next »

[Blond]

I know some of you Sacramento folk are wondering whatever happened to my scoot! Well here are some pics of the dis-assembly of the bike, as the top-end of the engine was leaking both oil and radiator fluid, and the transmission was suspiciously not acting right. As for the history of the vehicle, I bought it early last summer in running and functioning condition, but without any history of maintenance. Over the summer, I did an oil change, cut the back out of the muffler for less back-pressure (and more noise), stripped off the body, and re-jetted the carb to have it function with a K&N air filter (stripping off the large excessive air box).

After one last little get-together with local scooterists to do a costumed ride around Sonoma County on the 31'st of October, I proceeded to do some burnouts, then retire her for repairs in my garage.

I pulled apart the variator, and this is what I found (see below, photos). Whoever last rebuilt the variator used a ton of grease to hold the weights in place as the assembly has the back part still attached to the shaft. This caused the rollers to not be able to roll correctly; simply sliding up and down, grooving in a nice flat spot on each roller. I also found that the belt used was clearly the wrong size (too big) and also had many signs of wear-and-tear.

I'll be rebuilding the top end with new seals to try to eliminate the oil and radiator fluids from leaking out, as well as rebuilding the variator with new rollers and NO grease, as well as putting in a new, right-sized belt. Some new tires and she'll be purring like a kitten.

More photos to come!
Blond 

[Toad'l]

Somebody thought if it moves it must need grease. And when they took it apart and saw no grease they said, "What stupid person put this together without grease."

[Blond]

New belt, gaskets, rollers, and spark plug have been ordered. Unless otherwise notified, I should receive them before the 25th. Merry Christmas to Me! 

Las Vegas, Here I Come!
Blond 

[Philosophical]

I have read posts where the author suggests you add grease to the variator ramps...

[Blond]

You are right Philosophical.

I have done a bunch of research after pulling apart the variator and finding all the grease that I did. It is true that grease can be applied and used during the installation of the variator without much of a problem. In this case, there simply was to much grease packed into the variator which did not allow for any of the rollers to roll effectively. All of them gained flat spots. Luckily the rollers were fairly new and the flat spots were not extreme enough to adversely effect the variators function. The biggest problem I saw was the over-sized belt that was used, which prevented me from gaining the top speed the scooter was capable of.

If I am able to assemble the variator without any grease applied this will be done. I may have to use a little grease to "hold" the rollers in place as I slide half the variator onto the other half already on the drive-shaft. If this is the case, I'll be using as little as possible to ensure that once together the rollers will be able to roll and wear evenly.

Overall, it's not a big deal to use grease in a small amount, but ideally I'd like to try to avoid it

Blond 

[Blond]

The followup and completion of my scooter!

So got the new rollers and put the variator back together, and slid on the new belt as well. The new belt is much better than the old one, wider and much more stiff. I have a strong suspicion that the previous belt was the wrong size (definitely more narrow than the new belt) and effected the speed of the scoot, as well as the RPM's of the engine at various speeds. I used stock rollers in replacing the stock set that were within the variator. A new valve cover seal stopped oil from dripping out the top of the engine, and a new sparkplug ceased the backfiring during the cutbacks from throttle. She is now running strong!

As you can see with the pictures below, I tilted the scooter over to about 35-40 degrees to slide the front end of the variator onto the shaft and connect to the back half of the variator without having the rollers topple out of position. Surprisingly the effort wasn't too hard despite a couple missed attempts due to missing the alignment. In the closeup, you can see that the rear tire is bald. This is due to doing burnouts in my front driveway prior to the winter tear down and rebuild. New tires are in possession and are due to be installed in the coming weeks.

The last two pics are the appropriate test procedures applied to verify everything is in working order. 

And here is a short vid I shot of the variator working as it's supposed to. http://www.vimeo.com/8545221

Cheers!
Blond