What did you wrench on today?

[Myself]

So far today.....
-I pulled MOST of a hat out of a rental ski jet pump.
-I checked out a no start issue on an old Polaris SL650
-I did checks on a '95 Seadoo GTX and GTS....both will need carbs gone through
-Currently doing a wear ring and fuel system rehab on a different '95 Seadoo GTX

 

[WFO Speedracer]

So today I did the Elmore county small town tour , I started in Greenville at 8:30 this morning, unloaded the 4tEC off the trailer onto a stand , then I went to Wetumpks and dropped off parts and picked up money for said parts , then to Tallassee to drop off the trailer and pay the guy for the 4TEC , then to Eclectic , to my shop to pick up the seat , then back through Wetumpka , then Coosada and then Millbrook to pick up this STX 900 then through Montgomery and finally back home to Greenville. I got here about 2:00 .


The dumbassery of these customers at times just flippin amazes me, this guy called me with a Kawi 900 STX , he said he had put in a new solenoid and now he had no power , I told him exactly what was wrong with it over the phone and how to fix it , I said that he had the battery and starter cables swapped up, he still couldn't figure it out and that's probably a good thing because the first good bump would have meant instant short to ground and bye bye stator wiring and Lord only knows what else he would have fried , how hard is it to take something apart and put it back together just like it was , I am sorry but there will be a stupidity tax on this one ,some peoples kids !

It gets worse the missing rubber insulator was in the bag of parts , he just decided it didn't need that part I guess , he also had the steel washers in the wrong place another no no.

I cut that nastiness in the fourth pic off and will crimp on a new factory style connector , with a plastic shield on it, this one didn't have one, nothing like having an unshielded wire floating around in the electrical box that is hot when you press the start button , Russian roulette anyone ?

He is still stuck with a Chinese crap solenoid, that's on him maybe it will last long enough for him to sell the ski .

I also replaced the broken electrical box fitting with an Aluminum one , why not replace them all you say, well number one they are not all broken and number two this guy is already not going to like the price , good work isn't cheap and cheap work isn't good , I hate it I gave him every possible chance to fix it on his on , there is only so much handholding I can do.

It's a shame because this is a really clean ski, for a few more dollars it could have been done correctly the first time , one of the first lessons I learned being a tech was it doesn't cost anymore to go first class , it's just a matter of when you pay for it, all at once and you are done , or bit by bit fixing the same thing over and over.

 

[Quinc]

Had a guy reach out to me to buy a zxi1100 ebox. I asked him what was wrong with his ski and he said the starter is not working and someone told him he needed an ebox. So I tried to help him troubleshoot the starter issue and next thing I have a text of a picture with the top end off and him telling me how its a 4stroke and needs oil in the crankcase. After a few texts back and forth trying to convince him it was a 2stroke I had to put my phone down and go do something else.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

The guy also had a 650SX sitting on a trailer, I talked to him about it and peeked under the hood , someone had removed all the cylinder head studs and replaced them with bolts, the bolts looked huge so no telling what went on there , also it had Sea couch flame arrestor top pointing straight up like a funnel, good time, the ski was murdered out with gloss black spray paint, the front fuel door and trim was all jacked up , it needed new hood bumpers and tray side pads , the rub rails on the sides were missing and he only wanted $900.00 for it without the trailer, I told him good luck with that one, you will need it.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Had a guy reach out to me to buy a zxi1100 ebox. I asked him what was wrong with his ski and he said the starter is not working and someone told him he needed an ebox. So I tried to help him troubleshoot the starter issue and next thing I have a text of a picture with the top end off and him telling me how its a 4stroke and needs oil in the crankcase. After a few texts back and forth trying to convince him it was a 2stroke I had to put my phone down and go do something else.

The farce is strong with these ones !

I like to think of myself as a fairly helpful guy, I have worked on peoples skis at freerides and got them going no charge ,I have given away parts , you name it , over the years I have learned that some people you just can't help, they won't let you .

But yeah you have to love it when people argue with you not realizing that you have forgotten more than they will ever know !

 

[WFO Speedracer]

The STX is back up and running , I just have to tidy up the wiring and bolt the electrical box back in , this one gave me a run for my money or as Arnold would say ( they tried to kill me but I killz dem ) .

It was an absolute electrical nightmare, bad terminals in the Furukawa connectors , bad solder joints where someone had already been in here before, Kawasaki also uses these Buss bars with the big grey Furukawa connectors to tie a bunch of circuits together , the terminals on the buss bars were corroded and it was losing about 6 volts running through the buss bar.

Once I got that rectified it would actually spin the ski over, they also use these weird pin style connectors with four pins on the stator and one other place in the E -BOX , all of those were toast and I just cut them loose and used Furukawa spade terminals and pins with the factory style plastic shields over the wires, that way it can still be taken apart if needed down the road and I know I have tight secure connections.

Ski goes back up the road to Millbrook tomorrow afternoon.

 

[DylanS]

Had my ski run great all week on vacation
Started acting up on last hour of last day.
Sounded as if running on one cyl intermittently and would occasionally run on both with no rhyme or reason.
Pulled entire electrical system apart to check connections. Ohmed coils out, checked brain, ohmed out my pickups, new plugs etc..
Just to double back I pulled the fw cover off and inserted my probes into the pickup wire sets again. Start wiggling them around like crazy I see the resistance spike. lo and behold when bent at an exact spot one wire has completely separated from itself inside the jacket.
this is on a very low hour setup, just goes to show you should double check your work.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

The STX I was working on had a bad primer, of course they removed the choke plates and shafts , I mean why wouldn't they , anyway I was spraying some W4U up under the holes in the flame arrestor to light it off and I noticed oil all over the bottom of the ski , I pulled the carbs because I had suspicions and shonuff all three oil lines are broken, I call the customer so I can hear him whine like a little B!tch and I wasn't disappointed , it turns out he paid $800.00 for the ski on the trailer , we are talking garage kept clean ski here , shiny, nice decals , clean engine and he is whining about my price , I gave him the price and said take it or leave it , I replaced the oil lines and delivered the ski back on the same day I promised and hopefully I never have to hear him whine again.

Full of idiots this world is.

 

[Myself]

Today I put a new oil switch on a 2002 Seadoo 4tec, checked out electrical on a '96 Seadoo GSX, rebuilt a set of carbs on a '95 Seadoo GTX and pulled and cleaned a set on a '94 GTX. And then had to water test one AFTER we closed. Yep, working after work as usual.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Today I put a new oil switch on a 2002 Seadoo 4tec, checked out electrical on a '96 Seadoo GSX, rebuilt a set of carbs on a '95 Seadoo GTX and pulled and cleaned a set on a '94 GTX. And then had to water test one AFTER we closed. Yep, working after work as usual.

You are at a point where I was ten years ago, now I just knock out a couple of skis a week and call it good , I am still fairly fast but I am just not killing myself for these idiot customers any more , besides it's hotter than a whore in church on Sunday here .

 

[Myself]

You are at a point where I was ten years ago, now I just knock out a couple of skis a week and call it good , I am still fairly fast but I am just not killing myself for these idiot customers any more , besides it's hotter than a whore in church on Sunday here .

Oh.......I'm getting to that point. I've been busting my butt to completely pay off ALL debt. Next year I will be debt free! After that who knows, maybe pick-n-choose, maybe just buy and flip, I might even go help my buddy restore classic cars. I'm just trying to get all loose ends caught up so I can start taking it easy while I'm still young enough to enjoy it. I've got a couple buddy favors to finish up, and I'm helping my son build a house. So, after that it's all me and whatever I want to do!!!

 

[WFO Speedracer]

Yamaha XLT 1200 , what did it have for lunch , not sure yet but if defiantly chomped it down in a hurry.

Some interesting stuff going on here , rear cylinder and piston look perfect but the head is damaged on number two and three cylinders , it tells me someone just slapped it back together and ignored the damage on the head on number three. I still have to pull the carbs and the reeds and have a looksee , something went through it just not sure what yet.

One more thing when I pulled the rear of the exhaust you could hear the Cat rattling around inside the pipe , a sure sign the Cat has melted down.
That mark just above the exhaust port is where a huge chunk of Aluminum is missing from the cylinder.

It also looks like they put the power-valves in backwards and when I pushed up on number three power valve the power -valve moved up but the linkage didn't move, it means the pin on the power-valve has come loose or worse , if these power-valves were not so carboned up and nasty that rear one would have dropped in to say hello a long , long time ago , this thing could not possibly have run very well since it was last put together , there is just no way !

 

[yamaharider85]

I’m doing the steering cable and throttle cable on the new to me 03 Octane.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[harrymank]

Someone smoked one of our transmission sticks

 

[Myself]

View attachment 450425
Someone smoked one of our transmission sticks

I don't envy you linemen....................but thanks!

 

[harrymank]

I don't envy you linemen....................but thanks!

I love it. Getting called in at 3am and getting 4 hours of OT before working 10 hours of straight time isn’t always fun though.

 

[Myself]

Today I wrenched on a salty RXPX. After fighting to get the ride plate off to fix leaky fittings......I snapped 5 out of 6 bolts holding the halves together and just stopped. New ride plate ordered. Continued on removing the supercharger for rebuild. I ran it through the blast cabinet, washed, and painted it. Should be dry enough to assemble with new parts in just a bit.

 

[WFO Speedracer]

The guy with the STX called and asked me how to hook up the primer , this is of course after I walked him through the whole process on the primer when I dropped the ski off, then he texted a few days later wanting to know what kind of gas to put in it , i told him 87 octane , then another few days goes by and he texted me wanting to know what kind of oil it took, at this point I am like WTF don't you have Google like the rest of the known world , but instead of telling him that I told him whatever kind you put in it, I am so ready to be able to stop dealing with idiot customers !

 

[Myself]

I finished and reinstalled the Seadoo supercharger. Here it is with fresh paint and new guts.

 

[yamaharider85]

Serviced the steering system bearings and installed new grips. I want to get a Blowsion finger throttle but the clear color is out of stock. Should I get the red one? Also I need to get a bar pad and bow eye because the stock one is missing.