Riva $194.95    Part # 1RK5-RMK-085

I got my molding from Riva. Simply replaces the stock bump rails with a lighter weight molding. Simple to install and comes with everything but the rivet gun which I purchased at Home Depot. This kit is for a 15F but fits the Ultra Just fine.

Performance gains? NONE! I’m still looking at this and wondering if it was worth the money. Looks cool to me though.

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R&D will soon be modifying stock plates to match their handling package. This plate was derived from many hours of testing with the R&D wedge, intake grate and sponsons.

Sure the plate could be ran alone and have benefits buts its true design is to cater to the other handling components from R&D.

Speaking with Bill and Glen they informed me that they ran every conceivable ride plate mod possible. Non offered the handling better then that of the one they are now offering. Keep in mind that they designed the plate to compliment the intake, wedge and spnonsons they have. A total package concept to ensure superior handling and speed being a by product of that development.

I am know testing the package. Kinda a dangerous time as I am now heading to the National Championships with a completely new handling craft along with the complete R&D package. Man I hope this is what I felt in Havasu on Bill’s boat.

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R&D Part # 161-00810 $12.14

This is an older part from the SXR that has the same issue as my Ultra has. Seems as though my drive shaft floats and I find excessive gapping in my coupler. When I take out my pump I notice I can tap the drive shaft gently and it will seat nicely on the coupler side inside the hull. Talking with Bill Chapin he had a simple fix for me.

I installed a couple of these small disc’s inside my prop snout and presto the shaft can no long drift back into the depth of the prop spline housing. Easy fix with a cheep part.

Little sign say= Too Much Gap! Pull pump and install drive shaft bumps in the prop snout.

If your going to fix this and are pulling the pump and have not yet done it then now is the time to do the following. Read

The pic bellow shows the location of the rubber bumps install into.

Once these are installed they avoid the drive shaft from snugging too deep into the prop nose.  Pic below shows the end of the drive shaft that on stock boats seems to snug down too deep into the prop.

Once you have the pump reinstalled then check you gapping.  After running the boat you should check the gapping at the coupler. You should have in the range of .150in to .200in or 3.82mm to 5.08mm this is the tolerated gap. Too tight and damage can acure, too much gap can crack coupler fingers. Just be sure to shoot for the recomended gapping.

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Now we have three sets of sponsons to choose from but out of the three, this set seems to be the most promising.

First ever is a step hull design in the backing plate of the sponson. Large paddle with two set points. Thats right only two positions but the angle of the blade explains alot for the limited positioning. Ya see the blade actually mounts at an angle so the the sponson has a decline in it. This decline acts as a variable during turning, it allows for mild sweeping turns to aggressive hard turning. Hope I got that right..

At first feel you will notice that the Backing plate is one of the heaviest backing plates for the Ultra. It was a bit concerning to me at first install. Soon after riding and maneuvering it was apparent that the extra weight actually seemed to help the handling. Cornering was good and speed loss was minimal when in the up position.

To this date these are the most favored ones used on the 250X market. Compared to the RIVA units it would seem to me that the R&D have a handling advantage over them as the paddle is longer. The comparisons are hard to describe other then personal feeling of comfort on turns. For my style of aggressive and rapid turning the R&D made me more comfortable.

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Just a quick glimpse of what I have been working on during the down time. Not much down time but still wanted to get this pic up so ya know what to be expecting from us.

Unit #1 and the farthest left is the stock unit

Unit #2 and the second from left is the R-Rated unit

Unit #3 and the second from the right is the Riva Pro unit

Unit #4 and the farthest right is the Riva Perf. unit.

So now that some time has passed and we have built and tested several different units we have come to some conclusion to what is out there and what seems to run better on the machine.

Unit #1 is the stock air box that has no baffles or restriction at all. It does have a hard 90 deg angle to it. It does sit high under the steering column and seems to be positioned in an area that collects hot air from inside the hull. The stock unit seems to work great and out performed the Riva units in my own testing. Sure I gonna have some that say no but hear me out. Stock has no abstraction like a filter on it. It has a large plenum area to draw from and makes for a spark arrestor. Its only minimal draw back is it height of inlet area. It up where the heat likes to got when in idle. Hot air rises to this area making the intake air hotter during idle. Still for dollar to dollar the stock one cant be beat. Since it came on the boat and is free its your best bet.

Unit #2 is my choice for aftermarket air intakes. The R-Rated unit was designed to bolt to the stock air box bracket and draws from a lower, more forward location then the stock. This lower location and lack of a 90beg turn makes for less restricted lower idle temps coming into the intake. This one has been well tested and shines well on CC racing and endurance style racing. The only draw back I found was the hose clamps are stainless still but the bolts are not and rusted on me.

Unit #3 is the Riva Pro Series Intake. This one is neat but extremely dangerous to use. The sound it makes is vary distinct and is not recommend for Recreational use. The unit draws air from outside the hull area. I found this part to be troublesome and dangerous as during a race I ingested water that had come over the hood and into the air intake box. This same problem has effect others as well and we removed this mod till further preventative parts were available to avoid water ingestion.  Performance was good but the trade off of potential damage from water ingestion knocked it to the bottom of our choices.

Unit #4 is the Riva Performance Filter. It draws air from closer to the engine block. It has the shortest intake track of all the units but does have a K&N style filter on the end which is restricting air flow just a tiny bit. It is easy to install and seems to work well but nothing over stock performance for this unit.

More comming on this one.

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Old story with a new twist……

Start Here…..

Then came the RIVA units…..

Now with the R&D Units, but whats different is the descritions pionts out something we all missed.

In the words of R&D

Ultra 250 Exhaust Emission Blockoff Kit – Now Available

The R&D Exhaust Emission Blockoff Kit was developed to block off the O.E.M. exhaust emission ports located in the valve cover that connects to the exhaust ports. The Kawasaki labeled “air suction valve” operates effectively under low speed and cruise RPM ranges allowing air to be pulled from the main air box plenum and into the exhaust ports, which will result in a lower measured emission ratio (cleaner). The air suction valves fiber reed pedals can become heat damaged over time which can cause the valves to leak or back flow hot exhaust gases back out of the valve at sustained W.O.T. (wide open throttle) operations. Leaking air suction valves can result in a melted PVC connector T and poor top speed performance. The R&D Air Suction Blockoff Plate Kit will reduce exhaust gas temperatures, lower exhaust back pressures, improve low and top speed performance, and deliver a more accurate and precise air to fuel ratio for precision high performance tuning accuracy. The R&D Air Suction Blockoff Plates are a great addition to any recreational application to remove expensive prematurely worn valves that can cause poor performance. The addition of a R&D Blockoff Kit will be strongly suggested on any stage level of performance modifications on the Ultra 250X.

• Inexpensively replaces prematurely worn or leaking valves
• Lowers exhaust temperatures
• Lowers exhaust back pressures
• More responsive low end performance
• More consistent top speed averages
• More precise AFR tuning

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R&D now offers complete set ups to monitor boost without tapping the critcal relief valve and reqiures not drilling or tapping of the motor or Intercooler.

More on this as I finish the Pulley Kit. So much to do and you will need to kepp checking for updates and changes as the information can often take time to post and we are always doing updates.

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Works on the 250X and the 15F SC kits that require engine movement to install SC belts.

Part #611 25200 for $76.57

Simply it holds back a extra belt so when it comes to changing or loosing a belt you can simply get it from the holder as to not have to move the motor forward during your spare belt install. More designed as a back up plan or racing conveyance as we dont have much time to change belts.

Here it is installed on a 15F set up.

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R&D Pump Wedge Part # 141-25001 $68.95

Easy to install and offers a degree less of exit nozzle pitch. Simple to install and has already been written up in the following post. Pump Wedge

This wedge is intended to be ran along with the R&D modified stock ride plate. 1deg was chosen along with the ride plate modification for its optimal handling and speed gains as a package. R&D has a total handling package available now and it promises to offer improved speed with compromising rough water handling.

This 1 degree wedge helps fine tune your handling. This in mind I always carry the stock 2 degree and the R&D 1 degree as to customize my handling per race conditions. At the APBA Nationals I found that removing the wedge completely aided in optimal handling in some of the roughest conditions. As the day went on and the water conditions got better I was able to easily reinstall the wedge for adding more top speed.

The benefits of the 1 degree is that it aided in adding minimal top end speed and allowed the boat to plain off faster then stock. As part of the total kit I found the wedge to be extremely helpful in avoiding the chine walk effect. Without it the walking would return but tight turning was better. The extreme tight turning is not something that most will need or care to much of.

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As simple as the title says. A kit that upgrades your intercooler to run dramatically cooler. This intercooler mod kit from R&D allows for cool water from the pump to maintain low temps in the intercooler. In the kit comes all the stuff necessary to bypass the exhausts water away from the intercooler and out a added water dump fitting. Also in the kit is a pressure relief valve that is only open when IC exceed safe internal water pressure.

Optional water restrict-ors are available as for those who want to tune the engine temps. These are commonly used in colder environments or during off season riding.

From left to right , Hot Water fitting, Cool water fitting and cold water fitting.

For the install you want to follow the directions for removing the IC and pump section. I wont go into the removal of these as the directions are lengthy and easy to follow. Below is some pics and explanations that will help with following the R&D instructions.

I used a 1.5 inch paddle bit to clean the epoxy clean so that the through hull fittings can snug down tight to a flat surface. Then drilled a smaller hole to fit just the through hull fitting. DONT MESS THIS UP.

Once the fittings were installed I used industrial clear epoxy. Nice way to seal in the fittings. Sorry for the blurry pic.

This diagram show the water bar (green part) you need to drill and tap. 7/16 bit with a .25 in #18 NPT tap. Also replace the Red fitting in diagram with the one supplied.

Diagram below is kinda a mess but it gets the point across well. Red water line will be disconnected from the exhaust manifold and used to put onto the top through hull fitting from the pump water bar that you tapped with the 90 deg .25in fitting.{green checked line} Install new hose from the exhaust manifold to the bottom fitting as a new waste dump point.{red checked line}

Use the restriction fittings from above to tune the water flow into the intercooler. They drop into the top fitting of the intercooler. Smaller used for colder water. The heat from the charger will warm the intercooler and allow for a more tolerable temperature to enter the throttle body. Too cold of air can cause large amounts of power robbing condensation and lean conditions.

On the inlet hose from the pump you want to install the relief valve. Use the line inside the hull that feed the top of the intercooler to connect the plastic T connection. See pic below.

Install the relief valve to the up facing of fitting and the straight part of the connector to the top of the intercooler. Below you will see a pic of the relief valve and water dump installed.

Please be sure to read the R&D instruction completely to understand the install before starting any work. R&D instruction are at the bottom of this page for you to down and use for your install.

Testing so far has shown major drops in the intercooler temps during riding. Be warned that you will need to flush the intercooler separately if running in salt water. This is done by removing top fitting and flush the line from there.

If you plan on doing the Pulley kit modification then you will without a doubt want to do this mod.

Test results as of 9-4-07

Hard extended WOT operating had no effect on the motor. Not once did I experience the normal heat fade. Constantly pounding on it resulted in the same intake temps. Regardless the temp of air or the motor. Nothing seemed to effect the IC. I am impressed over this one. Simple, Cheep and Effective. Cold air gave incredibly awesome hole shot and was a key benefit with the pulley kit.

Between moto’s I found that engine temps seemed to operating at lower levels. The normal crackling and popping sound that I’m used to hearing were not there. Even the pipe was cooler to the touch. Mind you it was still hot but nothing like before. Its obvious that the volume of water discharged from the exhaust manifold is no longer restricted from back up in the intercooler. This faster expelling of water has lower the exhaust temps substantially.

rd-intercoller-mod.doc Click here for instructions.

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