900 zxi reeds

[Peter]

Has anyone tried different reeds then the stock ones??? How do you know if you need new reeds?? THanks for the help....Peter

[Bryan Glynn]

There are plenty of alternatives out there. Two of the best are Beyensen and Carbon Tech. Boyensen makes unique dual-stage reeds, a combination of fiberglass and carbon fibre reeds that give you the benifits of carbon fiber combined with the durability of fiberglass. Carbon Tech makes excellent 100% carbon fiber reeds, giving to you ultimate performance at the cost of slight longevity. You can tell you need new reeds if your throttle response goes down, you get backfires, you notice a drop in compression suddenly and the rest of the engine looks good, etc. The best and quickest way to tell is to look at them. Any small cracks or un-seated area can cause problems. The most advanced, but also somewhat problematic in some applications, answer, is a set of Deta 2's from Motto Tasinari. They are very expensive, and have been known to break very soon (under 20 hours) in some skis, but I hear it's getting better recently.

[Peter]

THanks Bryan....

[scott25a]

Peter, I had Carbon Tech reeds in my 900 for a while. In my opinion they were not any better that the stock ones. In fact they caused my boat to really smoke alot at idle. It's probably best to stay with the stock reeds. If you did some major engine mods then maybe another reed would be better suited.

[raider1100]

personally i found out that stock reeds tend to work best. They dont loose flexibility as quickly as the aftermarket reeds
Rob

[Bryan Glynn]

Rob - unless you have actual experience with a Kawasaki 900, you can't extrapolate data from another boat. As far as aftermarket reed composition and design goes, every motor is differnt. Internal cage and case designs can make some types and design perform very well in some, and very poorly in other engines. If you do have K 900 experience with aftermarket reeds, that's great, and your opinion is welcome.

[bdurisin@gmail.com]

Re: 900 zxi reeds

I have a 95 900zxi and I just replaced the crank seals, rebuilt the carbs, and installed boyesen reeds.. my question is .. factory setting on the carbs is supposed to be L=1 1/4 turns out and H=3/4 turn out.. my settings running factory reeds was set to L=1 1/2 turns out and H=1 turn out.. Now running factory reeds I always had a little oil coming out the exhaust(even running it on the hose) and it ran Great for 18 yrs like that.. boyesen says to go out aprx 1/4 turn to 1/2 turn on both settings. when I reassembled the jet ski, I left my settings how I found them L=1 1/2 turns out and H=1 turn out to match what boyesen says. Problem is that now I have no oil coming out of the exhaust (I am injecting and also pre-mix 50:1 in the tank for the first tank until all the air bubbles (if there are any) are out of the injection system (just to be safe)).. At aprx 7000 rpm's it seems like it is bogging out but if I keep revving it, it clears out.. So I am not sure what to make of it.. Do I open up the carbs another 1/4 turn just to be safe or leave it like it is... any helpl with this would be greatly appreciated.