive to GR and return on Thursday such that I could go back to work on Friday and that’s what I did.

The trip was the same as it always was except that it rained from Missouri on up and got very cold as I neared Michigan. I stayed in New Buffalo, MI Wednesday night and got up early Thursday to finish my way to Grand Rapids.

I got to Opie’s and backed into his garage and inspected the ski. IT WAS SCUFFED, SCRATCHED, CHIPPED, and FILTHY! The engine bay was dirty and grimy but all parts were there so I grabbed my compression gauge and went to work. The ski cranked out 160psi equally in both cylinders so I gave him the money and we loaded it up.

I was terribly upset that the metal ski stand didn’t fit in the car but what are you going to do?

Here's Josh or Opie as he is called.

 

[Shonuff]

how about resizing the pics..........

Is this better or would you prefer smaller than 640x480?

The other pics are the ones from the For Sale section.

 

[Shonuff]

I drove back to Memphis with the ski and quickly made a stand for it.

Every time you touch the ski, or rub against it, or look at it too long, you get dirty. I mean, the thing was absolutely filthy. I rinsed the exterior with some simple green and wiped the grime down to a workable level.

 

[Shonuff]

The zip-tied, broke-ass handlepole pad was the first thing to go.
Next was the PURPLE front and rear corner bumpers and the side rails. The graphics were next.

 

[Big Kahuna]

Time for some Greased Lightning!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Shonuff]

The tray was next on the list and the plastic tray insert was removed first. The ski did not come with a primer or fuel selector knob so the little holes were siliconed closed with little plastic caps. The caps were removed and the insert was next. The Hydrotuf was old and nasty and was apparently glued on with Wildwood Kyyptonite Cement. It put up quite a fight but with the use of a scraper, some Rapid Remover, a paint stripper, and lots of profanity, six hours later, everything was gone. I patched some little gouges with Marine Tex and sanded it down after an hour or so. (Just so everyone knows, Marine Tex is not impressed with sandpaper and also fights a good fight.)

 

[Shonuff]

I let the tray sit bare and sanded and moved to the pump which kept making me dirty every time I moved the ski. I removed the four bolts on the rideplate and immediately reconditioned them with a wire wheel. Man, they really clean up nicely.

 

[Shonuff]

This is actually when I found out the ski had a pumpstuffer as I was trying to remove the intake and noticed two extra nuts and the stuffer in the hull. I cut the cooling and strainer lines, removed the bolts holding the pump on, reconditioned them, and pulled the pump out. After pulling the pump, I was able to get the pumpstuffer out and man, IT WAS TRASHED!

So you're probably wondering where the rocks went after they chipped up the pump stuffer? Well after seeing the impeller, you will wonder no more.

 

[Shonuff]

I disassembled the pump, cleaned everything nicely, refinished all the hardware, and noticed a few chips and dents in both the impeller and the pump veins. I sent both off to Impros for a Stage I repair and race finish.

The rest of the pump was set aside.

I should also note here that although the ski was listed with a Skat prop, it really had a Solas Concord.

 

[Shonuff]

Before I did any more paint prep, I needed to remove the engine, see what needed to be replaced, cleaned, polished, etc so that’s what was next.

I disconnected the battery cables noting what connections were made and removed the battery. The tray was next. The battery tray was some kind of funky so it got a hard scrubbing.

The fuel pump was next. I have never dealt with a remote fuel pump so I noted all connections and cut it loose. Not surprisingly, it emptied its contents into the hull.
The fuel pump was chipped and ugly but seemed to work at this point so I merely polished it up and set it aside debating whether or not to rebuild it. As it turns out, I just replaced it because they're reasonably inexpensive.

The gas tank came out next. It was filled about 2/3 of the way and with gas prices what they are, this essentially cut the cost of the ski in half. I went to Lowe’s and bought a five gallon gas can in which to put the gas and a funnel.

 

[Shonuff]

I cleaned the gas tank with Simple Green on the outside and just water on the inside.

 

[Shonuff]

I have never taken an exhaust system apart. I don’t know what kind of sludge builds in a “normal” ski. My new ski could be normal, but if it is, I know why people hate 2-strokes. My entire exhaust from the mod chamber through the waterbox and out the back was covered and partly filled with a very oily, thin, black, sludgy liquid.

Lots of degreaser and powerwashing later, they looked a little better. I got bored that day so I refinished the outer surface of the waterbox.

 

[Shonuff]

I took the corroded, nasty factory pipe bolts off and gave them a beautiful refinish.(I would later simply buy new chrome ones) The headpipe was set aside.

I disconnected the electrical box, unbolted the bed plate from the motor mounts, and slid the engine forward a little.

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I am not strong enough to simply lift the engine out and carry it over to my work bench so I fabricated a hoist out of nylon rope. It has a central loop from which four ropes are “tied” with rope bolts to the bed plate and the loop is suspended from my pull-up bar in my garage. At 11:00pm, the engine was pulled. Once out, I carried it over to my work bench.

 

[Shonuff]

It was at this point when I was evaluating my carbs that I noticed they didn’t look like the 46mm Novis that were listed. I also noticed that they only had one primer fitting.

I emailed Novi and they imformed me that they were in fact Full Spectrums.

 

[Shonuff]

I left the engine alone on the bench for a while to focus back on the hull.


The hull looked pretty busy for an empty hull so I pressed on. I pulled the intermediate shaft housing, motor mounts, bilge pump, strainer, water separator, all cooling lines, and rubber gas tank strips.

The ski had an additional line run for dual cooling. It was blocked off at the pump and when it entered the engine bay, it actually ran straight to one of two pissers located at the rear of the compartment.

The other pisser was teed off from the rear head going to the head pipe. (?)

Both pissers were removed. One put up quite a fight but it was nothing a pair of vice grips on the nut, a screwdriver jammed in the outlet hole, and some heavy profanity couldn’t fix. There were two more pissers at the front of the engine that were also removed along with the purple, I repeat purple bilge outlet.

I unscrewed the two Phillips screws holding the plastic nose piece on, pulled it, removed the bracket, and set all aside. I unbolted the handlepole.

 

[Shonuff]

**Getting the steering cable out is not an easy business. I removed the end at the pump along with the little nut, the plastic cap as it enters the hull, the washer, the plastic retainer holding that washer, and the rubber boot. The steering cable then pulls out into the hull and out with the handlepole.

The handlepole was removed and set aside.

I unbolted the handlepole bracket and set it aside. I had already purchased a less-used one off eBay and had refinished it to a lovely newness.

 

[michael950]

WHAT!!!! No XMetal lowered bracket or UMI lowered bracket!?