Thank You for all that answered my call for help! Esp the ones that even gave me their phone number. Remember I had bought the GP1200 and it had 2 year old gas in it. Well I emptied all the gas out and filled it up with new gas and put carb cleaner in it. Ran it with the hose for about 15 mins and it sounded like a new machine. I took it out to the water and within 5 mins. it was screaming, I got the dreamometer up to 58 and felt every mph, very fast. Then the big test I went and grabed a couple waves and got 10 ft on the first then moved up to 20-30 feet, I got some real sick air!!! I am glad I didnt give up the ski, I felt really alive out there....ThankS

i'm really glad it worked out for you at minimal cost!!! ride safely!! after a grand fixing my mod kit, i am up and running going for a test run here in about a half hour,,, it's a good day!!!

What kind of carb cleaner did you run through it?

I've heard and experienced horror stories with carb cleaners. Some types of cleaners will actually eat right through any rubber diaphrams or carb seals. Also they will eat through the plastic check valves.

You'll know by the time you finish that tank of gas.

[ 06-12-2003, 10:17 PM: Message edited by: MDKOCHE ]

I have heard that to MD. I need to get my carbs rebuilt but I don't trust anyone around here with it and I don't know anything about carbs other than how to tune them. I was looking for a "cure all" to run throught it but that will probably be a mistake.

Could I just take the carbs off and send it to a professional this winter? Who do you recommend?

Call Carl at Island Racing. Excellent work and communication.

Gary

Not that difficult to rebuild them... just buy the kits from Riva and they come with a detailed picture... I just rebuilt all three of mine... First time I had ever done it and it took me about 30min/carb... actually took longer to get the carbs off and back on the ski than rebuilding them due to all the hoses and bolts with limited access.

I agree with 1200KS. the gp1200 carbs are fairly easy to re-build if you have some mechanical competency. Also as mentioned the linkage and other misc stuff takes almost more time to deal with than the carbs themselves. If you can remove them, then attempt the re-build. Keep all parts seperated and in zip lock bags for re-assembly.

If all else fails you could give someone such as Carl a call and send all the carb parts out that tested your nerves for re-assembly.

At minimum I'd have a shop manual and Mikuini or Riva carb diagrams.

I sent mine out to Group K back in 98 but now wouldn't hesitate to do it myself.

Also note that Yamaha changed some jetting specs during the production years..97 to the 98/99 model. If memory serves me right..it was the needle/seat size that changed. I confirmed this at the time of rebuild in the Yamaha parts manual.

Thanks guys. I might give it a try. I need the experience anyway. The reason I think my carbs need rebuilt is I can't get the low speed settings right. If I get it to idle smoothly without losing rpm, it bogs coming out of the hole. If I lean it out and get it to stop bogging, it idles from 1200 rpm down to 750 and acts like it's going to stall unless I give it throttle. It just started this last season so I assume age has the plastic parts eaten away, leaking or just gummed up.

The Carb cleaner I used was B-12 Chemtool, it is recomended on the can to use it often to improve miliage. I used up that tank of gas that day, and it only ran better. All I know is the Damm Ski is working like a champ and I am flying again.
THANK AGAIN!!!!

Smokey
Have you reviewed the group K and Factory pipe websites for carb tuning details. You may find that your problem could be solved with review here first. Group K has some very good references for carb tuning. If you haven't reviewed these, you should.

Yeah, I read the Group K site. Especially the part about "Saturday night take offs" I guess a perfect take off is hard to get.

How often do you rebuild carbs? When do you know to rebuild them? Mine is a 99 and during the winter I run the carbs dry so fuel doesn't sit in them and varnish. I would think they are clean.