Kommander GP1

[kentknudsen92]

56mph is incredible ! I have one with an 1100 in it and best run has been 57mph....
I will be very interested to hear your comparison once you get that 1500 installed, I have never ridden one and just couldn't wait when I came across mine ...

 

[smokeysevin]

What does the 1500 need to get running? most zx12r top end parts basically drop on with a few exceptions.

Sneaky tip, you can use je 9.8:1 "turbo" pistons from a zx12r in a 15f motor to raise the compression ratio while still being pump gas safe.

If you opt to run race fuel I can flash the ecu to the old riva race gas kit but that is 12f pistons (something like 14:1 compression), zx12r camshafts, and required ms109. This will require a 15f ecu and harness not a sxr kit though.

Sean

 

[davidescu_radu]

Can u share a picture with the bottom hull? to see the shape of it? thks

 

[davidescu_radu]

What does the 1500 need to get running? most zx12r top end parts basically drop on with a few exceptions.

Sneaky tip, you can use je 9.8:1 "turbo" pistons from a zx12r in a 15f motor to raise the compression ratio while still being pump gas safe.

If you opt to run race fuel I can flash the ecu to the old riva race gas kit but that is 12f pistons (something like 14:1 compression), zx12r camshafts, and required ms109. This will require a 15f ecu and harness not a sxr kit though.

Sean

where can we buy those turbo zx12r pistons?

 

[smokeysevin]

I bought them a few years ago from (https://www.orientexpress.com/p-985-je-piston-kit-kawasaki.aspx) but the price has gone up since then.

Specs: https://www.jepistons.com/pistons-222108

Sean

 

[davidescu_radu]

so much for 1 piston?

 

[Wyatt]

So things have been very busy lately, I have acquired my "new" skat trak 145 14v pump, received parts from blowsion, finished the turf, and in an unfortunate turn, I have begun to remove the bedplates. Earlier this week I made a trip down to Paul Lehr's house for his advise and what our original plan was is that I was going to cut out the cracked and lifting sections of the bedplates and we were going to lay some carbon fiber to reinforce the sections we had cut out. So I started cutting and when I got about 3/4 inch down the crack the bedplate became hollow. Turns out the whole bedplates are completely hollow except for an about 1/2 to 3/4 inch strip of glue around the edges. With this new information, I called Paul and our new solution is that I will remove the bedplates, which isn't too bad so far, and we will fix all the cracks and reinforce and fill in all the void under the bedplates. I will post pictures tomorrow of the current progress.

I ride with my back foot perpendicular to the tray, not seeing how that would work, would have to build up the lower section then make tray smooth.........

O yes, doing the turf on this thing was a nightmare. I used two hydro turf 2.5"-48"-1" lifting wedges, 1 1" kicker, 1 2" kicker and a sheet of underpadding. I hope i do not have to do it again for a while.

What does the 1500 need to get running? most zx12r top end parts basically drop on with a few exceptions.

Sneaky tip, you can use je 9.8:1 "turbo" pistons from a zx12r in a 15f motor to raise the compression ratio while still being pump gas safe.

If you opt to run race fuel I can flash the ecu to the old riva race gas kit but that is 12f pistons (something like 14:1 compression), zx12r camshafts, and required ms109. This will require a 15f ecu and harness not a sxr kit though.

Sean

So I abandoned the 15f build route and bought an sxr 1500 because after all the cost to get it to the same as an sxr motor and rebuilt. It was going to cost me just about as much as buying an sxr. So I traded the 15f for some parts for my Polaris hurricane and some other things.

Can u share a picture with the bottom hull? to see the shape of it? thks

I will take a picture tomorrow!

 

[smokeysevin]

For all intents and purposes the sxr1500 and 15f motor are the same. Hell, the ultra 310 motor and the 15f are about 80% the same

Sean

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

 

[Wyatt]

For all intents and purposes the sxr1500 and 15f motor are the same. Hell, the ultra 310 motor and the 15f are about 80% the same

Sean

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

Yeah I know they are almost the same but the cost of having to buy a 310 intake, sensors, head work, ECU, wiring harness, timing chains, gaskets, bearings, rings, and bolts (all rusted away). it was going to cost around 4000 to 4500 on a motor that has over 200 hours on it. When I could buy an sxr 1500 for 5800 and not have to deal with all that plus it only had 30 hours on it .

 

[smokeysevin]

Yeah I know they are almost the same but the cost of having to buy a 310 intake, sensors, head work, ECU, wiring harness, timing chains, gaskets, bearings, rings, and bolts (all rusted away). it was going to cost around 4000 to 4500 on a motor that has over 200 hours on it. When I could buy an sxr 1500 for 5800 and not have to deal with all that plus it only had 30 hours on it .

Got it, I misunderstood your previous post, my bad. That is the big letdown about the 4 stroke skis, the cost to repair them is almost never worth it if they were neglected.

All that said, the hop up parts will all still work. Cams will require adjustable cam gears because the timing chain is different on the new 1500s vs the zx12r. The rest drops in fortunately.

Sean

 

[Wyatt]

It has been a minute since I've posted, I've got quite a bit done since the last post. To start I got the old bedplates fully removed and it was the right decision to remove them because they were in pretty rough shape. I finally received the new ones from kommander which will allow me to put the 1500 relatively easy. I have prepped the hull for the most part. it still needs a little bit more sanding. The new problem is that the bedplates won't actually fit in the hole in the top deck, so what I was planning to do is cut the bedplate into two pieces. I don't think it will affect the integrity of them too much but it's going to be the only way to get them in without splitting the top and bottom deck. I am also thinking of cutting off the carrier bearing housing off the new bedplates since my hull already has one that was a different piece from my original bedplates.I'm thinking of doing this because to get all the tubes and stuff reglued to the housing would be a real b**ch and I don't know if I could get it to seal properly. The original one is not broken in any way so might as well keep it. I got my new pump installed and enlarged the pump shoe to account for the bigger pump. I got the trim and steering all set up. The only thing I'm waiting on now is the glue for the bedplates. After doing some communicating with some hull builders I have decided to go with Plexus MA310.

 

[Wyatt]

It is done! Well it's been done for like 2 weeks I just forget to update this. Since my last post I have glued the bedplates down with the plexus then filled in the voids with epoxy with 404 filler. I got the motor aligned which took like 3/4 of an inch of spacers in the front to get it reasonable. The exaust was probably one of the harder things for my dad and I, we used a 3" to 2.5" stainless collector for the weird kawi coupler deal then ran a "straight" pipe out the back. This would have been pretty easy and pretty if we had a tig welder but we made it work with the mig. Everything else was just a matter of bolting down. I've took it to the lake multiple times and it is pretty fast and extremely loud. I've GPSed it at 64mph which is pretty impressive since it is more fuel efficient than my brothers squarenose and my other brothers fx1.

 

[Wyatt]

Here is a link to some video of it running!

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

 

[smokeysevin]

If you are not running a waterbox or "trap" setup, you will eventually suck water into the motor when you go to start it. I found that out the hard way on my 15f build a few years ago.

Sean

 

[Wyatt]

If you are not running a waterbox or "trap" setup, you will eventually suck water into the motor when you go to start it. I found that out the hard way on my 15f build a few years ago.

Sean

There is seriously zero room for any sort of waterbox in the hull. The ski does have a flapper on the end which will prevent alot of the water from rushing into the exaust when sitting still, Plus the back of the exaust is 3" lower than the front plus the height of the manifold so im not really worried about water getting into the motor when sitting still.

An 8mph gain compared to the earlier Stock SXR 800 Engine which did 56 mph already.

If the SXR 800 had been built to a Pump Gas Limited, you would probably have been going just over 60 mph without all the noise.

Either way, good job doing the conversion.

Thanks! 8mph is quite a bit, no? The 800 might of been able to barely break 60 but hit would have still handled weird due to being too light for the hull. There is still plenty of room to gain on the 1500 as it is still bone stock. I am going to have a fellow racer install a 93 octane tune on it and pitch the prop correctly to get the correct rpms.

 

[smokeysevin]

There is seriously zero room for any sort of waterbox in the hull. The ski does have a flapper on the end which will prevent alot of the water from rushing into the exaust when sitting still, Plus the back of the exaust is 3" lower than the front plus the height of the manifold so im not really worried about water getting into the motor when sitting still.

Keep an eye on it, the concern isn't if it will back up the exhaust when the motor is off (that is a possibility but since you have a flapper on it you minimize the risk). If you have the motor off and there is any water in the exhaust pipe at all (even from the water injection ports), the motor will suck it up the exhaust manifold and it will lock the motor up. I had it do that with the ski on the trailer with the exhaust barely in the water.

I spent a month or so trying to figure out what the hard start issue was on my ski before I pulled the spark plugs and found water in the cylinders. When I added the waterbox back on the ski, it fixed the problem. I confirmed that it was reversion by running the setup on the stand on the hose.

You may have less of an issue with the stock cams, I was running zx12r cams at the time.

If the ski gets hard to start, pop the spark plugs out and crank it over.

Sean

 

[Wyatt]

Keep an eye on it, the concern isn't if it will back up the exhaust when the motor is off (that is a possibility but since you have a flapper on it you minimize the risk). If you have the motor off and there is any water in the exhaust pipe at all (even from the water injection ports), the motor will suck it up the exhaust manifold and it will lock the motor up. I had it do that with the ski on the trailer with the exhaust barely in the water.

I spent a month or so trying to figure out what the hard start issue was on my ski before I pulled the spark plugs and found water in the cylinders. When I added the waterbox back on the ski, it fixed the problem. I confirmed that it was reversion by running the setup on the stand on the hose.

You may have less of an issue with the stock cams, I was running zx12r cams at the time.

If the ski gets hard to start, pop the spark plugs out and crank it over.

Sean

Ill keep note of that, thanks for the advice!

 

[FatboyJetski]

What does the 1500 need to get running? most zx12r top end parts basically drop on with a few exceptions.

Sneaky tip, you can use je 9.8:1 "turbo" pistons from a zx12r in a 15f motor to raise the compression ratio while still being pump gas safe.

If you opt to run race fuel I can flash the ecu to the old riva race gas kit but that is 12f pistons (something like 14:1 compression), zx12r camshafts, and required ms109. This will require a 15f ecu and harness not a sxr kit though.

Sean

Sean

Sorry for the thread revival but

Im trying to figure out how to send you a pm but I can’t work it out???

Please can you pm me please regards the above?

Thanks !