Freestyle Blunder Jet

iangdesign

Cats, lots of cats!
Location
United States
Get to it.

I think you mean...

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iangdesign

Cats, lots of cats!
Location
United States
So he fell asleep at his computer and then decided to work on his buddies ignition system? May wanna double check everything when he gives it back to ya...haha ;-)

But really it's the middle of a very boring work week and the rest of us need some entertainment...
 

baxt3r

BBQ
Location
Charlotte, NC
So he fell asleep at his computer and then decided to work on his buddies ignition system? May wanna double check everything when he gives it back to ya...haha ;-)

But really it's the middle of a very boring work week and the rest of us need some entertainment...

Might I recommend beer? Usually helps me with a boring evening.
 

Aquaholic

World's Oldest Teenager
Location
San Diego, CA.
Where did I leave off? OK...so, With the ski uncrated and water finally running through it's veins...it's go time! I took off from shore and cautiously blipped the throttle. You know that feeling of the first few minutes of run time on a new boat... that initial, first impression thing. Listening to the motor, feeling the drivetrain out. and the overall handling...Wow, or cow?

The motor had absolutely no bottom end. NADA. The power band felt like a light switch...On, or OFF.
Perhaps it just needed some break in time? Maybe the jetting was off? Propped too high? Something was way off.
This ski felt heavy, bulky, and cumbersome compared to my JS hull. It felt like a barge, actually. Straight line line stability was there. And, throwing it into some S turns...It felt stable enough. But, the pivot point for the pole was much farther back than, my 550. Too far back, kind of like the Kawi 650's setup, which made for an awkward, almost disconnected steering input sensation.

I made a few more passes, thinking that I could talk myself into liking this thing.

My friends were all back at the beach watching and waiting for me to return to give them my impressions. Actually, I was in a mild state of panic. Not only was the motor not performing, but my first impressions of the way the hull handled was not good.

I played around with the high and low speed screws on the dual 38's...but, that wasn't yielding any real results. I figured I would sort that out later, after breaking the motor in. My main concern was the realization quickly starting to sink in, that I had made a horrible mistake. A really expensive horrible mistake.
 
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Aquaholic

World's Oldest Teenager
Location
San Diego, CA.
You guys still awake?

I fiddled with the high and low screws all that first day with negligible results. Big disappointment. But, that quickly became the least of my problems. Early in the morning on day 2, the steering cable snapped. Game over. It was a long drive home from the river.

I drove up to the factory in Huntington Beach the following week, and had them replace the steering cable under warranty. This would be the first of many such trips.

Determined to coax some pop out of that under-performing motor, I swapped out the flame arrestors for a set of less restrictive, Ocean Pros and a change of jets. A little more timing advance to spice things up, further, and...I also bumped up the compression with a higher compression, PJS head.

The more research I did on this "Race" motor, what I found out was... that it was nowhere near one of the bona fide race motors that were coming out of the PJS facility. Sure, It said PJS all over, but in reality, it was really a mild, detuned, pedestrian version.

The porting was nothing special, the pipe was a short cone, high rpm, race version. The 440 style "Afterburner" pump was a cheap aluminum, knockoff version of the real Afterbuner pumps used on the PJS race boats.

That pump and prop configuration may have been good for top end, but, it offered up no bottom end at all.

As disappointed as I was in how this hull handled...I was even more depressed at how the motor ran.


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