So I am getting a JS300 basically for free. It is a 1986 standup. It has been sitting in a garage since 1994. Worked fine when it was put away.

Obviously, I need to empty the gas tank and buy a new battery. What else should I think about before attempting to crank it? Should I put in new spark plugs? Should I open up the engine or carb?

Any thoughts are appreciated. Any websites you'd recommend to read up on this?

You can try running it, but it will almost certainly need a carb job.

Any forums I should be reading? Or can you point me to sources of information of doing the carb job? I know back in the day a lot of people went with after-market carbs. Maybe just replace it?

I'll get Mr. Dubi to respond tonight. Our old jetski was a Kawasaki 2-stroke and he put a jillion hours of work into it.

[This message has been edited by dubi (edited 2/5/2010 1:43p).]

Rev until the effin motor falls out....

Wow!

Sorry, I have nothing to contribute, but wave race was an awesome game.

I had a 79' JS440 for years. I put a 550 engine in it with a shaved head and it was still slow as christmas. I've ridden the 300s before and they are superduper slow. My jetski was the most unreliable piece of junk I have ever owned. They are a blast to ride though. I got to ride a yamaha superjet 701, with aftermarket exhaust and head and it was awesome. If I ever get another, that is what I will get. I get bored on a sit down after about five minutes.

Everything I've read about it says it's slow. Like 33mph top speed.

33 mph on the water is actually pretty fast. If it starts with a new battery, you can try just cleaning the carbs with a can of spray carb cleaner, I have had lots of luck if you can get the spray into all the little passages. If the carbs have a bowl and float design, the floats are probably going to leak and it will run really rich or even flood, making it impossible to keep running.

the carbs are not that hard to rebuild, just make sure to get a good quality rebuild kit. Also the rings may be shot, not hard to replace, but you will need to remove the heads and cylinder block.

If you need to go fast, get a Honda! Mine does 63! But you don't want to fall off at that speed.

Good luck.

Danny

if you can get it started, run some Sea Foam through in the gas tank. Works wonders. My old '98 Kawasaki 1100 STX sat for 2 years, started it up and it ran like crap. Someone recommended Sea Foam and presto, ran smoother than it did even years earlier.

33, ha good luck, maybe on a 550. The 440 topped out at about 29. The top speed is fast enough, its the acceleration that kills you. As far as getting it running, rebuild the carbs and make sure your getting fuel. Pull the spark plugs out, put them in the spark plug wires and lay the tips on top of your cylinder head. Turn over the engine and watch the tips for sparks. If your getting fuel and spark, then you should be in good shape. If not, then put a compression gauge on the cylinders. You should be somewhere between 120-190 psi. Even with all that right it may not work. Mine was an electrical nightmare. It rarely ran more than a couple of days a year. Standups are an absolute blast though if they are running right.

What ever you do, don't buy a modern pwc, they are all overweight, over-glorified, gas guzzling boats. I'll take a lighter weight two stroke mid nineties machine any day. Here is a general list of awesomeness:

Yamaha superjet 701
Kawasaki JS 550
Kawasaki JS 650
Kawasaki JS750
Kawasaki X2
Yamaha Waveblaster
Yamaha waveraider 1100
Yamaha GP 1200
Kawasaki ultra 150
96 seadoo xp
97 seadoo spx
early seadoo xp limited
early seadoo gsx limited


[This message has been edited by aggieforester05 (edited 2/5/2010 9:14p).]

http://www.pwctoday.com/

http://jetski.com/

The PWCtoday is bigger and has more information, There are a lot of peolpe who seem to be really helpful, and might be able to help you in deciding about your ski. Jetski is mostly Kawasaki stuff, you might find interesting stuff there too.

Well, I am going to get a new battery, can of carb cleaner and some sea foam and start on it tomorrow. I'll keep you guys posted.

From this thread, it doesn't seem like attempting to crank it will really hurt anything as long as I have new gas and oil in it.

Where do you live?

quote:

---

modern pwc, they are all overweight, over-glorified, gas guzzling boats.

---

We have one of those boats! A 2005 Honda Aquatrax turbo, and it is a million times better than our 1998 Kawasaki. Better reliability, better mileage, better stability, better towing capacity.

We speak from experience having owned both.

My problem with new ones is that they are set up for high speed handling and they weigh a ton. They are basically a boat. I'd much rather have a light weight tossable ski. I grew up on a lake and I've been riding for 17 years, the new ones just aren't as much fun. They weigh so much now, you can't shoot them out of the water unless you hit a wave going 50mph. I could care less about towing. Its illegal on the lake I spend most of my time on and if I'm going to ski, its going to be behind a direct drive dedicated ski boat or I'm not going to ski. Its hard to beat the reliability of a two stroke if you know what your doing.

Pics.






[This message has been edited by dlp3719 (edited 2/7/2010 3:52p).]

So here is where things are so far.
1. The engine compartment was surprisingly clean. Pulled out the gas tank and dumped it.
2. Opened the carb and it looked pretty good. Sprayed some cleaner in there.
3. Pulled the spark plug - it looked ok.
4. Decided the battery wasn't that bad so I spent $5 on acid and it's still on the charger. He didnt leave the battery in the ski, it was in an Everstart box. So I haven't had the chance to crank it yet but I'm pretty hopeful.
5. The turf in the back was all loose and torn so I spent a lot of time getting the old stuff off. I'm going to get some new Hydro-Turf for $50.
6. I did find out the original impeller was changed out. He gave me the old one (it's dinged up.) He couldn't remember if he put in a stock or aftermarket impeller.
7. Hull looks ok. A few chips and lots of scratches.

[This message has been edited by dlp3719 (edited 2/7/2010 4:01p).]

Sweet, that's like my 550 was, that means it has plenty of room to grow. If you can find a 550 motor and pump, I highly recommend stuffing it in there. You will also want a stainless impeller, high flow intake grate, velocity stacks, water box, and a high flow expansion chamber. You'll probably also want to replace those handlebars with a straight aluminum set and put a spring system on your control pole, or whatever its called. I used to buy all of my parts from denniskirk.com, not sure if they still sell a lot for the JS series, but ebay will get you set if they don't.

harbor freight ultra sonic cleaner, drop the carb in there with water and dishsoap, change fluid, repeat.

If your near DFW: dalesjetsports.com he turned my tigershark into one hell of a screamer.

The newer generations of straddle seat PWC are jet powered boats. They operate like boats, and weigh as much as boats. In fact, my small center console powerboat, which weighs LESS than some PWC when lightly loaded, behaves fairly similarly, except of course it isn't quite as powerful or maneuverable or fast.

One of the strangest days I've ever had involved me rescuing a guy TWICE from his stranded PWC from West Galveston Bay. The first time, he hit a big wide sandbar about 4" under the water going about 50mph. I bet he would have appreciated having a depth finder after he went tumbling 50 yards across the shallow flat... Wish I had a camera on me for that one... just the beginning of a long strange trip.

I'm in Atlanta.

Well, put new acid in the battery. Trickle charge for 24 hours. Didn't hold. Advanced Auto Parts tried testing and charging. Wouldn't hold anything. So at some point, I'll need to buy a new battery.

I hooked up a charger with a 75Amp Starter. All I got was a knocking sound in the "Ref. Ignition Coil" as seen here:

http://fiche.ronayers.com/Index.cfm/Module/Main/TypeID/9/Type/Personal_Watercraft/MakeID/3/Make/Kawasaki/YearID/29/Year/1988/ModelID/4007/Model/JS300/GroupID/333701/Group/Electrical_Equipment

Part number: F2760-0356

Any ideas?

TIA

[This message has been edited by dlp3719 (edited 2/9/2010 8:43p).]

I'm telling you these things are an electrical nightmare. If I had known as much when I had mine about electronics as I do now, I would definitely tried to get my hands on a full set of electrical schematics. Are you in the north Atlanta area, I'm in Duluth for work right now?

Maybe clean up all grounds and electrical connections, then give it another try when you get a new battery?