MR1 HO to 1.8L HO engine swap - gen 1 FX HO

[Kosh]

Clean build and well documented, will serve you well for years to come.

[dixon0001]

I ran mine on the hose today and noticed not much water coming out the pump so took front seat off to find loads of steam. I shut the ski down to and found out there not much water coming out my hose itself I guessed it was the connections I was using on my garden hose. I connected the hose straight to the ski and started the ski once again seemed better this time but the oil cooler pisser pipe water was warm coming out the pisser then that dreaded temp sensor alarm came on.
I left ski for 10 mins and tried again thinking it might have been hot still from the first time I ran it. Anyways it was on running on the hose for few mins without any more alarms going off.
Think I need to dip trailer in water and let it run like that for 10-15 mins see if there's any problems ( I only live 2mins away from slip way so not to much of a problem taking it just so busy at this moment in time)

[TimeBandit]

Sounds like you just had a one-off with the hose then ... I'd say go for the water test.


I've been just finishing up on the electrical. Actually, done, exception of plugs & coils. Hit the unlock on the remote fob and she woke right up. Even turned it over a couple times without the plugs in. Hopefully I can get it started on the hose myself for the 1st time.

[TimeBandit]

UPDATES:

Electrical

Not much to show in regards to pics. I can say that the VXS electrical box itself is also a perfect fit onto the mid hull partition. All the bolts lined right up.

Not trying to run the motor just yet, but I did spin it on the starter. That, and like I said above, did the fob unlock press and got a quick look on YDS to show no codes so far. I'm not too far from throw a set of fresh plugs in and giving it its first run on the hose since the conversion started .


Fueling
Before I run it however, I was pondering if I should carry-over the VXS's fuel pump or not. I believe the answer is going to be a "YES" if we are referencing both service manuals : The 2005 says 45-47psi, and 2012 states 49.1-52.6psi. This indicates the 1.8L (HO & SHO) needs are about 5psi higher than the MR1. What would 5 less psi do?? I imagine a slight leaning-out the AFRs a bit. Perhaps some top-end issues? I do have the VXS fuel assembly sitting on the bench, but it's going to be a PITA to swap this out now. IDK, but it's something that has me thinking. Any thoughts out there on this?

Nice work.....

Clean build and well documented, will serve you well for years to come.

Thank guys - appreciate the kind words.

[TimeBandit]

SUCCESS !!


Was able to get it running on the hose. Started right up - no errors.

In regards to the fuel pump, I did go ahead and swap-in the VXS's pump just prior. As a result, my fuel pressure gauge hovered right around 50psi the entire time running, so glad I did this last part swap.

{ Final look at the 2005 1.8L HO transplant procedure results }


{ closer look at the engine }

I have to admit. . . that 1.8 is lookin' darn sexy in-place of where a MR1 once was!
Funny - 700 more cc's than the MR1, yet it's yielding more net hull-room, aka to work around the motor and such.

Ok, so those paying close attention to the two above pics might spot two additional things out of the norm.

First, I'm a believer in running MOSFET-based rectifier/regulators over any stock SCR-based unit. Aside from running cool to the touch, they offer both a higher average charge-voltage, and hold it there more stable (less voltage swinging on different rpms). It's important for me to keep my mosfet, because I run LI Iron packs which hover around 13.6v fully charge, verses typical lead-acid batteries being more like 12.8. That, almost a whole volt higher, thus having a higher avg reg voltage helps, as the mosfet puts out a stable 14.3, even at idle rpms. A SCR can swing as low as 13.4 at idle - which means my LI's be getting no charge potential applied.
That said, the issue I faced was that the oem reg on these 1.8 platforms is water-cooled. Makes sense if you ever touched an SCR reg. So I found a PEX brass T to replace the oem reg water paths. I then wired my mosfet reg to the wires, which had enough length to reach the back-side of the hull partition. Did I mention the mosfets run virtually cool ÔÇô thus the ambient hull temps (as warm as it might get in there at times) will be plenty fine.

Next alteration I really like. . . thermostat housing 'upgrade' (cough cough). Ok, perhaps since I reached back in time for a part, this could be considered a down-grade, yet functionally, its an upgrade IMHO. What I did was steel the housing off my MR1. The reason (aside from it being alloy verses plastic), is that the MR1 housing has that extra pisser (tell), which routes to the stbd side. That's why you'll note a red hose routing along the FI rail. The other red hose in the pic (port side) is of course the oil cooler discharge/pisser. So here's what I discovered on the hose run . . . both pissers piss really well while flushing/running on the hose! Great confirmation/verification when flushing! The MR1 rarely ever pissed out one (port), let along both, while on the hose. The other little known/discussed reason for these pissers, is to promote rapid self drainage. These act as entry ports to allow air to enter the water jackets as coolant gravity drains out the lower system.

Next up . . . sea trials.

[TimeBandit]

UPDATE:

Able to do a full water-test this past weekend. Knock on wood - flawless !
Exhaust is sounding a bit drone-like in the lower rpms - but I kinda expected it. Might be in for a thru-hull exhaust mod next . . . Other than that, everything worked. Between also getting a new solas and the 1.8L, this thing has some serious get-up & go! My old FX HO 2005 has a new lease on life.

Honestly, did not know if the trouble of moving the 1.8 to my old hull would be worth it, but it totally is. FWIW, (and I'm not diss'ing VXR owners), but when I bought the VXR donor, I did take it out on a quick test-ride. Hole-shot was incredibly good - and that was with it's f'ed-up impeller. But was it to harsh to ride on-plane in my Bay with chop conditions. It's just too light and shallow of a hull. Again, speaking the 2012 VXR hulls.
Now, with the 1.8L in the older heavier FX hull, the hole-shot did take a slight decline, but the flat-out runs are awesome. I'm not getting half as beat-up, even in mild-chop.

So far so good - time will tell.
For now, thanks for tuning into this thread - c ya' out on the water.

[TimeBandit]

Status update:
Just spent two hours fixing all the images in this whole thread ( f'ing Photobucket )

Anyway, while I'm here, I can report that in just a little over two months & 20+ hrs more on the clocks the engine transplant has been working really well. The only real major thing I have done is going with a complete DIY thru-hull exhaust system { link }, which includes a custom-built baffle chamber (pwc muffler of sorts) for added noise cancellation. Sounds really good at idle, yet tamed-down at speed.

[slociviccoupe]

Interested to see the exhaust setup. Also can you give more info on your battery and voltage regulator. Been doing lot of reading on voltage regulators since you mentioned it.

[TimeBandit]

I added a link in my post above to the another thread on the exhaust system.

As far as the Regulator swap, it is similar to the swap I did a year ago on my old MR1 engine { link here }. The only real difference that I had to deal with, was that the 1.8L regulators are water-cooled?? WTF? Yeah, instead of shit-canning the scorching-hot SCR reg for the cooler running MOSFET, they decided to just throw water at the problem ÔÇô literally.

Well, since I could not find a MOSFET having this water-jacket - oh, that's right, a MOSFET wouldn't need one since they operation cool to the touch - I will be converting back to an air-cooled regulator. This meant dealing with that coolant path.

So I removed that OEM reg. After examining the reg's water-jacket, I see that it is just a union of three coolant hoses. Basically, a portion of the pre-heated coolant from the exhaust manifold jacket is routed through the regulator on its way to the water box for wet-exhaust mixing. Oh, and for those curious, that third hose leading back to the side engine manifold, simply provides a path for back-drainage. Simplest and safest thing, is to just keep things the way they were designed, so I found a brass PEX ÔÇ£TÔÇØ in my junk-drawer that did the job perfectly (see below). This T will preserve the OEM coolant routing, while I find a new home to mount my air-cooled MOSFET.

{ Brass "T" connector replacing reg water-jacket }

The MOSFET I chose was again the Shindengen FH012AA - very commonly found as an OEM part on many Japanese sport bikes :

{ classic FH012AA mosfet-based shunt regulator }

Another choice being the FH020AA. You'll just need to browse the online fiche to find which bikes have them, as equally other bikes have the SCR-based regs. Usually the part #'s with "FH" are the better mosfets, while the "SH" are the SCR ones. You can source these from OEM part suppliers, ebay, and elsewhere. Just note there are a ton of ÔÇ£clonesÔÇØ now on the market. I hear these work fine, but I also hear they don't - to each his own.

{ butchered OEM (scr) regulator }

Ok, so after praying to the regulator-Gods for forgiveness, I got the courage to ruin a perfectly good oem SCR regulator, aka snipped the wire-harness from it. These things essentially permit large current bypassing, so the less connectors in the system the better, so I stripped & tinned the wires from this harness and directly soldered them to my new FH012AA. Cutting-back the plastic connector housings on the reg, I was able to access the blade-shaped terminals. Note: you will need one of them 100W gun solder irons to do this, as there is a lot of heat-sinking at play. Once the oem reg harness was attached to my FH012AA, the rest is play-n-play.

The FH012AA is performing very well. Have over 25+ hours to date, it keeps my charge-voltage solid and stable at 14.4v - even at idle RPMs, which is greatly helpful being that I have dual LiFePO4 packs on this ski.

[TimeBandit]

Interested to see the exhaust setup. Also can you give more info on your battery and voltage regulator. Been doing lot of reading on voltage regulators since you mentioned it.

slociviccoupe,
I started a separate thread on the exhaust setup. The exhaust works fantastic! Allows me the through-hull free-flow, while not loud at full-cruise speeds. Idle still sounds mean. Here's the link:

http://www.greenhulk.net/showthread.php?t=264964

On to the current dual-batt setup . . .

Dual Battery configuration



So, to stem-off of the above MOSFET upgrade to the charging system, I run dual lithium "Iron" (LiFePO4) packs. Iron is the most stable and safe for vehicle-used. I mounted the packs high off the bilge, on-top the stbd-side hump (on old FX's). For reference, you can see where the OEM batt is usually mounted. I round the ground leads for each batt directly to the engine ground-block (two black cables). The Red (pos) from each batt go to a selector-switch (make-before-break contacts). I never operationally run on "both", as this is not safe if ever one batt became unstable or grounded, etc.... It's all about habit and routine, so I'll select batt 1 or 2 based on it being an odd or even calendar day, and stay on the batt the whole time. The other batt is simply my standby / backup. Being that I could be adrift hours at a time, with GPS, sounder, RF radio, and maybe FM radio playing (aka fishing), I simply need some insurance as to not be in a situation without enough cranking amps, and this is my main reason for the dual batt setup.

[K447]

... the current dual-batt setup . . .

Dual Battery configuration



... I mounted the packs ... on-top the stbd-side hump (on old FX's). ... I round the ground leads for each batt directly to the engine ground-block (two black cables).

The Red (pos) from each batt go to a selector-switch (make-before-break contacts). ...

From a safety perspective, consider rotating one of the batteries so the positive terminals on one battery are not so close to the negative terminals of the other battery. When working near those battery posts with tools, a slipped tool could short between + and ground post, with nasty results.

I suggest having all the negative posts near each other, and the positive posts and cables as far apart as possible at the outside ends of the array.

Related comment, consider covering or sleeving all the positive post metal and cable ends. Exposed battery voltage wiring should be minimized. Reduced risk of accidental short circuit.

[TimeBandit]

From a safety perspective, consider rotating one of the batteries so the positive terminals on one battery are not so close to the negative terminals of the other battery. When working near those battery posts with tools, a slipped tool could short between + and ground post, with nasty results.
. . .

Excellent tip & observation! Even with the batt switch in Off, this risk is present due to the dual negative lead tie back at the engine. However, as things are currently, I'll need to replace a lead or two depending on which I choose to flip.

Edit:
It has been a while since I posted this post .... but I just wanted to quickly mention that I did ultimately flip one of the packs as K447 suggested, so that the two negative are together.

[dixon0001]

Hi timebandit.

Been a while since I've seen this thread . I've only managed to put about 10 hours on my conversion since I got it finished . I've gone down the rout of putting r3 ecu on and bigger wheel and testing props and prop pitched ect hopefully this year il get a good amount of hours on it . I've had new mats and seat cover on just eating for some decals now to make it stand out

[stephenspann27]

Just curious, what went wrong with your old MR-1 motor?

[TimeBandit]

Technically nothing went wrong with 'my' MR-1. . . more accurately the previous owner's. It was rusted seize, so sunk, towed, who knows. I got this craft for the huul. After 3 failed attempts in a row with aftermarket 'Premium' MR-1 engines, I threw my hands in the air and went on the hunt for a OEM MR-1. I wasn't satisfied with the cost/quality of mr1s, yet found a great deal on a 1.8. Rest is history.