Now I've pretty much finished the glasswork. Next was the paint prep. I would say the body work was the hardest part of the build. The media blasting totally ruined the hull. It was like trying to prep a golf ball for paint, there was tiny bumps and low spots everywhere.
While I was sanding my life away some new oem parts showed up at the door. I got myself a new 97- steering cable so I can have more throw along with some other goodies.
Here is another picture of the low spots.
I think I spent about two week sanding my hull. It took forever to get it somewhat smooth. Once I was somewhat happy with the surface of the hull I bought some high quality filler primer.
This stuff would help take out low spots along with other imperfections that I missed. It goes on super thick and it wasn't too bad to sand. It's definitely a keep component in getting a nice finish.
While I was doing working away I got the phone call that I have been waiting for. My handle pole finally made it into the country. I was stoked, I even got it shipped for free because I had a friend bring it in his luggage.
I was totally stoked about the pole. It was everything as described. It's pretty much a knock off of an rrp, but it's better in some ways. The pole I got is completely adjustable, used all the stock components ( pole bracket, chin pad, steer cable hardware, turn plate ect) and this pole uses standard 2.5" tubes so you can get replacement tubes at any metal supplier. As far as I know I still have the only one of these pole in North America. For around $500 I would say its a good deal. It was hard to find but Knoxie products makes great parts and it was worth looking for.
Bottoms up!
The bottom took just as much work at the top. Tons of sanding and tons of low spots. All of the contours didn't help either.
Here is a comparison picture of my new pole compared to the stock pole. I set it up exactly the same as stock, but I eventually added 2" because I'll be running a shortened turn plate.
After all of the work the bottom finally got some primer.
Notice that the picture is taken in a different garage. I had a friend shoot the paint. That was the only part of the ski that I didn't do.
While the ski was off getting sprayed I decided to get the motor ready.
Here is the setup that I went with.
All stock cases and cylinder. The cylinder was bored .25 over. I think it's now a 703cc
I had the head milled by group k for 91 octane (185 psi)
Pro x pistons, msd enhancer, b pipe with a limited chamber, #zero flywheel, tau ceti flame arresters, and a fresh rebuilt crank that was done by Jeff at competitive crankshafts.
#zero does great work.
The bottom of the ski is starting to look good.
Then we flipped it over and started on the top.
I finally got my whole pole and steering setup built. It was completely built with new parts.
Rad dudes pole bracket, rrp pole bolt, Blowsion spring, Knoxie pole, Knoxie turn plate, and Blowsion bars. It's hard to believe that the whole setup details for less than $900.
While I was building the pole my buddy added some color to the ski.
For colors I chose a regular white (I believe it was a Chrysler color) because I wanted it to tubbies if I bought them in the future. The blue is wrx blue or something. I call it "Subaru blue" and you see it on Subaru imprezzas. The darker color that you see on the rear of ski is a dark metallic charcoal color, it's also a Subaru color. I'm totally stoked with how the paint scheme came out. I used the super jet template off of the wamiltons website for paint ideas.
At this stage in the build I was trying to get the ski ready for the pismo spring break freeride. Sadly I had no chance of getting it done in time. This was my goal from the beginning and we finished the paint on the Tuesday before the freeride. There was no chance of me having the ski ready. So I let the hull sit in the garage while I rode a blaster in the surf for the weekend.