Surfriding FootRocket Rewind/Rebuild

[Yami-Rider]

Built my footrocket back in jan.(http://www.x-h2o.com/index.php?threads/the-rocket-build-2-0.170531/), it's time to tear down and get it ready for daytona/2017 season, but first, here's a little rewind of my 2016 season of mods.

It's been quite the year for me, between all my new upgrades plus learning how to flip, also greatly improved on my 360s and rolls.

May
I finally upgraded my oem pump to the Solas 148 mag, I was very impressed by the improvements it made to my skis hookup and acceleration.



Impeller spacing was a little tight, so I made a custom SS prop spacer, no time to wait for parts, I wanted to ride that weekend.



Nice and tight



Installed




June
I decided to cut my tubes down 4", what a difference that made to my 360s/rolls, I wish I had done it sooner.





I ended up going in 3", so I can still go 1" shorter. I knew I was going to ovp steering eventually, so I left it at that.



July
Being my 2nd season on a a/m skis, I figured it was about time for trim.



I ended up taking it right back off and adding a static trim stop to prolong trim cable life, also did the steering coupler mod.

 

[Yami-Rider]

and of course repaint



Thanks to skinnyman, I got me a good used protec nozzle and proceeded to work it over.

I had the machine shop cut/bore the end of the nozzle



I had issues with the coupler blowing out on my plastic nozzle, so welded up some ears to support the coupler



Sanded the welds smooth









Painted, installed



The paint was causing excess drag against the coupler, so I ended up polishing the inside, that fixed the problem



Short ride plate and coupler steering mod did wonders for my rolls and 360s. I can flatwater roll/360 now.

 

[Yami-Rider]

August
My friend (@Twake ) had his motor for sale and made me a deal I couldn't refuse, so I headed to his place and picked it up



Out with the old



In with the new !! I stayed up late Friday night to install it. Finally part of the big motor club!



That following day (August 6th sat.) I headed out to my buddies lake house to put the new freestyle weapon to use, no more excuses, I had to go for the backflip!

Ended up beings a successful day!
The feeling of landing my first flip was beyond awesome.

 

[Yami-Rider]

Sept. and Oct. I didn't do any mods, just rode, did many flips and went on a few more trips.

 

[Yami-Rider]

Now November is here, end of the best jetski season I've had so far, went all over the US, hope I can do the same next year.

And now, times to talk about the winter build. I have a fairly short to do list, so shouldn't be a problem knocking it out by the end of December.

First thing first, OVP! been wanting one for about 2 years now lol, ever since I rode @Jyzmbe ski, if you don't like dumbing lots money into your ski, I would recommend not riding other people's ski, I would probably still be on a 650sx if I had never rode a SJ lol.



I wanted riser bars, but i didnt want straight bars, I have always had 4 degree bars, straight bars feel funny to me, I'm sure I could get use to them, but why when I could just make my own... so, I took some dirt bike bars, cut and modified them for jetski application.

I cut a few inches out of the middle, then used a piece of 6061 bar stock and pressed the 2 halves back together.



Then welded back together, you can see there how much I cut out.



Painted/installed. Picture is before I cut a couple inches off each side of the bars, they ended up being the same width as my umi bars I had.



The old chin pad was not going to work



I ended up ordering a carbon chin pad w/ painted skulls from Crazy Joe's Custom



I think I'm going to like this setup, it ended up shorting my controls about 1.5".

 

[N3vrSat1sfied]

Nice to see my old 865 getting some good use! It's been a while since we have rode last. We need another Christmas Eve ride!

 

[Yami-Rider]

Nice to see my old 865 getting some good use! It's been a while since we have rode last. We need another Christmas Eve ride!

If someone would come out to the rides... .

Heck ya, I'm down if the weather is nice again this year.

 

[Twake]

Looking good!!!

 

[SmittySX]

I admire your attention to detail, Austin. Good work.

 

[erik mx45]

looks nice !

 

[Splash4195]

looks good!

 

[Yami-Rider]

Thanks for the kind words.


I needed some kind of bar pad, I don't like the poorly made rrp asr pad, but I knew I wanted something simular to that.
Needed to cover this, so I don't hit it with my knee or something.


I repurposed an old stainless steel waverunner bracket, cut a piece off then stuck in my slip roll machine to get the curve I wanted, then cut out some mounting tabs and a top plate to weld altogether.







Under pad and turfed.

 

[Yami-Rider]

I modified the tank stops once, but didn't cut them back far enough, tank still kept slidding around, you can see where it has sanded away at the fiberglass,


so I cut them further back.



This is what krash inserts look like, I like the idea of foam under the block, helps keep you from drilling into the hull.



Cleaned up and ready for glass.



Fiberglass done, I also washed out the engine bay.



Repaint, almost like it never happened.

 

[Yami-Rider]

So, the back deck has been starting to split, my last one did the same thing, wanting to fix it before it soaks my tray foam (maybe too late) or gets worse.





Cleaned the white glue out.





Used milled glass with epoxy resin, filled and repainted.






I realized my handlepole bushing were shot last weekend, so I ordered some new ones and got them in this morning, sadly, they were the wrong ones .
Wanting to get some work done on the ski, I went to a machine shop and they fixed me up, onward with the build.

Old bushing on top, new ones on bottom. New ones were .200" too wide and .030 too big around.


5 seasons of use, they were pretty egged out. Oldies on top.



Lathe ftw!


New breather tubes, stiffen pole spring a little and new bushings, nice and tight for next season.

 

[Ochocoronas]

What would you take forHer? Tool Porn!

 

[Twake]

Top notch work.

 

[Yami-Rider]

What would you take forHer? Tool Porn!

Lol, not for sale. Part number is PTS1000.

 

[Jyzmbe]

I never got the tag. I just stumbled across this. Don't forget to add that your ski turns to the right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Yami-Rider]

I never got the tag. I just stumbled across this. Don't forget to add that your ski turns to the right now


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is true. Probabaly still only turn left, will feel odd turning right lol.