JACUZZI ENERGIZER

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

Okay I know that jacuzzi is not the pump of choice. Does anyone have any experience with the energizer kit for yj pumps. I have a stainless impeller with bronze wear ring now. I think the impeller is B cut. Shimmed the pump to bring clearance between impeller and wear ring down to .003 (per Mike Ward of Mikes pump and speed in Houston suggestion) and added a loader grate. That made a huge difference in performance. Now the pump loads hard and max rpm is around 5000. My real question is what kind of gains can I expect from this energizer kit? They claim 20% but I don't know. I have a 19' bubble deck that weighs in at a hefty 1600lbs without motor. I have no idea about top speed now. I plan to buy gps monitor this summer. From what I hear speedo's are optimistic at best. Anyhow I have a 460 with d3ve-a2a heads with a huge cam. mallory dist. msd ignition. fixing to step up to performer rpm intake with holley 830 dp. I'm guessing motor makes around 400 ponies now. after intake and carb and headers hoping to make 450. Will the energizer really help or should I stick with the ole hot tub pump? I have had the boat for three years and have done nothing to pump but grease it. Anyone with insite on this bastard yj pump please post.
Thanks,
Kris

[beached 1]

An energizer kit should give you approx 5 to 7 MPH gain. Not to mention the added advantage of being able to bolt on a Place Diverter.

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

hence lies one of my problems. I have factory installed hydraulic trim now that I would have to lose if I went with the energizer. Of course then I could put on a droop snoot and a bunch of other goodies but 1700 clams is a lot of dough for 5 to 7 mph. Do you personally have experience with it? What impeller should I use with that kind of hp?

[beached 1]

I don't have any personal exp with a YJ/enegizer kit, sorry. IMO 5 to 7 MPH is a very significant gain however.
The trim tabs are nice option to have since you don't have a diverter. However, they slow you down. A Place div can give you the same options as far as adjusting your ride but wouldn't be "dragging" behind the boat.
I'm no pump expert. I would have your shop determine what impeller you would run in an energized pump. I would guess you would be in the Alum B cut range though.

[beached 1]

You might want to contact greg Shoemker. He used to post good info in here a while ago. I seem to remember him saying something about you can only put so much HP in a axial flow pump before you start having porpoising problems.

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

sorry I guess I should clarify. I have a hydraulic place diverter factory installed. But I know with the energizer kit I have to change the bowl and the nozzle. The diverter that I have now will only toss about a 6 foot high rooster but definitely changes the way the boat rides. The boat rides fairly unwet at WOT. With about 80% of the boat out of the water. It also has a great hole shot. I can actually take most berkleys out of the hole but they usually catch me and leave me in the dust. I think the energizer basically turns the jacuzzi into a berk. I really wish I could talk to someone who has one or has seen the difference it makes. I'm not necessarily looking to set the lake speed record I just want a little more speed without getting raped for it. And I guess I should really wait for the pump to wear before I go tearing it up anyhow. What's that old saying If it ain't broke don't fix it.....I wonder if I could pawn some of the old stuff off on people if I went with energizer. How much does a stainless impeller go for these days and hydraulic place diverter?

[beached 1]

Look up 77Charger and shoot him an email. He had a Golden eagle (Similar to the YJ) and had a MPD prepped energizer kit. He should be able to give you the skinny.

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

thanks beached shot you a 5

[beached 1]

Sent ya 5 right back.
Check your PM

[77charger]

I had a golden eagle on my old boat i added the energizer about 13 years ago recently had mpd rebuild,flow the bowl,detail the impeller.Also added a diverter.Even with out the work it is a big improvement over the standard yj.I was hitting 71 at 5200 rpm this past summer.(with the help of a NOS kit 100hp)Out of a little bbf429
One thing though is that the nozzle that came with the kit sucked it always seemed to come loose so the steering would always get play i dont know if they improved it or not but with the place diverter it is very good.

[miller19j]

Shimmed the pump to bring clearance between impeller and wear ring down to .003 I don’t know jack about Jacuzzis but this seems very tight for any pump. You have your wear ring to impeller clearance set a .003 inch or did you mean .030?

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

nope you read it right .003 as in 3 thousandths or the thickness of a sheet of paper. Mike Ward in Houston said it would make it perform and it did. Talked to Duane at hi-tech performance today and he said actually I ain't doing that bad on the performance. I can say this. My hot tub pump is tight. no play in the shaft and yes with the yj you have a tappered impeller that is unlike anything berkley ever made and a tappered wear ring. You add shims at the front of the shaft behind the mechanical seal that actually moves the shaft and impeller forward into the wear ring. It's only been shimmed once so Duane said I should be able to shim it maybe 2 more times. I shimmed it 3 years ago and checked it last week. still holding strong a .003. Of course I baby it. no beaching no shallow water and no dry starts. I probably won't wait for it to wear out though. As far as I know the jacuzzi jy and the golden eagle are the only pumps that you can shim the clearance between impeller and wear ring without taking apart the pump. That part is real nice.

[miller19j]

OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET:
nope you read it right .003 as in 3 thousandths or the thickness of a sheet of paper. Mike Ward in Houston said it would make it perform and it did. Talked to Duane at hi-tech performance today and he said actually I ain't doing that bad on the performance. I can say this. My hot tub pump is tight. no play in the shaft and yes with the yj you have a tappered impeller that is unlike anything berkley ever made and a tappered wear ring. You add shims at the front of the shaft behind the mechanical seal that actually moves the shaft and impeller forward into the wear ring. It's only been shimmed once so Duane said I should be able to shim it maybe 2 more times. I shimmed it 3 years ago and checked it last week. still holding strong a .003. Of course I baby it. no beaching no shallow water and no dry starts. I probably won't wait for it to wear out though. As far as I know the jacuzzi jy and the golden eagle are the only pumps that you can shim the clearance between impeller and wear ring without taking apart the pump. That part is real nice. That’s interesting I have never seen a setup like that!
When I set my clearances on my Berkeley the run out on the impeller was more than .005(Form the factory). After I turned it, it was around .0002”.
What kind of run out are you seeing? It must be pretty tight to set the clearance at .003

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

I haven't had the impellor or shaft out. I would definitely agree that it would have to be tight. I do know that when they reman the jacuzzi impellors they weld them up and put em in a lathe and cut them back to size so I guess you would say it is as good as the machinist behind the lathe. I didn't trust it myself. I really expected the impellor to shatter as soon as I turned the motor over to my surprise there was no scarring of the wear ring, no sparks, no nothing. I think American turbine has a break down sheet of a yj if you're interested. Trust me it is nothing like a berk or american turbine. It's a bastard. None the less though I think they are built to last a while. It performs decent too. I can pull 2 skiers all day at 2800-3000 rpm. I also run all day on 25 gallons of gas with a very thirsty 460. I can say this too, the whole shot is incredible. When I skied behind it for the first time my buddy nailed it and almost jerked my arms out of socket. It would be interesting to know what the factory specs are. I know before I shimmed it the clearance was around .025 and the motor would race away with itself. felt like the clutch was slipping. After shimming if i nail it from idle rpm jumps up to 5600 for a second or two then comes down to 5000 on plane and that is all the motor can turn. Top speed....dunno guessing maybe 60. Heavy boat. I know it will outrun a jetski. I guess really the pump is as tight as can get. I know I don't have any blowby on the impellor anymore. Pump loads hard......

[miller19j]

That’s pretty cool!
One of these days I am going to set up my pump real tight .002- .005 and run it with a GPS logging the Acceleration, Top Speed, Rpm, Ect. Then cut it down by .005” and run it again logging the Acceleration, Speed, Rpm, Ect. Until it is set at .030 and see what the results turn. I think that it would be an interesting experiment and fairly easy to do.

[Duane HTP]

Miller, you have an entirely different pump than the YJ. You'll tear up parts setting yours that close. The YJ has an open ended impeller, (it looks like a seven bladed prop.) is in not enclosed at the outer edges of the blades.

[79Hawaiian]

Sounds like a WJ to me, I have never heard of a factory trim for the YJ. I did see one that a guy fabricated in his garage but was pretty ugly. The impeller on the YJ can not be turned on a lathe.
If you do have a WJ and you are still interested in the Energizer I have heard it helps top end. If it really is a YJ I have heard the YJs are more efficient at low RPMs that the WJ and Berk pumps but loose top end. Which do you prefer? Remember gas is $2.10/gal.
Disclamer: I am no pump expert. It's all hearsay.

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

I am definitely sure that it is a yj. Like Duane said the impellor is way different than anything you've ever seen. the wj is very similar to a berk. And yes it did come with factory trim. Duane commented that he hadn't seen one that actually worked in 8 years or more. Mine still works perfect. It doesn't throw a monster rooster tail but it works very well for handling of the boat and pulling skiers. As I said in previous posts I think the boat performs very well at low speeds and is very strong out of the hole. And gets great mileage. It is very nice to ski behind. If you ask around enough you might here of a few more with hydraulic diverter from factory although it seems to be a very rare option. And yes you can cut an impeller like that in a lathe as long as you don't get carried away. I worked for Sepco manufacturing pumps for years and we use to cut them down on lathes everyday.

[miller19j]

Duane HTP:
Miller, you have an entirely different pump than the YJ. You'll tear up parts setting yours that close. The YJ has an open ended impeller, (it looks like a seven bladed prop.) is in not enclosed at the outer edges of the blades. I was not going to set it that tight permanently. I would just like to have some reference data that shows the performance characteristics of different clearance settings. The only reason I wanted to start that tight was to cover both extremes.
I have seen a lot of information posted on these boards about setting clearances and everyone has their opinions. But no one has any quantitative data to back their opinions. I would like to get a baseline of performance vs. clearance. It is a pretty simple test that would give a lot of useful information.

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

I would be very careful.....If it gets too tight and there is any thermal expansion, escpecially at high rpm's. well you know the rest BOOM. lots of money down the drain and possibly a boat on the bottom of the lake. I am posting a link to the diagram of the yj if you are interested. You will see the impeller is much different and much more forgiving I imagine. http://www.americanturbine.com/diagrams/jets/OEM_YJ_diagram.htm. No.17 on the diagram represents the shims I was talking about. All you have to do is pull the 4 bolts holding the bearing cap and shim it to pull impeller into wear ring. It's pretty cool.

[hickz3]

I got a YJ too. I am considering an Energizer kit too. Boats at body shop I figure I gotta take the pump out to paint it, I might as well check it out while it's out. Problem is I haven't had it in the water yet so I'm not too sure how well it performed before. Let me know what you do and how it works out for you.
Hickz3

[OMEGA_BUBBLE_JET]

After 3 years of research this is what I have found. If you are using your boat for a all around ski/family boat and economy is a big deal to you. Stay with the jacuzzi. If you want to haul ass and spray the bottom of bridges. Invest in the kit. Basically a jacuzzi is a high volume/low pressure pump and a berk is a high pressure pump. It really depends on what you plan to do with the boat. I am happy with mine for now, but when it comes rebuild time I will definitely buy the kit. The impellor fab work for my pump is 600 alone (stainless) so it would probably be cheaper for me to buy the kit anyhow. Jacuzzi parts are very very expensive. So if your pump needs a rebuild go for the kit. If it'll make another couple of seasons, hey that's on you.

[JESSE]

i have the kit on my golden eagle with the turbin trim like a (place deverter)and i like it nice roost but it was on thire when i got the boat so i don't know if it makes a big diffrence.

[JESSE]

[ April 07, 2003, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: JESSE ]

[Frosty_pop]

Well I am not any kind of expert on pumps, but I have a Jacuzzi WJ and have had it apart many times. (trying new things and getting rocks out) I was thinking of doing the energizer kits to it, but a guy at the jet shop here in San Diego told me not to waste my money. He said that it was already a mixed flow jet. I sent my spare impellor to North Americain Marine Jet, http://marinejet.com they cut it from a B to a C. Testing this weekend. Anyway, That is the place to get your Jacuzzi new parts. Talk to Jason in Parts. He can help you decide. For used jacuzzi parts call Tom at Jet Boat Performace http://jetboatperformance.com/
[ April 08, 2003, 09:14 PM: Message edited by: Frosty_pop ]