Two quick questions for Jeff

[nos1013]

Hi, 1. I'm attempting to remove the R.A.V.E exhaust from my 951. Do I need a special wrench to remove the nut under the manifold?
2. When you ride steering with your feet, what do you hold onto with your hands? The passenger strap? Something else? And yes, I've been puttering around the empty areas of the lake learning how to steer with my feet. I love it! Course, my g/f will never let me attempt anything that you can, but I still think it's fun to ride around at 20 mph steering with my feet.
TIA
B

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

don't do it honestly you will get hurt!!! first off I am an inventor who holds 2 us patents with a total of 52 claims regarding jet steering for boats and skies all my skies are equipped with this steering , I spend 3 days a week driving skies all day, the old saying of practice makes perfect is true ,I jump wakes of 72 foot boats running wide open laying on my back and steering with my feet, I put on shows for the tourist boats doing this but I have control over my skies like nothing you could ever imagine. I have more business than I can handle and can't afford to be unable to work due to an injury so I would not even attempt to be doing this, if I had the least concern of getting hurt,, that is why I say don't do it your ski is not equipped to handle what I do. I WOULD NEVER EVEN CONSIDER DOING THIS ON A STOCK SKI. If you slide off the seat you risk injuring your head or back on the side rail by the foot wells, if you hit your head and get knocked unconscious you will die from drowning. I know I make it look easy but it is the steering that makes it easy and not any great skill on my part. On my gti's and gtx I hold on to the strap ,, on my gtx 4tec ltd I installed grab handles just for that purpose, I have been doing it for so long that I can actually drive with both hands in the air and my left foot in the air using only my right foot to give it throttle but I do this all the time like they say on myth busters we are professionals don't do this at home. PLEASE you will get hurt.

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

on the rave question what nut??? you just remone the 2 top screws and it pulls out of the engine.

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

I'm trying to remove the exhaust pipe from the exhaust manifold. There's 3 socket head cap screws around the sides and top, and one nut on the underside. I'm having trouble getting a wrench on the nut.

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

After reading the Clymer manual, it's the Head Pipe I'm trying to remove so I can access the oil pump to fix an oil leak, and possibly bypass the pump in the future. The Head Pipe is loose except for that one last nut on the bottom of the Head Pipe on the Exhaust Manifold side. I cannot get any of my 15 MM wrenches on the nut, and I was wondering if I need a special wrench/tool from Snap-On or elsewhere to remove said nut. Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks, B

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

ok big difference from a rave valve,, that nut is a problem to access I had to do 2 things, first use a grinder and make a thin wall box wrench that will clear the space to place it on the nut I also had to heat the wrench and put a curve on it// second find a nut that is the same size I believe it is a 10 mm stud but there are nuts with a flat bottom and a smaller outside diameter like a 14 mm nut and that gives you more room to work with a wrench, I can't remember if I drilled out and re tapped a 14 mm nut or if I found one to work in my scrap pile. I hate 951 engines and that pipe will drive you crazy because it is always in the way of most things that you need to do to the engine , that was why I made a smaller nut it is always needing to be removed.

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

Success! After modifying 2 Craftsman 15 MM wrenchs, I finally got that (censored) nut off! The search for a smaller nut coming soon. Next 2 questions:
1. I decided to replace the fuel lines before I have problems with them, per Jeff's recommendation. Any guess as to how many feet of hose I need?
2. It appears the oil tank has a leak at the fitting coming out of the bottom of the tank. Anyone got an URL for step-by-step instructions for switching a Sea Doo to premix? I can't afford to continue wasting $40 a gallon SP-X oil like that. Oh, and what's the ratio? 50:1?
Thanx for the help so far, Jeff d

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

Sorry about the double post. I forgot to mention this is a 951 in a 2000 RX-DI. Thanks

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

you must NOT go to pre mix or you will destroy the crank bearings// the tanks are known for leaking, find an older tank without the seam most leak at the seam and dribble down to the bottom of the tank , again do not go to pre mix on a di engine no oil will ever get to the crank case. as for the nut being 15 mm the earlier ones were bigger either 16 0r 17 had to grind down a open end wrench to get them off one 1/4 turn at a time. and get it started by whacking it with a chisel and a hammer/ on the fuel lines I was referring to carb engines you don't have carbs you have fuel injection so forget about the fuel lines

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

Ok, so it's good news/bad news. Good that I don't have to replace miles of fuel line. Bad that I still have an oil leak. It's also very good (not to mention lucky) that you are on this forum! I removed the oil tank, and just as you said, it's leaking from the seam. Time for a silly question: Would running a bead of Gorilla Glue at the seam seal it up (assuming I clean the tank to within an inch of it's usefullness with acetone first)? If no, could you possibly tell me which older tanks would be closest to a direct replacement? Thanks once again for your input!
B

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

I have never tried gorilla glue but it may work not sure but I would clean the surface with lacquer thinner and then m e k methyl ethel ketone from home depot or some other similar store I have used automotive goop and had pretty good results but the tank is more brittle than the older tanks were and some stress cracks usually develop from the seam down the tank itself, find a similar hull , for instance my 2000gti had a bad tank older gtx 96 97 etc had the previous style tank I used one from a 97 gtx and it fit in perfectly. and the sending unit was better as it didn't come on at half a tank like the newer ones seem to do but at a third of a tank so I liked it better. Im surprised you didn't ask why a di can't be converted over to pre mix, and this is a good example of why you should give a good description of your ski when asking a question, if you had not stated it was a di I would not have warned you about premix and just continued to assume it was an older ski with carbs on it

 

[tower1]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

http://www.parkeryamaha.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=27529

I belive this is the new tank for your ski.

I would not try to glue it, $60 may seem like a lot but better to fix it and be done with it.

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

Well, the tank is glued, and the ski is back together. But I'll keep the new tank in mind if I get another leak. Thanks, tower1.
Jeff: I assumed you had a good reason for telling me to keep the oil tank. But yeah, I'd like to know why. If you don't mind me asking. d

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

HAAAAAA because direct injection will not lube the crank bearings on pre mix ,it shoots fuel directly in to the cylinders, the oil injection puts the oil in to the crank case first and it is drawn in to the cylinders from there, all in all direct injection isn't really a good idea for 2stroke engines my thoughts on making the di last a lot longer is to also add some oil to the fuel and use the injection as well,, I would buy inexpensive tcw3, 2 stroke oil and add 1 pint for 6 gallons of fuel to the gas tank to insure that the oil is in the combustion chamber, It would be a very inexpensive way to protect your engine from ring problems,, but to get back to the pre mix issues with di, many people have made that mistake not understanding that carbs feed the fuel and the oil through the crank case before it is pulled in to the combustion chamber, with oil injection being removed the only time a pre mix carb setup will fail is if the carb runs lean, with di only the air and oil from the oil pump go in to the crank case as the fuel is injected directly in the combustion chamber, so pre mix would only lube the rings and not the crank and wrist pin bearings causing them to fail pretty quickly.

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

as for the gorilla glue thing let me know how it works because the oil tank issue is a big problem with sea doo, if it isn't working you will know in a few days

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

So I should run 50:1 TC-W3 premix plus the SP-X in the tank? I already have a gallon of TC-W3, so it's no problem to add it, but it seems to me like it's a bit much.
I'll keep you posted on the oil tank, but it'll be a while. I'm going out of town this coming weekend.
Thanks again for the help! B 8)

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

you are correct, I did say a pint didn't I ,sorry cut that in half to 8oz of oil ,sorry.

 

[nos1013]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

Ok, will do. Today I looked the oil tank over, no leaks so far. The only problem I can see from using Gorilla Glue is that it foams up while curing, so it's not very neat looking when it's done. I also put some adhesive called Seal All over the foam just because the foam looked rather porous. Course, the Seal All wouldn't adhere to the bare tank, even sanded. (I sanded all around the seam before I applied the Gorilla Glue) If it continues to hold, I'll post the whole mess about how I did this.
Oh, one more question: How important is it that I bleed the oil system after having the tank out? I disconnected the line at the filter, and allowed the tube to fill with oil before reconnecting to the filter. So There's probably very little air in the line. Thanks again.
B

 

[Jeff Walkowiak]

Re: Two quick questions for Jeff

bleeding the pump is easy just loosen the bleeder let it run and then re tighten the bleeder