Westcoast Themed 550

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

A few things I've done. filled foam up, sealed the exhaust, sealed 1/2 cooling line, started patching the old filler. filled in the pump channel to eliminate air pockets more sanding. so close to completing all hull work and getting it into prime. I'll post pics and details later.

[whazguude]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

Just grow your hair, cut it into a mullet and call it miami vice....

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

Ahh the Gary Carter/Mike Brady man perm.

Just grow your hair, cut it into a mullet and call it miami vice....

LoL My hair is a bit thing for that. I but I definitely can do the base graphics a of Red white and blue, at least I think never taped of paint designs always only ever did 1 color.

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

A few things I've done. filled foam up, sealed the exhaust, sealed 1/2 cooling line, started patching the old filler. filled in the pump channel to eliminate air pockets more sanding. so close to completing all hull work and getting it into prime. I'll post pics and details later.

So the first thing I did was re-foamed the exhaust hole I made before I glassed it over, I made 2 batches of about 4oz each at a 1:1 ratio, I dumped the liquid down the side of the pipe and I didn't see it coming up so i made one more batch, probably could have gotten away with 2oz. the foam started to over flow so I worked fast to try and scoop it out as not to go over edge of exhaust.

After the foam hardened I cleaned it up as best i could.

After cleanup was passable, I mixed some peanut butter to fill the voids made and to basically glue the exhaust and water line in place, Also when i had the peanut butter i smoothed the side out where the exhaust USED to be.



Later that night I started to modify the driveshaft tube. I got a pipe fitting from home depot I don't remember the sizes, i should have looked. put drive shaft in mounted it uo, slid the PVC over the drive shaft and lined it up to where i wanted it, marked it with a black marker and made the cut.

I mixed some long hair filler as a gluing agent and smothered it on the area the tub would rest, then but tub in pushed drive shaft back through and then proceeded to fill around the sides to make a big sticky mess.
and let it dry over night. that's where i left off last night, i'll post the work i did today before the nights over

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

First thing I worked on was smoothing out that mess i made with filler. i filed to get the big spurs and stuff off, then once smooth enough i hit it with 40 grit, then 80 grit, made some peanut butter filled the voids then hit it with 40 and so on.


I then moved on to filling the area where the gas cap used to be. i started out by using some painters tape on the back side and i put a thin layer of filler for the initial cap.

Then i smoothed it out with a thin coat of PB.

then added some layers of glass in there.

Lastly I used more PB to smooth it out, then built more onto it with filler and I layer a final layer of glass to ad some curve back to the nose. after i sand that i'll probably got over it one last time with PB then do finish sanding.
.

[noprabs]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

How did you get this hood? I want one too. Been looking for years. I actually used to own Dave Gordon's ski, but sold it to Gary Hart for the Vintage Museum. Thanks

[afraz1er]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

How did you get this hood? I want one too. Been looking for years. I actually used to own Dave Gordon's ski, but sold it to Gary Hart for the Vintage Museum. Thanks

Hunt down Jason schriner(BJ's performance) on FB. He's usually on the Kawasaki 550 group. He does great work, and reproduces all the aftermarket hoods.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

Yes indeed he does. Threads not dead, i been buisy with my house hunt and havent really had a chance to get some more work done. its in final stage before primer just a bit more sanding. i'm probably gonna buy the primer today.

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

I repaired 2 cracks, I put a grinding stone on a daigrinder. I drilled a hole at each end of crack. And ground out the crack. I cut some small strips of glass and pushed them into the groove that i cut, Let it cure for an hour. One area I didn't get enough glass I, so mixed some more resin with glass cloth bits and micro balloons to make peanut butter to fill the rest. Lastly i used some de-greaser and washed the whole hull, dried it off and let it sit to aoir dry the rest of the way. Gonna shoot primer later today.( my phone was dead couldn't take pictures)

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

Here are the repaired cracks. ALMOST cant even tell they were there.

I sanded it smoother then what was in the pictures there, and used a filler to smooth it out.

I cleaned the surface with a tack cloth and then started the prep work and taping everything off.


I shot 3-4 coats of primer, I had a couple runs in between coats, I stopped and sanded them down, I also noticed that my gun was leaking so bad then had to fix the droplets that fell on the hull. Stupid harbor freight tools!


I let it dry about 15 mins then I flipped the hull over and started spraying the bottom.


It took around 4 hours to shoot the primer. and the ski is ready for paint. I still need to prep the handle pole and the pole bracket and hood. then starts the work on the engine. and next week I order the Jet trim mats.

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

We are getting to the home stretch!
Today I mostly wet-sanded. Got Rid of runs etc..
I also sanded and prepped the handle pole bracket.

Here is the Primed Handle Pole.

And here are a few images of the primed and wet-sanded Westcoast hood.

While I was waiting for the primer to dry, I started getting all my engine parts together and hot ready to start to build the motor. I first cleaned the cases , then cleaned off the old seal. I soaked my crank in 2 stroke oil and worked it into the bearings and such. I opened the crank seals, and then it was all bad, the seals i had were for a JS400, the person i bought them from a couple months back advertised them as js550/440 seals.
That put the breaks on Very quickly, so now i need to wait for the right seals!

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

Today I started the day to build the motor today. And I got another snag the copper base gas jet I had was for a reed. Pisses me off cuz post said a PP there are truly a bunch of morons on ebay. I alteast got crank seals in and pistons installed.

So I started today around 3pm to shoot white base coat. I ad a few issues with cheap Chinese gun but worked them out. I thing I shot like 3 full coats, starting with bottom of hull.
Once I got 3 coats I let it dry and flipped hull over and started shooting paint on other side.

Between coats i did a light wet sanding... to smoorh rhings out. I also pai ted the hood.
Finally after I got 3 even coats I waited about 30 min, cleaned my equipment, then started taping off the graghics.
I'm gonna save up early to finish taping stuff off. And lay the blue.

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

So close I can taste it!
I started By finishing the tape job.

I mixed my blue Paint to get ready to shoot.

Then I started to shoot my blue Base coat.

I Pealed away the tape and i got allot of bleed, so I then taped off the blue area and then shot the white again to clean up all the bleed.One i Got nice clean lines i then got ready to mix the clear coat.

Finally I shot the clear coat.

I might shoot a little more clear cot tomorrow and wetsand the following day.

[stixx925]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

Jet trim came in mail today. Base gasket and upgraded brass cooling fitting came today. i got tho get to work on motor and shooit 1 more coat of clear. And she might be text forf water next week

[jshlee3]

Re: Westcoast Themed 550

It's looking nice ... I curious what the final design is on the ski.