Has anybody totally worked a SLX yet?

[Sirhc7897]

I'm thinking about just going ahead and going full bore on my SLX...triples, carbs, everything except engine porting. There's really not that much left to do to get it there, carbs, pipes, new cdi for the triples. Has anybody else done this to a 2000 SLX and if so are there any pitfalls I should be looking out for or any wisdom anyone could offer me before I get elbow deep into the whole thing? I'm only expecting to see low 70's with this work but I'm thinking that the acceleration will be just about unbearable. As it is now it keeps up with my dad 'sRXX and my twin piped carbon fiber GSX. I'm thinking that should be where my biggest gain will be.

[SeaLion]

Group K has a kit with many of those mods and a detailed write up. The boat kept seizing if I remember the article but they might have worked the bugs out of it. I would personally talk to Randy at http://www.watcon.com on Polaris set ups.

[SeaLion]

BTW, I forgot to mention the Group K kit was on a 1050 and not the 1200.

[Sirhc7897]

I've talked with Randy before and he has been extremely helpful in helping me chase down a few gremlins that were stumping me. The man really knows his stuff! I talked with Hot Seat today on this issue and their take on it is unless I'm racing to avoid the pipes. They say they make the engine too "conditional". They also said porting would really wake the 1200 up. This conflicts some other takes I have heard on this but my guess is that Hot Seat would have a better take on this then my other sources. My SLTX just popped a piston and crank and it's got me nervous because the SLX has comparable hours. That being said my mechanic has both of them and is going to break mine down and check it out. If it checks out ok while he's got it apart I'm going to send the cylinders to get ported. I've never been on a ported boat that I know of, typically is it a considerable difference in itself or does it just really compliment something like carbs and reeds?

[SeaLion]

Porting is an art form. You gotta do it right. It will increase top speed but you should really get some domes for your head. Your compression will go down from the porting (depending on how radical) and your bottom end will suffer. Whoever does your porting should recommend the correct c.c. domes to compliment the porting and not lose bottom end. I would personally look into getting some carbs for it too because those non externally adjustable stock Keihins are not the best for a modified engine.

[Sirhc7897]

I've got the Hot Seat 93 octane domes now, after the porting the next thing I'm doing are the carbs. I'm still a little undecided on which carbs to get, the 44 or 46 mm. On my GSX there was a bit of a bog problem on the low end if I didn't feather the throttle just right with the buckshots before I put the factory twins on it. I'm not sure if the 46 mm riflebore's will do the same thing without the triples? Everyone I've talked to says that the stock pipe on the Polaris boats is as good as it gets and will accomodate anything I do to the rest of the engine short of making it full blown superstock. Hotseat told me that with the proper work the stock pipe would get the boat comfortably into the low 70's (71-72+) and wit ht the porting and carbs etc it would scream on the way there. What about this though: on my GSX I advanced the timing a few degrees and picked up almost 150-200 rpms on top, can you get that kind of a pickup on the Polaris engine by doing that?

[SeaLion]

The stock Polaris pipe is a good pipe. Hot Seat sells a cdi with different curves. I was going to go there next and tell you to ask them about it. Even with your higher compression domes, once ported you will lose compression so either the ones in there now should be reworked or get what your porting place recommends with their set up.
As far as carbs, Many of the Polaris race boats use Novi. I would ask around and see if you can even use the Pro785 stock 44mm Mikuni carbs. You can get those take offs cheap (I got mine for $125 brand new take offs with the plenum type F/A and intake manifold). You will need some adapters or a different manifold. I think Randy has a set for around $250 but I don't know how they work on the 1200. I put these on my SLX780 and they work great.

[Sirhc7897]

Cool I'll have to get in contact with Randy again and see what he's got. That would certainly beat the $1,500 tag on the riflebores. After I talked with the guys over at Hotseat yesterday I got the impression that the 93 octane domes along with the porting work they do made for a killer combination. When we got to talking about porting he said the same thing that I would need some heads and when I told him I had the 93's he said it would make for an awesome combination. They didn't say anything about needing additional work done to those domes.

[Wet Wolf]

Porting does a world of good on the polaris domestic engines, and if its not too radical, is easy to tune. but you should get the 44 mikunis (used, and work them over. there is a polaris part #2900076, it is a manifold to put 44 SBNs on the domestic motors. you will need 3 of them to get the job done, and some linkage pieces that can be found in a Hot products catalog, or Randy probaby has the setup hanging around.
Or you can send in your carbs and airbox and we can install hi speed screws with thumbwheel adjusters, and taperbore the carb throat to match the airbox top, and install a primer kit for $350. It is a must for anyone with the polaris/kiehin carb setup that wants to mod the motor.
While the lack of hi speed adjusters may have reduced warranty claims on burnt up engines, Polaris could have done what they did with the pro785 and put large enough main jets in that even closing the screws all the way wouldn't fry the motor. That way at least there would be some adjustabilty. and folks that wanted to go faster wouldnt have to spend all their time pulling carbs to change jets.

[SeaLion]

Like I said, the porter will know what domes to run to compliment each other. That's why it is good to have all this done at one time and one place instead of different places. There are many levels of porting from just cleaning up the casting marks to totally and radically changing the ports.
As Bruce posted, reworked stock Keihins are good too. The mod he offers sounds very reasonable and will make for a fully adjustable carb that flows better.
Bruce, have you ever disabled the accelerator pumps and went to new jetting. I am so unfamiliar with Keihins and wanted an opinion on accelerator pump removal having any benefit. I know the Yamaha guys like to do this.

[Sirhc7897]

I'll tell you fellas, my working over dream may have just taken a serious hit. I just got off the phone with my mechanic about my SLTX that blew during the week. He can patch it, but it needs a new engine if I really want to keep it and since it's my mother's baby you know what that answer is. To the point he; he tells me that these engines aren't really meant to live much past 200 hours, and my SLX has 196 now. If that really is the case then I'm not going to waste my money on it and I'll just be happy with what it does now for as long as it wil still run. Is there any truth to this or is he off base. Mostly he specializes in Sea-Doo's so I'm not entirely confident in his hours prognostication. Any advice here before I bite the bullet on another $1-2000 in mods? It was a really bad week for the trio of skis; my SLX appears fine but I may have just recieved news that the motor is in it's twilight, the SLTX's rear cylinder became a grenade, and the carbon fiber GSX developed a crack around the pump that's going to take $650 to fix. Not my finest hour to say the least.

[SeaLion]

I know of people from other boards that have close to 500 hours on 1050 engines. Some even have a few limited mods.

Polaris' run at lower rpms than most others and have proven to be very reliable. With that said, there are many factors that determine reliability.

Tim is right on about getting the work done at 1 place in a package type. I eluded to this too.

[Sirhc7897]

I talked to my mechanic this morning and he agreed that my SLTX blowing was in no way a death sentence on my other ski. I've got him testing my ski to see what kind of condition it is in now. When I find out what kind of shape it's in I will no further about my plans. My other 2 skis don't look to be so lucky though. Mostly they're my parents ski's and the GSX was just sort of a good buy. My parents have decided they're going to buy the GSX and SLTX off of me "cheap" and then sell them, dad's going to sell his RXX and they're going to buy some 4 strokes, will suit their riding styles better. Neither is an aggressive rider and dad just got the RXX as payment for some litigation. Mom wants to see what the MSX is about (if indeed it is a 4 stroke) and I think my dad is kind of favoring the F12X unless the MSX? is really killer.

[imported_Tim]

That engine is not a throw away. 200 Hrs is nothing. We do dyno work, Porting, head work, carb mods, 30 years in 2 stroke performance, and we specialize in POLARIS Products. Be glad to help you with your rebuild and porting/Head work. All we need to know is your riding syle and type of riding you do in order to build you an engine for the right conditions!!! We want to build you an engine that last's and gives you the best power for the riding you do. Don't be fooled by someone who offers to port just your cylinders, it is alot more involved than just cleaning up the exhaust ports in order to make useable HP/ Torque>>> Call us @ 260-637-7953 We guarantee our work Performance Motorsports

[ July 15, 2002, 12:31 AM: Message edited by: Tim ]

[Wet Wolf]

SL, disabling the acc pump is the only way to go IMHO. The fact the pump is their means the low and mid jetting is a little lean. The acc pump just loads up the engine, especially if you have a long no wake zone to deal with.