Do these things ever run? :)

Oktavius · 05-10-2007, 12:28 PM

As some of you know, I have not been having any luck with my ski. So instead of highjacking any other threads, here is my rant thread.

I did eventually get the duct and grate and that is good. Got it in and everything seemed good.

Start it up and notice a lot of exhaust in the hull. Then I notice water building up in the hull. Turns out the exhaust is cracked. After looking around I bit the bullet and I am going to get an aftermarket system. I did take the ski out and the thing ran okay. Wasn't getting full rpms which has been a constant battle trying to figure that out. Hopefully it has been due to the exhaust leak.

After riding for a little bit I discovered my next problem. It started cavitating. Not right away, but after about a hour of riding. Looking into the pump, it appears that the gap between the wear ring and impeller has gotten bigger. Good thing I bought the wear ring with the replaceable insert. So looks like I am going to get a new impeller (Solas I or X?) and insert. Is there anything that could of caused this accelerated wearing of the wear ring? I reused my old impeller when I replaced the ring last fall. Could it be back bearings in the impeller housing? I guess I should replace those and the intermediate bearings while I am at it.

So hopefully in a week I should have everything back together with a could of improvements.

surf shreder · 05-10-2007, 07:31 PM

the only thing i can think of that would cause it to wear out fast is maby you need to shim your pump better but either way if your going to change to a new wear ring you might aswell get new bearings and a new impeller

Mackzilla · 05-10-2007, 08:05 PM

I just replaced the wear ring housing on a raider with the replaceable type housing & wear ring and I noticed when I pulled it it was pretty burnt only in one spot on the old SS wear ring...So I went ahead and replaced the mid shaft bearing and checked the engine to coupler alighnment and haven't had any more problems,,,I think it was a bad shaft bearing.....

Oktavius · 05-11-2007, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mackzilla

I just replaced the wear ring housing on a raider with the replaceable type housing & wear ring and I noticed when I pulled it it was pretty burnt only in one spot on the old SS wear ring...So I went ahead and replaced the mid shaft bearing and checked the engine to coupler alighnment and haven't had any more problems,,,I think it was a bad shaft bearing.....

The old ring was burnt in one spot as well. I will replace all the bearings.

Any tips on how to check the shimming of the pump? When I put it back together I just reused the old shims. Thanx.

Oktavius · 05-21-2007, 10:33 PM

Update. My exhaust will be here tomorrow!!! Yay!! My impeller and other stuff wont be here till around the end of the week it looks.

So looks like another week will go by before this thing in fully running again.

Oktavius · 05-23-2007, 02:39 AM

AAAAHHHHHH!!!!! My ski will never run!!

Got the exhaust in today and everything looked great. Started reading the instructions, which say they are for a 701 Raider, and notice that one piece is missing, the exhaust hose that connects the outlet of the exhaust to the waterbox (2"x18" hose). No biggy I thought, I can pick that up in town. Then I notice that the exit angle looks really weird to fit in a Raider. The pics in the instructions are hand drawn so they aren't the best, but they do look different than mine yet everything else appears the same. So I start wondering, as long as this thing bolts up, should work. So I find out what this could be for which would be a 61X Blaster. Find out that the 62T has a 10mm exhaust manifold bolt versus the 8mm on the 61X. I pulled an exhaust bolt from my engine and sure enough my bolt is too big. So I have a new Coffman exhaust system for a Blaster. I have sent a message to the seller asking for a refund and hopefully I dont have to make a Paypal dispute and wait for that. I guess after I get my money back I will be getting replacement parts for my stock exhaust system. This just sucks. I am never going to get this thing running at this pace.

Here is a link to the auction for pics.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...2486993&rd=1,1

This is what it is supposed to look like.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/super...95289283QQrdZ1

Oktavius · 05-24-2007, 06:02 PM

The guy from ebay still hasnt contacted me back. May end up having to dispute. There is a guy on Greenhulk that is going to sell me a used Coffman setup that is in great condition. Hopefully I can get that here next week. Checked on my prop and bearings and they finally gave me a tracking and they will be here in Wednesday. So hopefully by the end of next week I will have this thing together. I just know something else is going to pop up...

madscientist · 05-29-2007, 03:31 AM

lets just drill out theholes to 10mm and be done w/ it
call me we can do it on wed at the shop
its just aluminum

Oktavius · 05-29-2007, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madscientist

lets just drill out theholes to 10mm and be done w/ it
call me we can do it on wed at the shop
its just aluminum

Thought about that but there wasnt enough material. Thought about helicoil to use 8mm bolts but after research, people said that the ports would still be slightly off between a 61X and a 62T 701. Also the outlet of the exhaust was in the wrong direction.

I did get a refund today for the exhaust and will be shipping it back. There is a guy on Greenhulk that has a used Coffman pipe that is for a 62T Raider and he is sending it out tomorrow. I also bought a Riva head from him as well.

I received my impeller today and will get my bearings tomorrow. So hopefully I will have the exhaust here on Monday. Things should finally be coming together.

Thank you for the help.

Oktavius · 06-19-2007, 12:19 AM

IT RUNS!!!

Had some problems getting it running after putting everything together. Thought it was the CDI but severinsen (Jim) came over a let me try his CDI. It wasn't the CDI. Turned out that the new plastic wear ring was too tight, the spark plug wire terminals were bad, and there must of been bad gas or something. After removing the pump I was able to get it started. We flushed the pump with water and turned it more by hand and it seemed to get easier. Plugged the pump in and sure enough it fired up fine. Took it to the water for a test run and it ran pretty well. Faster than Jim's SJ.

I still need to get new plug wire terminals but that is no biggie. Just glad to have a running ski finally!!