Cam's Garage

May 16, 2023 I have spent the last 8 months (off and on) working on the 1996 Seadoo GTI (came with a trailer) that I purchased for $400. For information on what I did to repair the Seadoo, see my two previous posts listed below: Buying a $400 Seadoo Rebuilding my first Carb Even though we are entering summer and the jet ski would be perfect to have, sometimes it is best to sell while a vehicle is running perfectly (and before the next inevitable problem). I also have the upcoming Cannonball Run  road trip that I need some funding for. That said, I made the decision to prepare the Seadoo to sell. First and foremost, I took some before pictures. Needless to say the Seadoo was disgusting prior to cleaning. I spent about 4 hours cleaning the Seadoo with all different kinds of chemicals (all healthy to breathe I'm sure) and removed the rubber padding on the hull (it was coming up and actually becoming a hazard for tripping). This was by far the most time that I have ever spent cleaning ...

May 5, 2023 In my last post, I purchased my new (to me), non-running 1996 Seadoo GTI and covered the initial process of getting it back up and running. Once I got jet ski running, I had about 2 months to enjoy it, taking it out every weekend including one with my sister.  Then (like all great, cheap projects), I started suffering my first issue of not being able to maintain idle. Here’s a video of the issue: Clearly the issue was fuel-related as applying any gas immediately bogged the jet ski down and caused a stall. My first thought was that the issue was related to the choke not properly disengaging upon cold start (meaning there was too much air in the air/fuel ratio) causing the Seadoo to stall. Rather than trying to investigate at the lake, I decided to bring the jet ski home to start my troubleshooting. Due to my prior missteps with the Seadoo platform (specifically with the electrical system and MPEM), I decided my best next step would be to ask experienced individuals bef...

May 1, 2023 On a random August day in 2022, I woke up scouring Facebook looking for something that peaked my interest. I had just sold the 1998 Honda CRV, so I had some money just burning a hole in my pocket. I ran across an ad for a 1996 Seadoo GTI for $1,200 (with a trailer) that did not currently run. I had always low-key wanted a cheap jet ski, so I made the decision to go check it out. Upon arrival to look at the jet ski, I walked around it and inspected the hull which was very clean (no damage to speak of). The owner (guy in his mid-20's) came outside and explained that the jet ski was actually his grandfather's that he purchased brand new in 1996 and had never seen salt water. The battery was dead, so I couldn't test anything but I decided to make an offer of $400 for the non-running Seadoo with the trailer (figured the trailer with a title would be worth $400 itself). To my amazement, the seller accepted the offer. Here were the first pictures that I took of it in t...