Super Jet My First RN Build - Complete rebuild, shorten, and rocker!

[Parsonsjb88]

Ok guys, so I finally took the plunge and upgraded from a 95 Kawi 750 to a 96 RN Superjet 701. I ended up buying it in the spur of the moment because it presented itself as a ridiculously good deal.

That being said I haven't even heard it run and I'll be honest I didn't know much about these superjets going into it.

Heres what I knew when I got it: lowered hood (I think it's all carbon), umi bars, quick steer plate, udi grips, carbon chin pad, shortened 3" handle pole, reasonably new paint and turf, battery dead and couldn't start, 62t case, 61x cylinder, speedwerx girdled head, factory limited b pipe, dual carb (assumed 38's) with primer kit choke delete, and PROK flame arrestors.
Impeller looks like new and stainless, a/m intake grate, d cut ride plate, and trim (albeit not an awesome a/m one).

I plan on gutting the engine bay and redoing everything with new hoses and hardware and complete engine gasket kit.

So after work today I got a new battery on her today and while connecting the battery cables to the battery she was sparking like crazy. Not the normal light sparking of connecting a battery, more like something was pulling some serious amperage. So I yanked the motor out. Any idea what could be causing this? Turns out I have water inside my flywheel cover , how bad is this, not sure if it's related, is my stator gonna be ruined?

In addition, my starter is seized and the wires from the stator were cut and crimped in two separate places with different color wires which is super sketchy..

I have not had a chance to pull the ebox, I'm scared of what I might find.

On the positive side I disassembled the engine down to the crank and everything looks good, from my perspective. Looks like there's some light porting on the exhaust but they left the typical factory mismatch between the cast and sleeves on the other ports. From a quick measurement I'm getting just shy of 82mm bore maybe 81.5, I don't have a caliper on hand. See pics and let me know what you think.

I also just found out I have a 64x intake manifold that was ported, with a reed spacer, and some sort of carbon fiber reeds (see pic) fed by dual mikunis 44's.

Question: if I'm looking for an awesome freestyle setup are these 44's gonna hurt my low end torque?

Also anything else look out of place in any of the pics?

 

[Parsonsjb88]

I also just found that the cover for the drive coupler was broke off and looks like there's some damage to the coupler. Doesn't look too bad but I'm not sure if it might be out of balance now? Something to fix? Or leave it?

Thanks guys

 

[jetx]

looks like it will be a nice setup once you clean it all up and make everything right...Id run those 44's as is since you have them, they will work well no need to change them...also looks like some vforce reeds.

 

[Parsonsjb88]

Thanks jetx! Ya I'm hoping it'll be an awesome freestyle ski once she's running Good to hear on the v force, that was my suspicion but I wasn't positive.

 

[bsc702]

How much did you pay for this ski?

 

[paczowski123]

Seems the ski was sunk if it's got water in the front case. Definitely clean and grease everything up.

The Sparks could be from something shorted out in the EBox, I would open it up and make sure it's clean, I'm betting it's not based on you already finding water in the FW cover.

Generally when someone says "all it needs is a battery and no time to replace" or "disassembled no time to assemble, I'm skeptical. Usually means something costly was discovered. In your previous owners case, A battery takes minutes to replace and if I see that, I bring my own, especially if it's a good deal..people don't just lose money because they feel like a nice person.

The ski overall looks pretty nice, looks like the jetting was pretty close as well based on the piston wash, but I'm also not a pro on that. Your on the right track, checking everything out. Make sure the crank bearings feel good and not crunchy or have too much play and free of rust. Hacked up electronics to me is a red flag, and based on the Sparks you saw I'd check there also. Or maybe a shorted out solenoid and since the starter is seized it's trying to engage the starter once the battery is connected.

Again, not a pro, but my .02. Good move on the move to a SJ, youll wonder why you hadn't done it sooner!

 

[Parsonsjb88]

bsc702, I got the superjet and a kawi 550 on a trailer for $3900. Considering all the mods done to it already that I would have wanted to do I felt like it was a no brainer.

 

[Parsonsjb88]

And thanks PACS. I too think it was sunk now. I'll be pulling the flywheel tonight and checking out the stator. I also wanna pull the drive coupler and get some billet ones. Out of curiosity how hard is it to get those couplers off? Especially now that I basically have my whole motor disassembled. Also when Im rotating the crank im hearing what I believe is bearing noise but Im not sure. If you're just rotating the crank using the connecting rods should you hear anything at all? Or should it be silent?

 

[paczowski123]

Based on mine, it was smooth and silent. If it has sat with water inside, I wouldn't be surprised if rust has built up on the bearings. Drive couplers, from what I've seen, are hit or miss. Seems some come right off, others require many curse words and even torch/cutting off. There are a few tools you can buy to make it easier.

 

[Quinc]

heat, more heat, and a breaker bar is what I used to get my last coupler off.. Cleaned the threads and put her back on with no-seize so hopefully she will be easier for the next guy.

 

[MADMAT]

Get it running and put a 13/16-3mm prop on it with a 85mm exit nozzle and with that -3 pole you will have a fun ski!

 

[Parsonsjb88]

So after a long night of helping my buddy take his 701 apart then making a homemade flywheel puller I finally got my cases split.

Results: Rear bearing is utterly destroyed, literally sounds like a grinder, a loose one at that. The center rear bearing has some slight noise, not sure if it's acceptable. The rest are perfectly silent, smooth 0 play. So right now I think the most viable option is rebuilt crank from SBT unless someone thinks it's cheaper to replace the two bearings. Thoughts?

On the positive side I guess a new crank would save me from having to pull the drive coupler. Unless SBT requires them to be removed?

So right now I'm looking at a new starter, new crank, new billet drive coupler, and possibly a new stator considering how nasty it looks. My wallet is starting to feel mighty light.

 

[MADMAT]

Welcome to stand ups!

 

[MADMAT]

I have seen waaay worse looking stators.....it might be OK...that will save you a lot if so..

 

[Parsonsjb88]

Tested my stator this morning.

Stock Resistance Measurements (ohm) :
- Pulser Coil: 12.6 - 15.4
- Charging Coil: 497.7 - 608. 3
- Lighting Coil: 1.14 - 1.40

My Resistance Measurements (ohm) :
- Pulser Coil: 16.1 (hoping a rusted or dirty ground is causing this one to be high)
- Charging Coil: 340 (short somewhere in the windings?)
- Lighting Coil: 1.1

Seems like the charging coil is my biggest issue based on those measurements. I'm going to take apart the entire stator and clean off all the contacts, grounds, and windings and reassemble tonight. Hopefully that will get it back to spec unless theres a short somewhere.

 

[paczowski123]

As Matt said, welcome to stand ups from your wallet comment. It's a never ending expense that only compounds on itself as you get the itch for more power, more bling, etx THEN, when you get the AM hull craving, it's goes haywire and spirals out of control on the expense side...but I can't think of a thing I like better than my water scooters..

if your this deep into it..do it right, do it once..you get what you pay for..buy quality parts, and don't buy used..especially electronics..I watch all my friends wrench while I ride from buying used junk. It may cost more up front but will be worth it when your ski always starts and your not having to buy parts multiple times which ends up costing more.

 

[Parsonsjb88]

As Matt said, welcome to stand ups from your wallet comment. It's a never ending expense that only compounds on itself as you get the itch for more power, more bling, etx THEN, when you get the AM hull craving, it's goes haywire and spirals out of control on the expense side...but I can't think of a thing I like better than my water scooters..

if your this deep into it..do it right, do it once..you get what you pay for..buy quality parts, and don't buy used..especially electronics..I watch all my friends wrench while I ride from buying used junk. It may cost more up front but will be worth it when your ski always starts and your not having to buy parts multiple times which ends up costing more.

I definitely knew what I was getting into with stand ups, I poured my fair share of money into my cruise ship (750 SXI), good learning experience but waste of money lol.

When it comes to this I am "trying" to spare no expense when it comes to quality and reliability but I also don't wanna drain my accounts. As it stands, SBT seems to have a really good reputation for their cranks (not so much for their complete engines, from what I've read) and after speaking with them today, they have a crank in stock with round trip shipping (core exchange) for $255.

Couple questions for you guys:

1. What brand do you recommend for a complete gasket kit? So far I have only been able to get info on WSM and SBT gaskets.
2. I want to epoxy my cases and do some port work throughout. I've been reading about Devcon but no one actually specifies which product of theirs to use; they have like 15 different epoxies. I want to do the liquid stuff but its thermal expansion is 1.5 times higher than the cast aluminum in our block so I'm worried about cracks developing. Suggestions?

 

[Parsonsjb88]

Also, I can't afford a new OEM starter as much as I'd love to. So the question is... Aqua start high torque or SBT high torque?

 

[Quinc]

SBT is probably fine. Or if you can pick up a used OEM for a decent price.

 

[paczowski123]

Jetmaniac for gaskets, and other parts. Top notch guy and you get your stuff quick! Think he also does cranks and engine parts. I have his 735 freestyle top end kit and couldn't be happier.

As far as used engine parts, it depends whether or not you want to risk tearing into it again during the season. I know it can also happen with new/reman parts, but for me, I wouldn't risk opening up an engine all the way down to the crank to put a used part in. Just my opinion though.