*Disclaimer* This was Originally posted in November 2022
So It all starts with the Sh***y part: Taking everything apart to see what I'm Dealing with. The Ski was painted in White and black Plasti dip. From the start, I knew that wouldn't last because Plasti dip gets destroyed in the waves. I put some stripes on the machine in two previous pictures, including Plasti. Once I got it in the garage, It took just a heat gun and some patience to peel the Plasti dip off. They came up in large pieces because the rubber base held them together for the most part. For all decals in general and Plasti dip, in my case, you NEED to resist the urge to sand it off. The layers between the sticker and the hull will sand simultaneously, creating lots of humps on the hull that you can see from a mile away when you do your paint.
After peeling the Plasti dip off, I tackled, taking out the trim pieces I had on the ski. The trim around the tray came off with no problem because it was screwed into the SMC directly. Given that I'm laying hydro turf down, I just used an impact drill to get them out with the plan that I will fill the holes with fibreglass putty once I get to. Bodywork. The trim pads on the hood were A.P.I.M.A. The best way I could describe to get them off is to lift the side frontmost with a pry bar and hammer it backwards until it breaks loose. I've heard that Kawasaki used the same glue that holds the two sides together to glue these pads down, along with a hook holding it In. I will peel the upholstery off the plastic pads and reinstall them with hydroturf. If not, I'll settle for selling them on eBay or elsewhere. The bumpers were the next ones to come off. I believe they were 10mm sockets, but some nuts were 11s because I bought the back bumper separately and screwed on what would fit for the summer. Some bolts had broken the glue, holding them tight inside the bumper, so I had to pry those out with the plan to glue them back in.
I used two 23-mill wrenches to separate the bolt and nut holding the handle pole to the bracket bolted to the hull. Everything I took photos of and separated in ziplock bags.
Two rubber bumpers were pretty beaten and held together by painter's tape. I will glue the rips together because they are still good parts and not worth the hassle. To separate the pole from the rest of the ski, I removed the start-stop switch from the electrical box after numerous photos. The throttle and steering cables came out easily after the start-stop was removed. The handle pole slid right off, and I stored the throttle cable and start-stop while keeping the steering cable in the hull because I had no ambition of pulling it through the bottom of the stern.
After unbolting the exhaust from the engine (West Coast exhaust is only split in half, not the top to bottom that the stock exhaust is), both came out with a bit of a headache. I stuffed rags down the carb and exhaust to stop debris from falling into the engine. All the electrical parts and the engine and exhaust were set on a rack for storage until I decided if I wanted to do anything to the motor.
The fuel tank lifted right after I drilled out the rivets on the filler neck hole. As you can see in the photos, It was pretty beat, and I plan on filling the hole over and drilling a new one out so I know it's solid. The driveshaft also slid right out as it wasn't pinned against the motor anymore.
The forums convinced me I needed the might of Zeus and several nuclear bombs to drop the pump out from under the tray. In reality, all it took was a PB blaster and 5 minutes of soak time. I broke one of the nozzle's bolts before discovering this dark magic in my dad's spray cabinet, but other than that, it came out with no problem.
That's about all I can think of. If anyone has any questions, I'm sure I forgot something.
Photos for teardown will come after I can lower the resolution on them.
See You when I'm done sanding and Bodywork!
Hotshot Howie.
