Kawasaki Jet ski performance, Repair & Maintenance
Conclusion:
Hopefully our information here has answered most of your questions, if not all! If you do have more questions, please feel free to call, email or chat with us. We do all honing in house. Cylinder inspection is free. Cost to hone is $200.00. A re-plate costs $500.00. Welding would be extra depending on the bore.
Kawasaki Ultra 250x 260x 30x 310x Cylinder Repair
Introduction:
Your Ultra cylinders are plated with an extremely hard thin coating. This coating is by far the highest quality performance bore coating on the market. This process allows for the most efficient heat transfer and also wear is outstanding! When it comes to Ultra cylinders, you do not want to sleeve. Sleeves are inferior, unless they are made of a harder, more corrosion resistant material, and more thermally conductive (Normally not). Coating condition will usually fall under two categories, Excellent condition or in need of repair.
Cylinder Condition:
Normally, when cylinders come out of a running ski, they will fall under the two categories stated above. First, a visual inspection of the bore is needed. If the bore has any pitting or green flakes, take a scott pad to see if it comes off. If it comes off great! If not, It may need a re-plate. If all checks out good so far, we can now check for wear. Rule of thumb, anything over 300 hours OE is usually out of spec and should be re-plated. But, this can happen much earlier if the jet ski was not taken care of to well. Visually, you will see little to no honing marks or scouring. This will indicate wear. A true check is a bore gauge. If it is within spec, great! If not, looks like a re-plate is in order. Although a bore may be out of spec, you can pop some new rings on and go. But do not expect much, rings will not seal properly for sure. If the bore checks out good, we absolutely recommend a hone. Most machine shops are not capable of this, because they do not have experience or the tools necessary. When honing, material is removed, so the bore MUST be within spec or too much material will be removed putting the bore out of spec. A diamond hone must be used here, since a normal hone will not scratch the super hard bore. Last but not least, It is super critical that the cylinders are decked either by grinding or by diamond surfacer. Fly cutting is not recommended due to the very coarse grit it leaves. Not decking the cylinders can result in leaky head gaskets and water getting in the oil. Only use an OEM or Racing head gasket! Inferior quality gaskets will leak.