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Kawasaki 1200 / Ultra 150

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  • Kawasaki 1200 / Ultra 150

    Read it all! You'll be glad you did. Lots of lessons learned that will save you time and headaches.

    I purchased a SBT Kawasaki 1200 Standard Shortblock package for my 2003 Ultra 150 as well as the full gasket kit, a new SBT starter, and I needed a throttle cable as mine was frayed at the oil pump. Right around $2K for everything. My stock starter worked fine but I figured since I had the motor out and the ski was 11 years old already, why not change it just to be safe. (more on that later) Also, I changed the oil lines and fuel lines at the same time, under the "might as well do it now" premise. Not required but why not they are cheap!

    Regarding the ordering and delivery:
    I placed the order on the website late at night on a Sunday and first thing Monday morning I received a call on my phone to confirm everything and place my order. The Rep was very polite and very easy to talk to. The motor shipped on a Tues and was scheduled to arrive at my door in western PA on Friday. One pain point here to note: the delivery has to be signed for. I work all day and cant be home to sign so I had to re-direct the package to the nearest Fedex depot (15mi away) and go pick it up on a Saturday. I don't think anything can be done about this but it was annoying nonetheless. Motor was well packaged and everything arrived in perfect shape.

    Regarding the Installer (me!):
    I was nervous about taking on this engine swap as I'm not a professional mechanic and I did the whole thing with no outside help from anyone other than the instructions and the internet. I'd rate my mechanic skills as a 7 or 8 (on a good day) out of 10. It is a little challenging but if you've worked on cars and have a serious set of tools you "should" be OK.(Notice I said "should" so don't blame me if the motor is out on your garage floor for a year...)
    Regarding the 1200 motor specifically:
    I'd say this particular motor is a little bit more challenging than others because its a big honking 1200cc three cylinder stuffed into a relatively small, high performance ski. Meaning everything is tight and it's heavy and contains 50% more parts than a two cylinder. Although I can't confirm from experience, I would guess a small 2 cylinder two stroke swap would be exponentially easier than this 1200 swap. You have to learn to bend your arms and hands in ways you never have before. Also, either use an engine hoist or a comealong on a garage beam to yank the thing out. The longblock weighs 100+lbs and is a lot to yank out of that deep tight hull. I didnt feel like using either one, so I just lifted it in and out with pure manliness. (warning - not recommended)

    Regarding the instructions, don't expect to follow them letter for letter and finish the job. I'd say they are 75-80% and only cover the main points and certainly don't offer any tips or tricks. I'd say they are more geared towards someone that's done it before vs. a total first timer. In other-words, they are very good but not comprehensive.

    ONE HUGE THING TO NOTE! and I can't believe its not mentioned in the instructions... When you take the Magento Cup off, and then go to put it back on the new motor, the tiny little Mitsubishi triangles logo must be lined up with the keyway on the shaft. The flywheel and balancer gear alignment is mentioned in the instructions (line up the dots) but not the Magneto cup alignment. WHY!!!?!??! I didn't pay attention to it and had it all back together and it wouldn't run. It you get it all back together and hear a loud pop and backfire in your exhaust, your timing is off, likely caused by the magneto cup being off. I did a search and found others had this same issue in the forums. I don't understand why that wasn't added to the PDF of the instructions long ago? Would've saved me hours of re-work. That was a bit frustrating.

    Regarding needed tools. If you don't have a big *** socket set,(& extensions!!) a bunch of wrenches, vise grips, channel locks, hammers, 10,000 zip ties, etc.. don't even attempt it. It took a lot of "standard" tools, in additional to some special stuff I didn't have. I also wouldn't even try it without an impact wrench. I use a nice cordless 1/2' drive impact wrench but obviously a standard air one also works. You can attempt to stuff rags into the motor to stop it from spinning and fight with nuts like the instructions say, or you can use an impact wrench and spin them off in seconds. Special Tools: One of the slowest and trickiest parts of the whole process is removing all the studs from your old motor. On a 3cyl there are a lot of them. Double nutting them kinda works but is painfully slow and some studs are really stuck in there. Do yourself a favor and either buy motorcycle stud socket set or I used this: Titan Stud Puller - 3/8in. Drive, Model 16023 - Socket Wrenches - Amazon.com Get this Titan stud puller and use it in your impact wrench. You'll have those studs out in seconds. You also need a puller to get that pesky flywheel off. You should have one of these already big boy, but if not i used one similar to this and it worked for me: Amazon.com: TEKTON 5690 6-Inch 3-Jaw Gear Puller: Home Improvement Don't forget the old trick put the flywheel nut (use impact gun to get flywheel nut right off) back in just a little bit before you start cranking down the puller on the flywheel. Get some good tension on it with the puller and then just tap it every so lightly with a hammer. When it comes shooting off it wont injure your sexy face ( AKA - moneymaker). Forget about the chain wrench as mentioned in the instructions here's why:

    Regarding the PTO: This thing is impossible to remove. I beat on mine like a cheating girlfriend and yanked on it like a 14yr old boy and it wouldn't come off. I went Avengers on it and Hulked out and eventually broke it. Ended up leaving it on and sending it back with the motor. My recommendation is buy a new PTO and install it on the new motor and don't even waste your time trying to get the old one off to swap it over. Chances are you will compromise the integrity of it anyway applying the necessary force required to remove it. (big words = scary) A new Kawasaki OEM one is like 35 bucks and aftermarket ones are even less. Its worth it trust me. SBT, you should just sell a new PTO coupler with this kit. Just a thought.


    Regarding the SBT starter: I was not impressed with the build quality and the performance (or lack there of). It's about 1/2 the size and 1/2 the weight of the OEM factory starter. I'm thinking "OK, maybe starters are like laundry detergent at the grocery store... getting smaller but getting more powerful over time?" Negative...!
    I got my magento cup problem straightened out, (pulled motor a 2nd time) got it all back together and finally got it fired and idling good and making all the right noises. Then Poof! starter stops working... (Grrrrrrrrr. Pulls motor 3rd time) Now I'm swearing like a sailor. I jump the starter on a spare battery and get nothing. Thank goodness I saved my old one and threw it back in and now life is good.

    I'm not going to slander this starter or use a blanket statement saying they are all bad, but I can say for sure this particular starter I received "seems" to me to be light duty and not the same quality as the OEM. I guess that's why it's half the price! (SBT $150 - OEM $345) I looked at the Chinese $99 cheap starters online and said "Nah, too good to be true and paid $50 more for the SBT thinking its gotta be better... Here's the rub, the body and terminals on the China Cheapies appear to be the exact same as the SBT unit, leading me to believe its the same factory making them but just adding the SBT logo and charging a $50 premium over the ebay price. Again, this is a big 3cyl 1200cc motor that's extra rich with oil for break in and maybe it is just too much for the starter to handle. I would ask SBT take a look at their supplier and maybe get something a little beefier ( maybe not for their whole starter lineup, but certainly for this motor) (USA made? ISO certified facility??). I'd gladly pay a little more for something better and venture others would as well.


    Thats all folks... thanks for reading, hopefully this will save you some time and headaches if you decide to do the swap yourself! Feel free to message me if you have questions doing the 1200 motor swap. I'll gladly email you back with my suggestions. coreydg@g m a i l . c o(M)

    Size Large T-Shirt please!

    Thanks!
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