Adventures in CVT Tuning on stock motor
Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2018 3:26 pm
So after many swaps of just about every component of the CVT on my '01 Elite I've got a better setup than before. There is still room for improvement, so there will be updates as I tinker with it more, but since I took so many data points I figured I'd share them. Parts are all stock unless otherwise noted.
Other factors to consider: about 5000 miles on motor/stock parts. New, well-oiled air filter, recently chem-cleaned exhaust. 230lb rider.
Original setup: Polini variator, 6.9g rollers, 16/42 gears. Bit slow off the line, rocket between 5-25. Trans shifting around 7200. Top speed around 43.
ZX/KN clutch experiments below still use the polini variator and 16:42 gears, ZX Pulley/boss and malossi belt from ZX kit. Top speed was not tested.
Trial 1: KN Planning clutch, 6.9g rollers, and whatever contra spring came with the kit. Trans shifting at about 7500. Scoot was SUPER slow off the line despite high revs; felt like something was slipping.
Trial 2: KN Planning clutch, 7.5g rollers, NCY 1.5k contra, 5k shoe springs. Trans shifting around 8000. Better but still slow to get moving; still felt like something was slipping.
Trial 3: Stock clutch, 7.5g rollers, 1.5k contra, 5k shoe springs, 0.5mm variator shims. Trans shifting around 7400. Much faster off the line, slipping feeling gone. I suspect something is wrong with the aftermarket clutch. I'm going to see if I can return it to SSS or exchange it for some springs/rollers.
Trial 4: Stock clutch, 7.5g rollers, stock contra, 5k shoe springs, 0.5mm variator shims. VERY quick off the line, smooth acceleration all the way up to about 35 (not a top speed, just as fast as I happened to go on that particular run). Trans shifting around 7200. A definite improvement over the original setup, but still room for further improvement.
Hopefully this info will prove to be useful for other folks looking to tune. I'm going to order a 1K contra, a set of 4k shoe springs and some 8g weights to see if I can dial it in a little better and bring the shift point down.
Other factors to consider: about 5000 miles on motor/stock parts. New, well-oiled air filter, recently chem-cleaned exhaust. 230lb rider.
Original setup: Polini variator, 6.9g rollers, 16/42 gears. Bit slow off the line, rocket between 5-25. Trans shifting around 7200. Top speed around 43.
ZX/KN clutch experiments below still use the polini variator and 16:42 gears, ZX Pulley/boss and malossi belt from ZX kit. Top speed was not tested.
Trial 1: KN Planning clutch, 6.9g rollers, and whatever contra spring came with the kit. Trans shifting at about 7500. Scoot was SUPER slow off the line despite high revs; felt like something was slipping.
Trial 2: KN Planning clutch, 7.5g rollers, NCY 1.5k contra, 5k shoe springs. Trans shifting around 8000. Better but still slow to get moving; still felt like something was slipping.
Trial 3: Stock clutch, 7.5g rollers, 1.5k contra, 5k shoe springs, 0.5mm variator shims. Trans shifting around 7400. Much faster off the line, slipping feeling gone. I suspect something is wrong with the aftermarket clutch. I'm going to see if I can return it to SSS or exchange it for some springs/rollers.
Trial 4: Stock clutch, 7.5g rollers, stock contra, 5k shoe springs, 0.5mm variator shims. VERY quick off the line, smooth acceleration all the way up to about 35 (not a top speed, just as fast as I happened to go on that particular run). Trans shifting around 7200. A definite improvement over the original setup, but still room for further improvement.
Hopefully this info will prove to be useful for other folks looking to tune. I'm going to order a 1K contra, a set of 4k shoe springs and some 8g weights to see if I can dial it in a little better and bring the shift point down.