Laid Back Boaters

I only have maybe 15 hours of run time out here in Kansas. I really dont' have all that much on the boat. I struggled to get it together, and then moved, and didn't have the money to fix some of the stuff, and struggled to get it up and running. The pump is basically in the condition it was in when I bought the boat. Of course the guy told me that "the pump was recently rebuilt" but I wasn't really counting on that much.. It is really more of a fixxer upper, and a project. When I get it all finished and look back and say, "I bought this as an empty shell and some scraps of an engine for $900, and now look where it is" I am just having fun getting it to where it is. after the oiling mods and what not then the next year will be a repaint/fiberglass repair year. Then after that who knows. After all I am an addict now.

"Hi my name is Jeff, and I'm a jet boat addict"

you know you couldnt of said it any better "Hi my name is Jeff, and I'm a jet boat addict" and that is the truth & it get worst

Just got off the phone with my new number 1 enabler... Jim at Performace Jet. I got the rebuild kit with a new aluminum AA impeller that Jim recomended, the hydraulic diverter, some pieces to get a ride plate going, and I let him talk me into a White Lightning Loader grate. All of this should be a HUGE improvement over the tired old stock 12JC. I am borderline giddy with anticipation for getting this all done. I have a feeling I will be out on the water before it's warm enough for swimming.

A double "A" ?? Hmmmm

Yeah I went with the guy who does that sort of thing for a living's advice. I'm sure he knows a lot better than I do. Plus as he said if it turns out that a AA is too much it can be cut to an A cheaper than a new impeller can be bought.

I think you're going to love the way it pulls out of the hole! That Olds is going to like the lower R's and with the other changes you're going to make hopefully you won't lose any top end.
I'm thinking you're going with the open loader?

I am in fact

I wasn't knocking his advice....I forgot olds motors don't like big rpm's but do grunt out some good torque. Plus, like you said, you can modify it down the road if need be.

yeah I wasn't calling you out, I was indicating my ignorance. I wouldn't have had a clue as to what to go with... left up to my own devices, I would have gone with an A because I remember being told somewhere along the way that 90% of the factory pumps come out with A impellers. I was just indicating that that was my decision reasoning. I sure hope that it leaps out of the hole. I'd like to drag an innertube right out from under a few people.

Damn, I like the way you think!!!

So the box of parts is sitting in the UPS depot here in town taunting me from the tracking information website, and my boat is now sitting outside my house from my dad's shop building, and I am ready for boating season. Not summer, boating season. I have decided to take the boat with me on spring break down to my wife's great grandpa's house. He lives down in Arizona between the Havasu damn and the Parker damn on the California side. He's somewhere between 92 and 96 years old. He's been saying 92 for the past several years.

Now for yet another question for you all. Cas I noticed on you "our sled" thread that you had polished your baby up from dull milkey chalkey whatever you want to call it to beautiful. What did you use, and do you have any suggestions that if you were to do it over again that you would do differently? I have a little over a month to get all this rebuild and polish done. I plan to work on it every weekend until I can actually use it because then I will feel better about it sitting in my driveway.

it's never really gotten to the beautiful point but it does photograph well, thanks for the compliment though. When a first got it, I used a gel polisher/restorer that I purchased at West Marine that cleaned it up pretty good with an electric buffer. I knew it could come out better so I started wet sanding with a 600 grit cloth then to a 1000 grit and finished with a 1500. Even with all that there are still a few cloudy spots that I've not too happy with. I'm afraid to go any further with it just because I nervous to go through the first layer of gel. As it is, I already went through the red in a couple of spots to where you can see some black.

So turns out the UPS man knew how to start my week off right. he showed up at my door with my big box of goodies. It was like christmas for me. He was even nice enough to show up early enough that i had time to pull it all out of the box, play with the diverter, and even make some engine noises and day dream. Now the hardest part of this rebuild is going to be being patient and not letting all my other responsibilities go. I will keep you all posted as I progress.

Cool! Look at all those goodies to play around with

What is sitting right in front of the impeller and beside the loader. It looks like a bulk package of blank CD's. And if it is a box of CD's, where do you install them in your pump?