2006 Kawasaki X2 Refresher

K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
Hi Guys,

Long time lurker here on the forum. I haven't posted a thread for a long-ass time so I thought I better post one with "winter" around the corner here in Australia. I've also found a lack of good photos with good details on the Gen 2 so I'm hoping to fill the void there with some good info. If anyone wants any photos or details or measurements please let me know and I will try my best to fill the gap on any info. So far ( to my knowledge) the only things unique to this ski are the steering cable ( Part number : 06-3782-6A-048, $250-300AUD ), the hood hinge, and possibly the steering base on the hood. There is also no microfiche, at least that I can access, for this ski.

I haven't had a chance to compare the steering base to any other kawi stuff at this point in time, but the top tower/post/column is interchangeable with an stx or zxi tower. The stx one is taller (measurements to come later) and the zxi unit has an angle on it similar to the Gen 1 X2 bolted in the middle position, and is slightly taller than a stock Gen2 tower.

I got this ski towards the end of January and its been great with no real dramas. I didn't get a lot of photos of it back then, but all it really wanted was a new pipe coupler (it had a few pinholes, and wasn't the right style either) and the carbies checked out. I discovered that it was missing one of the reed gaskets and the reed petals weren't sealing real well against the cage. After replacing them its been running real good, well up until last Saturday when the steering cable finally let go and I could barely turn at all.

I'm a bit out of the loop on images hosting/linking but if there is any dramas let me know.

My main list of things I wanted to accomplish on this ski:

Inspect crank seals
Replace all the mild steel bolts the PO used
Replace head O-rings
Lubricate the Pump and Carrier Bearing as best as I can
Spend too much time in the sand blasting cabinet on small parts
Spend too much money on powder coating
Spend too much money on Bling Bling and Turf
Acquire a steering cable by some means
New steering tower (taller), bars, grips, throttle etc
Get some wattholes installed for the bilge switch and primer
Install a second bilge under the seat where the water actually sits
New spark plug leads
Turf the rails
Get the hinge welded and some sort of gas struts or reinforcement.


Should be a good build overall.
I'll try and update at least weekly, but bi weekly would be better. At the time of writing the ski is completely stripped out already.
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What started this tear down now instead of later on ^^^
 
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K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
After getting the steering cable out me and my old man started ringing around various boat suppliers trying to find a generic cable instead of the pricey OEM cable. Everyone had the correct length cable (just shy of 9ft or 2.7 meters), but they all had the wrong amount of throw (3 inches as opposed to 4) or an imperial threaded end. It turned out to be a real pain to find a cable, and with these models being almost non-existent here we couldn't get a second hand cable from the local wreckers, or several dealerships/indie shops. We are still trying to get onto a new cable at the moment, just waiting for some return phone calls and prices.

I've tried to write up the process as best as I can that we used to make this cable but I missed out on seeing a lot of it, but it was really good to see how a cable goes together.

In the end we were able to make our own cable out of two cables. I wish that I was watching pops when he started this, but I was a bit late to the party and only helped him crimp it on and trim the outer to the correct length. We settled on making it about 9ft total length. He had cut apart an older SXI cable that had some tears on one end. We used the outer from this, after carefully measuring the length of the original cables inner and the amount of throw. I missed watching him machine the various ends to make it all fit. We cleaned out the outer cables inner sleeve several times with brake cleaner (god bless brake cleaner) and lubricated it with fogging oil. The next step was to slide in the cable in with one end on it. This was greased very thoroughly as it went in. We put the metal outers on the other end of the cable, and used a hydraulic crimper and die and crimped the threaded rod ( that was drilled out previously) on the inner cable to approx 10 tonnes. I hope this cable holds out. Sadly I didn't get any pictures of this process.
 

K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
These are just some various reference photos in case anyone every wonders what the inside of the hull looks like completely stripped out. It seems almost identical to an sxr. You can sort of see the spot where the battery would sit in a sxr, its near the exhaust tube. I cleaned the hull a couple times and its come up a lot cleaner. I had some luck with this ski taking it apart. I knew it had TBM sponsons, intake grate and ride plate, but on further inspection it also has a "TBM super pump cone. I am still not 100% sure on what the prop is, but the ski absolutely hauls ass so it must be pretty good. Also during the tear down of the motor I discovered it had a TBM LW Charging flywheel. Score!! It looks like at some point a starter clutch or flywheel grenaded in the front cover. Plenty of metal flakes and dust in there. And to top it all off it had a TDR waterbox, but unfortunately it looks like at some point in time it ran super hot and melted alot of the foam at the front of the ski. Does anyone know if this foam is unique to the G2 or is it the same as and sxr.IMG_20180419_130630471.jpg
Looking up at the nose
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Looking back from where the fuel tank sits
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Carby side

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Exhaust side

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Had to heat it up a bit, the shaft was fairly rusty
 

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K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
I got unexpectedly busy so I haven't had a lot of opportunities to work on this project. I found that stx/zxi steering bushes work on the G2, however the actuall shaft and arm are different as is the steering base. The shaft on the g2 seems to have a different offset than the stx/zxi setup. The locking collar is the same which is good too. I'll try to grab some pics soon.

I had a whole lot of photos ready to upload of the motor teardown and other things, but the lighting on my bench interferes with my camera and I didn't pick it up until I was done.

In the meantime I've refreshed the hood latches as they were very stiff to lock and unlock. (Does anyone want a tutorial on this? It's super easy and makes such a difference )I have also washed and oiled the crank, just waiting on seals before I put it back together. I asked my pops to work his magic on the leading edges of the prop as there a few little nicks/dings. Also sand blasted the inside of the hub and splines as it was quite rusty.

Planning to pick up the parts I need on Friday and hopefully have the motor back together next week. I've also got some like new second hand engine mounts as two of mine were broken.

Can't wait to rip on this ski

Photos are of the prop before and after sand blasting, and a light polish. You can see the belt sander marks where it was ground down a bit. The last photo is crank after washing and oiling. There is some very light rust on it still I haven't wiped off. All the bearings spin great, rods feel good and the keyway looks good. too.
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Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using crapatalk
 
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I feel your pain I searched for months for a steering cable I can get them new now made to oem specs for less than OEM prices.. I will check the lenght in my notes and let you know if you Did good on length.

The foam as far as I know is the same as sxr except for the tall chunk on the right hand side.. the sxr exhaust through the hull is also high with the battery underneath... SO there is a large chunk of foam the exhaust tube sits on to the right of the fuel tank..

The foam seems to melt under the water boxes pretty easy on these skis. I took a chunk of turf and drilled holes in it and put it under my water box with the ridges toward the box so air can get in there..

I found a website with the gen2 it's book marked somewhere when I find it I'll let you know...

I would suggest 4 or5 thing's not on your list... I would replace the end bearings on the crank if they have any side play and 8 would check the top end and do a hone and new rings while it's out if it's within spec.
I would drill a 1/8" hole in the lower water jacket that is land locked on the cylinder I will post a picture later.. I would buy new circlips for the wristpins and not re use the old ones.. I would also drill out all the water fittings for better flow.. And I would grind out a bunch of Kawasakis excess glue from bonding the top and bottom decks... Aperantly you can shave 12 pounds off a stock hull also a 750-650 bed plate is 2 pounds lighter and probably just as strong...

Maybie you could answer some of my questions about the ski mine is a aftermarket hull so I don't really know how the stock set up compares.
 

K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
I feel your pain I searched for months for a steering cable I can get them new now made to oem specs for less than OEM prices.. I will check the lenght in my notes and let you know if you Did good on length.

The foam as far as I know is the same as sxr except for the tall chunk on the right hand side.. the sxr exhaust through the hull is also high with the battery underneath... SO there is a large chunk of foam the exhaust tube sits on to the right of the fuel tank..

The foam seems to melt under the water boxes pretty easy on these skis. I took a chunk of turf and drilled holes in it and put it under my water box with the ridges toward the box so air can get in there..

I found a website with the gen2 it's book marked somewhere when I find it I'll let you know...

I would suggest 4 or5 thing's not on your list... I would replace the end bearings on the crank if they have any side play and 8 would check the top end and do a hone and new rings while it's out if it's within spec.
I would drill a 1/8" hole in the lower water jacket that is land locked on the cylinder I will post a picture later.. I would buy new circlips for the wristpins and not re use the old ones.. I would also drill out all the water fittings for better flow.. And I would grind out a bunch of Kawasakis excess glue from bonding the top and bottom decks... Aperantly you can shave 12 pounds off a stock hull also a 750-650 bed plate is 2 pounds lighter and probably just as strong...

Maybie you could answer some of my questions about the ski mine is a aftermarket hull so I don't really know how the stock set up compares.
Most of these mods were on my list, but thanks for reminding me to actually do them.

I picked up a new base gasket today, along with seals and little end rollers. Just waiting on an oring set for the head and some time to put all this junk back together.

Next week I'll grab some photos and measurements possibly of all the steering bits I've sourced for future reference. Hopefully the motor will be 90% together, and maybe even turfing the rails and doing foot straps. Also planning on making a rubber/turf pad to sit under the water and also re-turd the box because it's fairly melty looking. Lots of things to do.

I get our local head guy to soda blast most of the paint off and then I come in and sand blast it in our cab to hit the last bits and do fine detail. I also sand blasted the water sprayer outlets on the inside of the head pipe, followed by clearing the holes with a welding tip wire cleaner set to make sure it was clear. Last step was to flush the water jacket out for about 5 mins to get any stray sand out. I cleaned and sorted most of the nuts and bolts from the entire ski. The last photo is all the sand etc that gets caught in the threads and heads of bolts. Pretty gross stuff.

I'll update again later next week.
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105.5" imperial inches threaded rod end to threaded rod end is what I have for steering cable. And I am 90% sure that was a original OEM coppy I pulled out of the boat..


Here is the microphish site I finally found with gen2 you might be able to order from them I think I would get railed on shipping http://www.kawasakioriginalparts.com/jet-ski.html?machineid=32&year=2007&model=JF800A7F

Can you tell me some things please
Lenght of throttle cable and if it was mounted to the hood and how it was routed in the hull?

Exaust hose did it only have the one bracket on the hull and just one big long hose or did it have some metal pipe fittings with bends on the right side of the hull ?

Where did the factory bilge mount go ?

Thanks
 

K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
Hunkered down on Friday and got some good work done that I had been putting off. I turfed the rails as the stick on bumpers were coming off and I don't really like the OEM bumpers, and they also cost a lot of money. I think turf looks better anyway. I also "drilled" out the fuel tap and choke holes to accept wattholes and turfed that area over. I think it came out pretty mint. I sanded the edge of the turf with a pistol grip air sander (forgot to get a pic of this afterwards).
It seems to provide the best looking and smoothest finish over a razor blade or scissors. I also got the water box in and the exhaust hose.

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@Garcass


I'll measure up all those things for you sometime this week and post them here. The exhaust hose from the waterbox has a curved rubber piece, a metal connector (looks similar to STX/Ultra models, will measure and compare for reference) and then the hose to the hull outlet. It does not have the metal bracket that SXRs have with the three phillips head bolts on the hull where the hood sits. The factory bilge mount sits in front of the carrier bearing as seen in the photo.
 
Thank you I have been looking for answers on these skis for a year now...Got the bilge mount info thanks! good on the exaust hose and water box setup info as well...

Throttle cable length and routing in the hull would be awesome...
Picture of the hood hinge would be awesome!
Battery cable length would be awesome!
Lenghth of tank straps and water box straps would be awesome!

I had to purchase a whole box of old straps to find some that would work but the Lenghth that did I don't have any more of and buying new is over $100..

Is there a lot of stress cracks in the pump area in the top ? The picture is of my ski just curious...

Looks like the tube on the left hand bottom of inside is for the steering cable and the arch bulkhead plastic area is where the battery cables go through to the battery ?

Not going to cut out any of the excess bond rail glue mess ?

I would only turf on the sides of the water box that touch the foam... And if your straps are loose on the WB you can glue several small chuncks together to make a little square block and notch the top for the strap to sit in.. The more air that can move around the outside of the box the Better to let the heat dissipate...

Turfed rails look good don't toss the stock ones if they aren't beat they arent cheap!
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K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
Hi Garcass,

Good news for you. Next week I'll be doing a detailed post on how the hinge goes together and how it attaches to the hood etc. I took it apart to get those tears welded and then decided to go with powder-coat as well. I checked against the microfiche for that throttle cable and it is the same for an SXR apparently. I'll post up a pic when the hood is back on. I'll have an sxr to reference by the time all my parts arrive. Genuine crank seals won't be in until next month unfortunately, but I can always ride my other ski ( I attached a pic) so no big deal.

I'll do a write up on how I make/renew older cables for re use. I won't be able to do much until next week so make sure you write down any questions you have me and shoot me a pm or reply here. I will answer all your questions in one post if I can and also make a separate post in the X2 section as well for future reference.

There seems to be a severe lack of info on these skis compared to gen 1 x2's.IMG_20171222_131502226_HDR[1].jpg

I also rang a local Kawi dealer and he was kind enough to tell me that this ski originally came from Western Australia. I live in Brisbane and bought it from Victoria. This ski has been everywhere, man.
 
I pretty much posted all my questions... I also cross reffranced the throttle cable on microphish but was just curious how they routed it on a gen2... Theres a huge lack of info here in the U.S. where they didint even get sold

here's the last mock up picture I took when finalized my wires and fuel lines... The next time I put the motor in its staying in

And a pic of my other ski as well
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K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
Great looking ski Garcass! Love the purple head pipe.

Unfortunately I've been really busy and haven't been able to update this thread which is a bit dissapointing, but life happens ya know.

The good news is that all my gaskets, ARS crank seals and o rings have all arrived, so I can put the motor together.

In the meantime after a whole lot of drama with the steering shaft (had to get the lathe and a welder involved), I finally got the steering tower on and it looks super tough. I think together with the turf on the rails it looks much more modern/updated.

Hoping to write up all the things I've learnt this week, but more likely next week ( I have a week off!) with full pictures and explanations.
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K-Man

No smoke like Two Stroke!
Location
Queensland
Got pretty busy on my break, sleeping in and all.

So far I have:

Put the bottom end back together
Got new o ring kit for head and a base gasket
Got the ebox back together almost
Put the jet pump back in
Put the steering cable back in
Sourced some Yamaha stainless Ball sockets + ball post for both ends, along with the new RRP steering nut strengthener
In relation to the new steering tower shaft I had welded, the captive nut was on the wrong side, luckily the new Yamaha style ball posts I got are long enough to go all the way through the nut and out the back for a nylock nut, and this is the same for the steering nozzle.
Hinge, Hood, and steering tower on

Information I have learned:

Steering cable is totally unique to ski as far as I can find. Part Number: 59406-3782. It is approximately 9ft/2.7m long and has around 4 inches of travel.

The throttle cable is the same as any SXR. I have not checked if this is the cable that is in my ski but I will need a new one anyway. Might end up using a couch cable or something. Will have to see what is laying around.

The S/S harness is probably also the same as an SXR. You could use any kawi switch really as long as it was long enough.

Steering tower:

The steering tower shares several components with other couch skis. The bushes can be used, as can the stopper bit, the castle nut and any steering tower/post. I went with the stx post because its the tallest and I'm pretty tall and would like to be a bit more comfortable.

The shaft and arm are also unique to this ski. The square part on the top of the post is indexed to the ball differently to couch shafts. This means that if you use the incorrect shaft with this cable and system, it may have insufficient throw, or turn more one way than the other etc. I had some difficulty removing my shaft as the salt usually packs in between the two square parts of the post/stopper and make its difficult to take apart. I had to use a big ass brass hammer to smash it out, and ended up peening the top of the shaft over so much the castle nut wouldn't thread back on, and a tap would not correct this.

This led to a huge debacle to make up a new one. We successfully unpicked the weld using a lathe. Generally if you stand near a lathe long enough something usually turns up ;).

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We matched up the shafts on the bench and tried to get the indexing as close as possible (the square part of the shaft in relation to the ball post) using a straight edge. It was then tacked with our MIG. Initially we tried the weld ourselves but had trouble keeping the arm parallel with the bush. It would probably accelerate wear on the bushes and even break. So we caved, re picked the welds, re tacked and dropped it to a local stainless shop and they laid down some sweet as welds on it. Also did up a spare as well.
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I like these particular Yamaha ones as the outer part is indexed to the inner part so it doesn't slide around itself and is easier to put on when you can't see what you are doing.
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Overall it was a bit of a struggle to get it together with all the little mishaps, however it turned out really good and the steering feels good with the new bushes, grease, cable and ball sockets/posts. The next post will be about the hinge.

I think the ski looks really tough now with all the black steering bits.

Edit: Added a before photo and re sized the pics. I've also tried to format the post a bit better but still getting the hang of forums.

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