Fun in 2002 X-Star Project Land

So, I bought a 2002 X-Star that was a theft recovery from a tow yard out of Houston and had it shipped to Utah. Got a great price. I usually do a boat or two per year so I'm used to projects but this one has made me sad how someone could completely damage almost everything on the boat. I'm still working out the bugs but here's a list of what I've done so far.

1. Dash board was stolen, I had to buy a new dash and rewire the whole harness. This includes a new mmdc to get the gauges working.
2. New Perfectpass gauge complete with new chip- and now the servo motor is not working.
3. New Sony marine stereo w/remote, kicker speakers and amp.
3. New Steering wheel and steering cable.
4. New impeller.
5. New Starter
6. New Plugs
7. New Exhaust baffles -The part that goes between the headers and the muffler.
8. New ACME 911 prop.
9. New ballast system, complete with 6 new Tsuami 800 GPH pumps.
10. New Transmission clutch plates and rebuilt kit for tranny.
11. New Tongue jack.
12. Some time well spent on waxing the gelcoat and oil on the teak.


Ok, so after a fresh rebuild on the transmission (I have some good info on this if anyone needs it. (Hurth V-Drive) I'm still experiencing some issues. --By the way if your tranny stops going into gear check your filter first. The only info I got from the dealer was -"Just buy a new transmission, they're only like $4-5K!"

The engine seems to be running rich, the exhaust is blacker than it should be and seems to be missing under load of taking off. My question is do I need to do anything to adjust for altitude? The engine starts easily and sounds good, just smells a little strong and missing a little under load.

Rob i don't have the answer to your question but i was wondering how you go about finding your projects, especially this one.

Chris, I usually wait until the end of the year then watch Jaxed mash -Its a Craigslist search that saves tons of time. You can search all of California for example. Buy it in the off season, fix it up over winter and then ride it in spring. There are a lot of things that can go wrong with boats so you have to have a pretty wide range of skills to get them looking/ running nice.

For example on this one I had to rebuild the tranny. Now it looks like I probably have a bad valve? Not really sure, its still missing at high rpms (4500-5000) but seems to run well the rest of the time. Its getting late in the year so I figure I'll ride it till its too cold and maybe pull it apart in the spring.

I ran some Seafoam through it and that seemed to help a little with the smoke. Still seems a bit rich to me, maybe the efi isn't compensating for altitude? Maybe its the timing? If anyone has experience with this let me know. Thanks.

I would take a first look at timing.. First thing that comes to mind running rich on a fuel injected motor.. A timing light will give you the answer.. You didn't rebuild the motor, right? So you shouldn't have had to pull heads, timing belt, etc?

Originally Posted by jeff_mn

I would take a first look at timing.. First thing that comes to mind running rich on a fuel injected motor.. A timing light will give you the answer.. You didn't rebuild the motor, right? So you shouldn't have had to pull heads, timing belt, etc?

On a side note, I just went to jaxed and they got a cease and desist order from craigslist. That sucks so bad!!

Originally Posted by cobra_nuggets

On a side note, I just went to jaxed and they got a cease and desist order from craigslist. That sucks so bad!!

D@mn, I was just on there yesterday!
That does suck. That's where I went to look at boat pron!

When I was in high school I had a Trans Am that blew black smoke and missed at high RPMs. The culprit is most likely a bad valve- your blowing burned oil and gas past the exaust valves which will foul your plugs too. Have you checked compression on the cylinders too? Unfortunately you may have a ring issue as well. I rebuilt the top- end on the car and it cleared up the missing, but it still smoked- blue now- which was oil past the rings so I pulled the motor again and did the rings- then it ran like a monster. Nothing like a 6.6 Litre Trans Am!

Jeff suggests the injectors- it you're blowing BLUE smoke that's an issue with running rich and some oil in the gas- Black smoke is top end- Valves most likely.

Originally Posted by will5150

When I was in high school I had a Trans Am that blew black smoke and missed at high RPMs. The culprit is most likely a bad valve- your blowing burned oil and gas past the exaust valves which will foul your plugs too. Have you checked compression on the cylinders too? Unfortunately you may have a ring issue as well. I rebuilt the top- end on the car and it cleared up the missing, but it still smoked- blue now- which was oil past the rings so I pulled the motor again and did the rings- then it ran like a monster. Nothing like a 6.6 Litre Trans Am!

Jeff suggests the injectors- it you're blowing BLUE smoke that's an issue with running rich and some oil in the gas- Black smoke is top end- Valves most likely.

I suggested to check the timing since it was a fuel injected motor.. Just worded it weird..

Black smoke is a rich condition. More than likely it's going to be timing - odds are 9/10 timing, 1/10 bad top end.

My boat had a similar issue Rob. When I would pull it out of the lake there were carbon deposits on the back transom by the swim platform. It turned out to be a timing issue where the distributor was installed incorrectly...purrs like a kitten now.

Rob, any pics of how you plumbed in the tsunami pump?. I'm thinking about re-doing mine this winter and getting rid of the jabsco pumps.

thanks

Been a while so I should follow up on this.

Because it was getting late in the year I didn't want to lose any riding time. I finally contacted Delta Prop and asked to exchange the prop. I had an ACME 911 on there. What I figured out was that this was completely the wrong prop for the boat. The X has a 1.5 gear reduction v-drive and the 911 is like a 10 pitch prop. So essentially I was running like a 5 or 6 pitch prop! No wonder I couldn't get over 22 mph or give it more than 1/3 throttle with out it hitting the rev limiter and missing. Thankfully I asked the experts who told me to use the ACME 1413. Anyway, it runs like it should now. Tons of hole shot. Good top end, nice and smooth.

I'll still check the timing when spring comes, also the MAP sensor may need to be replaced.
Still cleaning up details on the boat, just ordered a new servo motor for the perfect pass.
Pulling the hard tanks and replacing them with 750's
Adding 700 in sand bags to the front.
New LED lights for the trailer
New tower speakers coming

Really considering powedercoating the tower black to match the whole murdered out them of the boat. Time for some pics. I'll get them up Later today.

yeah post pics, I always enjoy looking at your projects.

So did the project boat turn into "I'm keeping this boat!" LOL. Good work Rob!

Pics, or this never happened!

I have a buddy that has a 04 X-Star who will probably start replacing/upgrading different parts of the boat after this season. I'm sure he'd like to see some of your progress.

Ok, I've been taunted into posting pics. Here we go boys.

Dang, just thinking about all the time I put into this project makes me kind of tired.

Looks good. What year dash did you put in? That billet aluminum trim looks a lot better that the stock dash from those years. I really like the black top deck on that boat. My boat is almost the same colors, but I have a white top deck and another red stripe halfway down the hill.

Dash is new from 2005. Thanks ebay. Guages all work, but I can't get the speedo to adjust. Its about 6 mph slower than the perfectpass guage that seems correct.

rob. looks killer, nice work. the wake looks great too. enjoy the summer.

Ditching the hard tanks if anyone is looking for some. They only hold 32 gallons, at 8lbs a gallon that 200lbs. Not enough. Going with two 540 bags in the back, 600 in sand up front and I've got another 400 in ski locker. Grand total of 2080 in ballast. Waiting of a couple of parts so I can plumb in the new bags. Put some LED brake lights on the trailer. Took off the tower lights, got some switch covers and replaced a water pump hose that was kinked and causing my engine to run hot at idle.

Great looking project.

You need a shop vac!

I feel robbed! No pics of the boat on the water...

Very nice looking - I dig the black.

Nice work, thats a great looking boat!

I had an '02. I loved that boat.

Got my new perfect pass servo installed. (Thanks Bakes Online).
Drilled a new hole for a dedicated input for each ballast pump.
Got a new 540 from straight line. (By the way, the newer bags use 1" threaded fittings that are NTP (basically you can buy parts for schedule 40 pvc and the threads work). I almost returned it when I saw that all the inputs were different.
Loaded up 600lbs of sand bags. 500 up front and 100 to the rear. Two bags in the back at 1080. One bag up front at 400 = 600+1080+400 = 2080lbs

Weather was near 70 today so I took her for a test drive. Couldn't find a driver (or a dry suit) so no ridding today.

Nice to have perfectpass working again.
It was a little choppy, but the wake looked monster.

Looks fantastic, and I LOVE those colors.

A couple questions if anyone can help.

1. My gas gauge shows full almost always, until it starts to move, then you better get back quick, cause you're out of gas. Any ideas on whats going on here?

2. Boat speedometer shows 30mph when the perfectpass shows 20mph. (perfectpass is the correct) They both work off of the same paddlewheel. How can I fix this?

Any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks.

1. That's how it goes. Better unscrew where the drain plug goes and check the gas level with your own eyes!
2. Should be a little switch on the dash that is labeled. SPEEDO ADJUST. When going 20 MPH, click it down until the speedo reads 20, too!

If you dont mind, how much money do you have in this sweet looking refurb boat? Great work btw.

I have a 07 X1 and gave up on trying to get the fuel gauge to read correctly. On the fuel tank sending unit there are a couple of adjusting screws but I really didn't have much luck with it. If you do a search on the Mastercraft Team Talk site http://www.mastercraft.com/teamtalk/portal.php you'll find more info. My boat burns just under 5 gals per hour, so I fill it up and keep track of time on the hour meter. Never had a problem doing it that way.

Have a question for you about removing upholstery. I want to remove the rear side panels. How did you get to the most forward nuts to remove them?