ZX trans how-to

[steffen707]

Okay, cover is shimmed, i would advise to not put 10mm washers on the top right dowel pin because they interfere with the 669 belt and will chew it up very fast. After fixing that problem, i still have a major drivetrain vibration or hesitation from about 0 to 12mph. Is this somehow because of the brand new clutch or clutch springs? I definately noticed more take off, but now my top end is only 32mph with stock gears and before i could hit 42mph.??? Any thoughts?

[steffen707]

I switched to the smaller belt and the vibration hesitation thingy went away. It just seemed like the 669 belt was too loose. Is it possible to have weird vibrations between 0-15mph from the long belt because the belt got warn down a bit by the washers?

Initial impressions are this.
with zx setup and the 9 gram weights, its faster to 15mph same to 30mph and is about 5 km slower on overall topend.

with half 8s and half 7s it seems same acceleration to 30mph, but will get about 2 more km on topend.

I honestly feel that i may have wasted about $150 on this, and time modifying the case, all for basically the same acceleration and a few less mph on the topend. Still have to try combos with my clutch springs and torque springs when they come in.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Sorry I didn't read your whole setup, so this may not apply, but...
If you do not enlarge the diameter of the front pulley, your top speed will remain slower. Even the 654 is considerably longer than stock. As a result, when the belt reaches the edge of a stock-diameter (~87mm) variator the long belt still doesn't drop down as deep toward center of the rear pulleys, so your upgear isn't as great as the stock 0.8:1 spec.

A Ruckus ~90mm or Aftermarket-for-Ruckus variator (~94-97mm) fully-shifted takes up the extra slack of your longer belt, bringing even the 669 to bottom out back. Mine did 59.4 on a short run and RPM didn't exceed 9400. Whether or not you go faster depends on your overall power and optimizing the weights to your pipe, the new Vario, spring and pulley diameters. I'm running about 39 grams ATM.

BTW if your belt has made contact and the topside is chewed up at all, I recommend you replace it. Then see where/why it was rubbing and address that. Use narrow washers and glue them eccentrically so they remain as far as possible from the belt cavity.

[steffen707]

Greetings:

Sorry I didn't read your whole setup, so this may not apply, but...
If you do not enlarge the diameter of the front pulley, your top speed will remain slower. Even the 654 is considerably longer than stock. As a result, when the belt reaches the edge of a stock-diameter (~87mm) variator the long belt still doesn't drop down as deep toward center of the rear pulleys, so your upgear isn't as great as the stock 0.8:1 spec.

A Ruckus ~90mm or Aftermarket-for-Ruckus variator (~94-97mm) fully-shifted takes up the extra slack of your longer belt, bringing even the 669 to bottom out back. Mine did 59.4 on a short run and RPM didn't exceed 9400. Whether or not you go faster depends on your overall power and optimizing the weights to your pipe, the new Vario, spring and pulley diameters. I'm running about 39 grams ATM.

BTW if your belt has made contact and the topside is chewed up at all, I recommend you replace it. Then see where/why it was rubbing and address that. Use narrow washers and glue them eccentrically so they remain as far as possible from the belt cavity.

I have stock bore stock pipe, stock jet 01 elite S, with dio oko variator, kymco zx front pulley, kymco zx front boss and kymco zx rear pulley w/ clutch setup.

I guess I understand that a ruckus or aftermarket ruckus variator is bigger and therefor when the belt rides high on the variator its pulled down father into the rear pulley giving you more top end. what i'm wondering though, is can my stock powered scooter make enough power to max out the stock 87mm variator diameter, is it also capable of making enough power to max out the diameter of a 94mm aftermarket ruckus variator?

Because if it doesn't make enough power to climb higher on the front pulley and variator, then it will never pull the belt tighter and father down towards the shaft of the rear pulley. I guess only more money will tell.

You have a polini ruckus 94mm variator right wheelman?

[evilone]

i wonder if it being stock is an issue. The zx parts are bigger and most likely heavier so power might not be enough to get it to go all the way?

[steffen707]

i wonder if it being stock is an issue. The zx parts are bigger and most likely heavier so power might not be enough to get it to go all the way?

Well I just bought a stock ruckus variator so we will see, also have an sr exhaust and a v8 pipe for 50cc bores coming so ill try em all out.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Yes I'm running the Polini for Ruckus @ ~94mm diameter. The OKO is not much bigger than Stock IIRC, so the 654 belt will be faster than the 669 with your setup, unless power runs out before gearing via Variator reaches maximum. In that case, there'll be no difference once you tune the rollers.. Take-offs should be quicker than Stock, but not as good as 669.

Note I found the Gates 669 x 18.1 to measure only 17.65 wide. The Bando 669 x 18 x 30 is a true 18mm, 4mm longer, and the decreased slip can be felt. The Bando is gripped tighter and Flash almost wheelies with 8.4s. My specs are below.

[steffen707]

Where can one buy the bando 669 for cheap? I ordered another generic 669 from ebay for $8 shipped, but the bando costs like $34 on there. I might as well order one with all my other parts.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

If you use the search term [669 18 30] on eBay you may get some Bando hits but they change from time to time. The $7 belts look good, but I broke one outright during a seize and the other one started to fray on one side almost immediately. That could have been Wheelman mechanical "skills" at work. I cleaned up the case a little more. Afterward neither my Gates Kevlar 669 x 18.1 nor my new Bando have shown any sign of deterioration.

[steffen707]

Yeah, I'm wondering if I need to take more material off. I really wand to town on it though. I suppose if I don't plan to use the back cover I could take a bunch more off. With the smaller belt being tighter all the time it showed zero signs of rubbing.

I just bought another 7 dollar belt because I want to make sure its not rubbing before I put an expensive belt on there. So the gates being a little narrower has what effect on acceleration, top end, possible vibrations at low rpm, (like I'm experiencing with my cheap 669 belt?

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

This is the Gates that's called 669 x 18.1 for some reason. It's purported to replace the standard 669 x 18 x 30 but at least in my application it doesn't work as well. I got a lot more slip on take-off than I'm getting with the Bando. I doubt there'd be much difference in top speed, as my 78cc Nikasil doesn't max the variator very often and I have RPM to spare. Every belt I've tried gets to high 50s, and I believe that's all the power this particular build has. If I were running 9:1s there might be more difference in the results, but 8.4:1s leave some range on the Variator system.

[808BMW]

I may have missed it in all these posts, but what clutch/center springs are you using? I ended up going down on my center spring (1k I believe) because the ZX trans would (supposedly) make up for the lost bottom end, and the soft spring would give me some of the top end back.

Although driving it all with a stock bore may be the problem too

[steffen707]

Greetings:

This is the Gates that's called 669 x 18.1 for some reason. It's purported to replace the standard 669 x 18 x 30 but at least in my application it doesn't work as well. I got a lot more slip on take-off than I'm getting with the Bando. I doubt there'd be much difference in top speed, as my 78cc Nikasil doesn't max the variator very often and I have RPM to spare. Every belt I've tried gets to high 50s, and I believe that's all the power this particular build has. If I were running 9:1s there might be more difference in the results, but 8.4:1s leave some range on the Variator system.

So your 78cc Nikasil maxed out the stock elite variator diameter but doesn't often on the 94mm polini right?

I think i'll try this other 669 off brand and make sure my rubbing is gone before i invest in a bando 669x18x30.

More results for people interested.
With a stock 01 elite S (not SR), with oko variator, kymco zx pulley and kymco zx rear pulley setup with the smaller belt and the best variator weight i found was 45grams for top end I was able to hit 39mph GPS verified. Acceleration 0-10 much quicker than stock.

With the stock 01 Elite S (not SR), with oko variator, stock pulley and stock rear pulley with best variator weight i found 54grams, i was able to hit 41mph GPS verified. Acceleration 0-10 is decent.

With my stock 94 Yamaha Jog, not sure about derestricted or not i was able to hit 41mph GPS Verified and it had better acceleration then both Elites from 10-41. Acceleration 0-10 a tiny bit slower then the ZX setup.

I'm still waiting for an SR pipe and a V8 small bore pipe and some jets, and stock ruckus variator to arrive but will give more info then. I know some of this info is off ZX topic, BUT for somebody interested in the ZX setup on a stock scooter, this may be relevant for them.

[evilone]

I know some of this info is off ZX topic, BUT for somebody interested in the ZX setup on a stock scooter, this may be relevant for them.

Still helpful info, not a problem.

[Wheelman-111]

Greetings:

Yes JS, you are correct in surmising that my Nikasil needs a tailwind or a hill to max out the Polini-for-Ruckus vario. I installed the ZX rear pulleys at the same time as my oversized 97 variator, and have never run it with a stock Elite vario. Therefore unknown if it would max that smaller front pulley or at what speed, but almost certainly it would.

You know the variator is uh... Variatin' when the groundspeed rises but RPM does not. You know it's maxed when the RPM rises linearly with speed.

BTW Flash 3 got to 49MPH on pure-stock power with a smaller ~90mm Elite Polini vario and 9:1 gears, running 7.5 rollers and somewhere around 8500 RPM. Is your S exhaust washer still in there? Running a 78 or bigger Main? I wonder why it isn't faster than 41.