What started as a "running" 1990 Kawasaki 550SX quickly turned into something much different. I bought the ski after being told it had a JS550 engine swap with good compression, but after getting it home and digging into it, I found out it was actually a JS440 with low compression and a long list of other issues.

The first thing to go was the paint. The hull was stripped down to bare fiberglass, repaired where needed, reprimed, and repainted. I then designed a custom wrap, had it printed, and installed it myself. The tray was also refinished with new turf to bring the ski back to life cosmetically.

Mechanically, the engine was pulled and rebuilt using 550 cylinders bored 1mm over. The head was milled 0.080" to increase compression, and a performance exhaust system was installed. I also added a carburetor primer system and built a custom bilge pump setup to improve reliability on the water.

The project has also become a platform for design and manufacturing work. I have been designing custom parts for the ski, including 3D-printed aluminum components such as an intake manifold and rear sponsons. These parts are designed in CAD, prototyped, and tested as part of the ongoing development of the ski.

What started as a misrepresented project ski became an opportunity to learn fiberglass repair, paint work, engine building, CAD design, additive manufacturing, and performance tuning while creating a machine that is completely my own.