Superjet 650 rebuild

[Vince-Netherlands]

Well, this is the first time i am doing a "rebuild" on a waterski.
To be honest i own one since 2 or 3 months now and ride on it a couple of times until last week it broke down, so im a rooky in this all.

I do have some experience with fiberglass since i once made a dashboard for my car door panels etc etc ( i know waste of time but well haha had to do something)

For the interested people here is an old album of the build from the dash ( http://www.mijnalbum.nl/Album=7NQJSJAK )

So i guess this part will be ok, the engine is not such a problem either since i worked a couple of years in a dirt bike/scooter shop as mechanic and the painting is also covered haha since i worked 5 years as a painter in a paint shop but i still am going to ask some questions of course to you guys that have more experience with PWC's
So it will be "great" fun to do this all at least i hope.
The down side i already notice is the amount of money that goes in again but its another hobby and i like to get this thing running and deliver me allot of fun.
Bought this Superjet 650 and not sure what year it is from but i found its called a square nose so i guess this could give a year of build away.

Checked some points that i found on a website to check before buy but i did not have a compression tester ( should have bought one but well thats easy to say after it happened)
All looked good, ski started pretty quickly and sounded OK, took it out for a ride a couple of times when i got some time off but last weekend when i started the ski on land with external cooling i made a mistake by leaving the water on after the ski was off.
And resulting in filling the block and cylinder.
Opened up the engine and found some disturbing things and made the decision to put a 701 engine/block in it and do everything new on the ski or repair as far as i could.

This is the state it was in when i bought, poor colors but well didn't seem a problem at that moment

Just got one pic from when i and a girlfriend had fun with it after it broke down.

After opening i discovered a piece of a piston and the rings were gone and.

Here you see the water and the piece missing and on top of the piston there have been a little party with the missing piece.

If you can see the spark plugs you see they are greyish and not brown so it was getting to little fuel.... hence
Did not notice this and did not even took time to check how stupid yes i know...

But things happen and now i do have a "good" excuse to put a bigger engine in it.

My todo list is :
- swap 650 for 701 motor + electrics
- take of this hideous paint and decals
- change exhaust system to factory pipe
- change the old turf for Hydro Turf
- add footholds on the ski
- sandblast the engine / electric box actually all the parts and powder coat them
- probably change the pump and impeller
- change the steer holder of what it is called and if its possible on a 650 SJ
- add a Trim on the ski
- repair the bottom coating and glassfiber

When i brought the Cylinders to the company thats going to bore them a big bigger i took of the cylinder there and checked the big end for space , i noticed some rust building up in the needle bearing and decided to replace this one as well.

So i have been in contact with a forum member and hope its possible to ship the 701 61ST block/engine/electrics to me and then see/listen how the bearings look like and then swap these in.

I took most of it out the ski today and used the pressure washer and it looked way better but some small cracks became visible as well.

Before

After , still some dirt and grease in it but need to clean better when dried up.
I actually hoped that i could spray the paint off the ski and the turf on the back but just on some parts it went off even with 145 Bar of pressure it stayed on on most places.

I was thinking for the cracks to drill a hole on the ends of it to prevent further ripping open and then put some fiber filler in it and use glass fiber and resin to close it up again or maybe epoxy in this case.
Also going to reinforce the hull with some extra fiber as i have seen here on the forum by other builds.

Then i have a few questions, anybody knows if this head is it stock ?

And the bearing / holder part from the axis that goes out to the pump there is a rubber piece in it that holds a tube that holds the bearing.
This seems worn out as you can see on the picture.
Is this piece changeable or do i need to order something new ?
I got a press here so i can use some force to put it into the holder if necessary.

 

[Larry]

I had that same head on a replacement motor. Here is my post What Head is That.

From Blasterdude:
"That is a Waverunner LX head. They ran that to de-tune the 650 engine so it did not over power the 500 drive-line. The compression will be lower due to the large dome volume. You will want to swap it out for a regular 650 head. Also if you are running the carb from that engine, check the jetting. I believe it had a 115 pilot and a 115 main. Hope this helps."

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Thanks Larry,
I have opened up the carb not sure which size the carb itself is i did not see any markings on it.
The biggest i guess its called Pilot says 115 indeed, actually it was reversed the letter 511 i think i have seen.
Will check it again when im in the garage, the smaller one i haven't checked.

I did put the carb in a ultrasonic bath if thats the name in english to clean it a bit, it was all dirty.
The previous owner was an idiot if you ask me ans used a spraycan to paint all parts without prober cleaning and or sanding and he forgot the rubber ring from the high screw that resulted in a jammed screw and that not even was set right.

I do have another question that just popped up, The coating that has been used to make the fiber water proof or resistant.


What is the coating called, is it just a Gel coat ? or do you guys advise another coating to apply ?

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Well tonight i put the ski inside the garage to make a beginning but that turf i think its called is a #@%%^ to peel off.
Is there any more easy way to get it off instead of using this filler knife if thats the word.
And guy where i work for he sells polyester and epoxy resin and he told me to use a topcoat to make it right again, so i guess this is settled then

 

[kwakhead]

How much did u pay for that hunk of junk may I ask? That midshaft was TRASH if you could pull the shaft out by hand, probably leaked a sh***it load of water.
my reccomendations for the build..
new midshaft and housing complete assy
turf and footholds
impeller
ride plate
high comp girdled head
factory pipe or any pipe really, yes they are all different, but a riva red pipe is excellent for the price
msd ignition enhancer and coil
all new fuel lines, carb rebuild kit, clean out gas tank
clamps, zip ties, and tie downs on everything..
bilge, bilge, bilge!!!
aftermarket flame arrestor
scoop grate
clean and powerwash entire ski
carbon reinforce inside and nose
buy an aluminum handle pole
paint job
HOPE ITS NOT WATERLOGGED!!!

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Well here in Europe they are not cheap at all even the older ones.
Paid 850 USD for the complete ski.
Did a power wash on the whole thing , tried to spray the paint off but i guess this is the only good thing the previous owner has done on it because it stayed on.

I am busy collecting all the parts, placing a 701 engine in it, looking for a factory pipe.
Already got a bilge pump but when i wanted to install it it was to late
Busy getting the girdled head from jetmaniac
finally got the turf off and need to replace it.
and going to repair the bottom of the ski as well and respray it with a top coat layer after putting some resin on it.
Paint job , well, i have some ideas to paint it and got allot of paint left from spraying my car , thinking of doing some airbrush on it.
Have made this for a friend of mine once , liked the rivet parts and was thinking of trying to make a tear up with the registration numbers coming out or sitting inside the teared up part.
(before the haters start, this is a replica it is a fake since we are not allowed to own guns and rifles in the Netherlands)

Got allot of work to do ive noticed but well , summer is on its end here so got all winter to get things ready.

Thanks for the tips , there are some things i haven't thought about.

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Well i have done some work in the last couple of days.
Its all the standard things that come first of course.
When i pulled the turf off i found there was a broken piece in the Fiberglas so i thought lets open the whole back side up and remove the foam.

here you see at the wood chipper if thats the word, the part thats broken.

Its actually better that i opened it up and removed the foam since some parts were soaked with water, it was not very much but still ..

Then after viewing and reading allot of build topics i thought well, im going to place footholds in the ski and i liked the models being cut off on the sides so lets make some templates and cut mine as well.

So i thought why not make some shapes on the computer and cut from cardboard then use as a template

resulting in this:

The removing of the foam was a pain in the @## but i tried a couple of machines and this way seemed the easiest, just using a drill with a hole saw , (not one thats sharp, this is normally for stone and such so no sharp knives on it)

Resulting after a 45 min in this :

There is still some work to do and the foam is very strong and sticky to the walls, last parts take the most time but since i want to reinforce it again with some fiber i want to remove all to get it waterproof again everywhere.

Here a movie of the removing the foam.

put some fiber in the hull to reinforce it before the motor comes in again as well:

I know its better to use carbon, but since i had this laying around i used this fiber.

sanding the bottom of the ski took some time as well and i sanded it until the gel coat was gone to be sure that my material would stick.

Then used fiber filler to close all the gaps and scratches that build up in these years.

If this is all done i will probably use Epoxy to laminate it again and with weaved fiber , maybe carbon if i get the hang of this material to be sure that its strong for a while again.
I only ride on lakes so not to much hit's like the sea i guess.

Well thats it for now, going to make some footholds somewhere this week i hope if i can find some time next to my job.

 

[Tim Davey]

Good going so far, I'm in the process of doing all that to if your going all out why not shorten and rocker the hull? But read LOTS of build threads as it's not straight forward!

 

[Quinc]

Looking good. Just make sure you clean, sand, and clean again anywhere you lay down fiberglass.

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Thanks,

Well i am a bit further now.
But since a little while , 2 weeks i am trying to buy a house with 240M2 of working space next to the living space
Did not updated the pics here yet.

Why not rocker it, well since i only ride lakes here and no surf and i understood rocker the hull is best for surf or most helping i thought why do allot of work more if its not going to help me much.
I did made it shorter about 3,5 " , waiting on some pics as well from a forum member so i can see how he made the C.A.T.S trim and what location the trim cable is placed.
If i know this i will drill a hole, add some tubes and make them waterproof, then its time for pouring the foam in the back again.
Got most of the stuff laying around now and then make some footholds and a aluminum pole/steer.


Well here we go then, its similar to many builds but i guess i have done things different then others maybe good/nice to see.
This way to make it shorter i have done by Mcdog his build (thanks for the tip)

Used the ride plate to get the size and distance correct and easy to hold on his place

Used fiber filler to fill the gap and put some masking tape on the other side to get it flat.

Some 260Grams fiber with epoxy resin

Here is just the first layer but i have done 3 layers to be sure

Closed the gap on the back, used some cardboard first that i bend till the shape was like i wanted, then used fiber filler again to make a nice layer that was sand able to get it nice and smooth.

120 gr fiber to make it a bit more strong before other layers will be applied.

Same story on the inside, placed some layers of 260gr fiber on it and it does not flex anymore.

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Wanted to make a drain for when its out of the water and on the trailer.

Gasket for the exhaust made from some rubber i had laying around

The white stuff is glue that i later cut away, going to put a layer of fiber around it for extra strength ( yes on the outside as well)

PVC cap with rubber gasket inside the cap.

Made a paste with fibers and before pouring it on the pipe i sanded it, used 1 coat of special stuff that ensures attachment to stainless steel and hard plastics such as PVC

Same story here to make it strong and waterproof, poured on the pvc drain pipe

So now i got litle work left, well little, not as much because once the foam is poured in and i have done some work on it the fiber glassing is last and does not have to be very nice since the turf comes on it and you do not even see anything anymore.
Must draw a aluminum pole then and make it since the old one is broken.,

Then collect more stuff that i have to get send to the Netherlands and place the motor etc in it.
Also got a superjet RN hull from a forum member for free it does need allot of TLC but i think i can make it work
So hopefully i end up with 2 ski's and probably both with a 701 engine in it

 

[McDog]

Carbon isn't better, actually. Glass is better for what you are doing. Carbon on a stock hull us just for looks. Keep up the good work.

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Thanks, and no not going to use carbon.
Its to expensive for me if i ruin some since the fiber skills aren't as great as some users on the forum i like to practice a bit more before i use that material.

Also this ski i am going to rebuild and probably sell later, why should i have 2 ski's of course
although , it is kinda nice if i think about it haha. lets first see this one finish and then see what happens with the RN superjet hull.

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

I have done some more work again on the ski and i picked up the Round nose ski from Dutchie thats a member as well on the forum.

Added a cable hole/clamb for the C.A.T.S trim i am planning to put on the ski


Also got my parts back of the trailer i made , they have a nice zinc layer on it so no more rust and rotting.

Ready to pour the foam in the ski again.

The chemical reaction got pretty hot so i thought lets see how hot :

Also adding some foot holds in the foam.

Here i do have a few questions, Footholds will be new to me so i have no idea if the placement is ok in my case
What is the best place / distance for the foot holds ? or is this all person related , i only ride lakes btw but not sure if i have to make them bigger or smaller since its now no problem (yet)

Any body that can give me some info ?

 

[Quinc]

I wouldn't go any further back then the end of the bottom deck. Maybe even an inch or two forward depending on how much you weigh.

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Thanks for the info ,
and my weight is 154 Lbs.

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Well it took a little while that i could do some work since i recently got a new job and live in hotels,
so only weekend time thats precious

I used some fiber filler to shape some things and fill some holes instead of using foam since it was all empty.
Need to figure out how i am going to close / waterproof the footholds i have made with fiber and resin.
I did do some work , bought a 62T block for the second ski i am building that i have picked up a while ago.
Its a wreck but it will be good again, and since it was free i am happy
Got it from a forum member here btw, A.K.A Dutchy.
Thanks again !!

Well then, here some pics of the "progress" from the SN ski.

 

[Dutchie]

Hey Vince,

Awsome work man ! Love the rear end kicker !!

And yes good luck on the RN hull haha But looking at this, you can do it !!

Greetings,

 

[JetManiac]

Looking good!

 

[Vince-Netherlands]

Thanks
While being bored now and sitting in my hotel i am looking into many topics to pick up some more ideas and trying to draw a steering pole thats adjustable so i can use my milling machine for the mounting plate.
Hopefully i can ride it the next summer.