1999 Genesis Ficht motor replacement

[Scott.S]

Greetings from California. New member but have been reading the Polaris tech posts for a while now.
I recently acquired a 1999 Genesis Ficht 1200 that has the typical issues ie fuel pump, ecm, and top end cylinder/piston scoring. I've decided to part out the motor and other parts and install a carbed unit. Has anyone done this type of swap? And if I cant find a good 1200 carb motor, would something else be relatively straight forward to install? Maybe a 4 stroke?
What issues would need to be addressed? Motor placement, driveshaft length, electrical etc? The ski only has 50+ hrs on it and hull is in excellent condition.
Any input is appreciated

[xlint89]

Welcome to the Hulk.

Something seems off. The hull may be in great shape, but I would find it hard to believe the engine is damaged with just 50 hours on it.

The genesis did come with a carbed version, but I'm not sure exactly how the swap would go. You would need an electrical box with the CDI and coils, etc...

Have you considered trying to salvage what is in it now? The fuel pump isn't too bad to do, and you can address the fuel pressure regulator at the same time. The ECM can be serviced. We have a very good repair person on this site. Top end repair can be done pretty easily too.

It sounds like you will be doing the work yourself, so that means you have the cost of the parts only. I'm guessing around $1500 total to get what you have back in running order? Not sure how much cheaper you'd be able to fix that ski for? Even with selling the parts off the old engine. Then you have no hassle of trying to make something else work in it's place. Just a thought.

[Scott.S]

Welcome to the Hulk.

Something seems off. The hull may be in great shape, but I would find it hard to believe the engine is damaged with just 50 hours on it.

The genesis did come with a carbed version, but I'm not sure exactly how the swap would go. You would need an electrical box with the CDI and coils, etc...

Have you considered trying to salvage what is in it now? The fuel pump isn't too bad to do, and you can address the fuel pressure regulator at the same time. The ECM can be serviced. We have a very good repair person on this site. Top end repair can be done pretty easily too.

It sounds like you will be doing the work yourself, so that means you have the cost of the parts only. I'm guessing around $1500 total to get what you have back in running order? Not sure how much cheaper you'd be able to fix that ski for? Even with selling the parts off the old engine. Then you have no hassle of trying to make something else work in it's place. Just a thought.

Hey PMxlint89..
Thanks for your reply. Literally, according to the mfd the ski has 50+ hrs. ?
However, I'm somewhat mechanically inclined and have done most of "the fixes" including fuel press reg checks and fix, fuel line r/r, ecm checks, stator check and replacement. Correct new plugs, compression was a bit low with pto (marked head) lower comp as should be.
Im kind of disgusted with the 1999 Ficht fi motor and want to be rid of the issues.

[K447]

Hey PMxlint89..
Thanks for your reply. Literally, according to the mfd the ski has 50+ hrs. ?
However, I'm somewhat mechanically inclined and have done most of "the fixes" including fuel press reg checks and fix, fuel line r/r, ecm checks, stator check and replacement. Correct new plugs, compression was a bit low with pto (marked head) lower comp as should be.
Im kind of disgusted with the 1999 Ficht fi motor and want to be rid of the issues.

The MFI dash can be reset to zero hours. This may have happened in the past, or the dash may not be original to the ski.

1999 was the very first year for Polaris Ficht and the Ficht system is unique to that year and model. EMM and injectors are 1999 Genesis FFi model only.

Carb conversion from Ficht would require a complete electrical swap. Harness, flywheel, stator, flywheel housing?, electrical box with CDI and LR-505 module, fuel sender.

Some of the 2004 Freedom models have a fuel sender that will retrofit onto the large opening on the Fight fuel tank. Alternative is to swap the fuel tank with one from a carb model, which has a smaller top opening to match the typical carb fuel sender.

If the crankcase does not have pulse ports to power the carb mounted fuel pumps the ports must be drilled and tapped.

You will need a carb rack, plus the fuel shut-off valve and fuel/water separator (if not a Polaris PWC inline fuel filter).
Choke knob and cable to the carbs.

I think all this was documented a few years back on here somewhere. Some searching might find those threads.

[Scott.S]

The MFI dash can be reset to zero hours. This may have happened in the past, or the dash may not be original to the ski.

1999 was the very first year for Polaris Ficht and the Ficht system is unique to that year and model. EMM and injectors are 1999 Genesis FFi model only.

Carb conversion from Ficht would require a complete electrical swap. Harness, flywheel, stator, flywheel housing?, electrical box with CDI and LR-505 module, fuel sender.

Some of the 2004 Freedom models have a fuel sender that will retrofit onto the large opening on the Fight fuel tank. Alternative is to swap the fuel tank with one from a carb model, which has a smaller top opening to match the typical carb fuel sender.

If the crankcase does not have pulse ports to power the carb mounted fuel pumps the ports must be drilled and tapped.

You will need a carb rack, plus the fuel shut-off valve and fuel/water separator (if not a Polaris PWC inline fuel filter).
Choke knob and cable to the carbs.

I think all this was documented a few years back on here somewhere. Some searching might find those threads.

Thanks K447, good info.
Any thoughts on swapping with a four stroke motor. I realize the Genesis isnt the most sought after ski and some/most people wouldnt put the money or effort into the project but the price was right and I'd like to give it a shot. Would a 1200cc be minimum size or would a 1050 be enough power? How about an msx150..? Any thoughts..?

[K447]

- Any thoughts on swapping with a four stroke motor.

I realize the Genesis isn't the most sought after ski and some/most people wouldnt put the money or effort into the project but the price was right and I'd like to give it a shot.

Would a 1200cc be minimum size or would a 1050 be enough power?
How about an msx150..?

Any thoughts..?

I have always felt that the Polaris Genesis hull really wants about 200hp. It is a relatively heavy hull, strongly built with an inner fiberglass liner structure. It is also the most compact of the four person rated PWC hulls, with better handling than the more ponderous four seat Seadoo LRV and Yamaha SUV from back in the day.

The Genesis rides reasonably well in light to medium rough water, in part due to the weight. The limited stock engine power makes for leisurely acceleration and modest top speeds, especially with several people aboard.

The '1200' Polaris 2-stroke motor was used because that is all Polaris had at the time.

The Weber 4-stroke engine Polaris used in the MSX 150 has similar power and was effectively the only 4-stroke option available to Polaris back then. That Weber engine was not designed for use inside a PWC hull, which makes for time consuming and often constrained working conditions on that engine in the hull. Taking the Weber engine out of the MSX 150 hull is also not a quick process.

There are fans of the Weber engine. It is impressive to deliver well over 100hp from a two cylinder 750cc supercharged motor. It requires some upgrades to reach 150hp, stock is ~130ish. There are some known weaknesses inside the engine that should be upgraded for reliability. Water pump drive gears comes to mind, along with the oil separator. Cylinder wall Nikasil plating can fail, requiring an engine rebuild.

I will mention that the 1999 Genesis was the only year where the engine exhaust was underneath the hull, dual exhausts below the waterline, one on each side of the ride plate. I do not know why Polaris did it this way but after 1999 the Genesis models had the same single exhaust exit as all the other Polaris PWC, just above the waterline inside the jet pump tunnel.

That underwater dual exhaust arrangement required a bunch of convoluted exhaust hoses and Y connector, all bunched up behind the engine. At idle the exhaust quietly (comparatively speaking) bubbles up on each side of the hull. If the 2-stroke engine was't so noisy the submerged exhaust might make some sense.

The last Genesis I rode while troubleshooting I left the seat on the dock so I could watch and listen to the engine as I rode. At the time I had already sold my Polaris fleet and was riding Yamaha 4-stroke. I was astounded at how noisy the Polaris engine was. I had simply forgotten that my own 2-stroke 1200 red engined Polaris machines all sounded about the same.

Modern PWC 4-stroke engines are leagues better than the decades old Polaris 2-stroke engines. Powerful yet fairly quiet, even when delivering plenty of power at cruise. In the old days it was mandatory that we all shut off our engines in order to talk to each other on the water. With our current PWC we can all idle in neutral and easily talk.

In regards to fitting some other 4-stroke engine, one critical dimension will be the vertical distance from the bottom of the seat down to the centerline of the jet pump driveshaft axis. Which will also be the crankshaft axis for whatever engine you install.

You will be looking for a PWC 4-stroke engine with compact vertical height. And short enough to fit lengthwise and not push into the fuel tank.

There are a few Polaris hulls retrofitted with Seadoo 4-Tec engines, mostly supercharged. Depending on the intercooler and supercharger wheel these can provide anywhere from 185 up to 300hp. Circa 250hp is common.

Look for threads on GH describing the 4-Tec conversions, either here in the Polaris forums or in the GH Conversions section. Several were MSX hulls, I forget whether anyone ever did a Genesis or perhaps Virage.

The Polaris jet pump can hang onto about 200hp. The guys with the 250+ hp engines reported frequent breakage of the Polaris driveshaft. The typical fix was to install the corresponding Seadoo jet pump to match the engine.

The more recent non-supercharged Seadoo engines are rated for ~170hp, which would be a nice step up from the ~130hp of a fresh Polaris 1200 engine.

The big Yamaha 1.8 Liter engine is too tall to fit under the seat, I think.

The Kawasaki four cylinder engine is well regarded and about 160hp. Again, check the overall length and installed height.

[Scott.S]

Wow...thanks K447 for your time and sharing your valuable knowledge. I will definitely put this info to good use.

[HiPeRcO]

The crankshaft axis / PTO axis / pump centerline axis is very low on the Polaris domestic motors. This is a key thing to consider, since 4 stroke motors may have considerably more distance to the bottom of the motor.