Kawasaki Now Offers PWC Crate Engines, Get Ready For Crazy Engine Swaps

Where would you stuff these high-performance engines into?

By: Enrico Punsalang

Jun 21, 2024 at 9:15am ET

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We’ve talked about a whole bunch of custom personal watercraft in the past, and more often than not, putting these monstrosities together entails yanking the engine out of an existing PWC. It goes without saying that all these custom builders and performance junkies would have a much easier time if they could get their hands on a crate engine.

Luckily, this is exactly what Kawasaki is doing with its PWC engines, as it’s now selling its 160 and 310 engines as standalone units.

Kawasaki markets them as “replacement engines,” specifically for its Jet Ski SX-R 160, Ultra 160, and Ultra 310 PWCs, but we all know that replacing a blown engine on a Jet Ski isn’t what these things will be mainly used for.

Yes, you can buy the supercharged engine of the Kawasaki Jet Ski Ultra 310.

And although Kawasaki doesn’t state it explicitly, it’s more than likely that its new crate engines will make their way into wild, high-performance custom builds from companies like Kawi Performance, Kommander, and Fast Powersports.

For reference, Kawasaki’s asking $7,499 USD for the 160 engine, and $7,899 USD for the 310 engine. The replacement engines can be ordered and purchased from all authorized Kawasaki dealers.

So, why is this important? Well, the fact that Kawasaki now offers its PWC engines as standalone units means that both enthusiasts and custom builders can save a bunch of money. Instead of buying a whole new Ultra 160, yanking the engine out, then discarding the perfectly good hull and electronics, you can just buy what you need—in this case, the engine.

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On Kawasaki’s end, this also improves efficiency, as the PWCs it brings to market won’t be wasted, and there won’t be a surplus of PWC hulls without any engines laying around in people’s garages.

At the end of the day, it’s clear that Kawasaki’s listening to its patrons and enthusiasts, and is clearly giving them what they want. It’s the first of the big PWC brands to sell its engines separately, and I’m sure it won’t be long before the folks over at Yamaha and Sea-Doo cook up something similar.