The thrust that propels your personal watercraft forward is produced rather simply: an inlet at the bottom of your watercraft’s hull ingests water, processing and compressing this stream into thousands of pounds of positive thrust that shoots out as a stream through the nozzle from the back of your watercraft.
At the inlet (or “intake”) is a device that both helps prevent the ingestion of debris as well as provide both lateral traction and suction to the water’s surface. This device is known as an intake grate, and comes in a variety of designs. The science behind it is quite fascinating and you can read more about that in an article we did previously here.
To some, the intake grate may look like an obstruction but not so! Rather, intake grate design can significantly improve pump efficiency, water ingestion and traction – radically improving performance, handling and predictability. For those looking to modifying their PWC, this relatively inexpensive part offers the biggest bang for the buck.
Kawasaki watercraft specialists, Kspeed out of Brisbane, Australia developed their own “Top Loader” intake grate after testing every single grate option on the market. Seven years of research and development resulted in what Kspeed claims as “the fastest top loader intake grate on the market”, the Kspeed Kawasaki Ultra 300/310 Intake Grate.
After the Kspeed team was confident they had what they felt was the best intake grate on the market, they tested it for an additional 18 months. Not only did they test their grates out with their own machines, but worked closely with offshore racers, closed course racers and regular leisure riders.
The Kspeed intake grate has much deeper runners that carry all the way through to the back of the grate. This helps give it added traction. An extended chip with a much more aggressive ramp allows for a better “bite”. Kspeed removed the middle runner allowing much more water to enter the pump. Yet, the biggest difference between the Kspeed grate and the stock grate is with the blade, giving it a much more aggressive bite.
The Kspeed Ultra 300/310 Intake Grate will fit on all 300 and 310 models. Installation is as easy as the following steps: First, loosen and remove the 6 5mm Allen bolts from the factory grate and remove it. Next, position the Kspeed intake grate in it’s place. You will notice that it feels like a tighter fit. Kspeed does test each individual intake grate for fitting before shipping to ensure correct fitment.
Then loosely install the front 5mm Allen bolts that Kspeed supplies with the kit in the front of the grate, not forgetting to add a dab of blue Loctite. The stock washers are not needed, but you can use them if you wish. Next, loosely install the rear 4mm Allen bolts supplied with the kit, again applying a dab of blue Locktite. Only once all of the bolts are in place and everything is lined up, tighten the bolts. And that’s it! Enjoy your newfound hookup!
