Is it the transmission?

[fun2scoot]

The OEM Honda vario with the longer boss does not include a washer between the backplate and the crankshaft spindle.

[Valiant]

Okay, I thought you were talking about the washer between the drive face and the nut.

[Valiant]

Alrighty, so I think I got it to another "I'm sure it'll work this time" state again.

I popped open the trans and completely removed and disassembled everything except the clutch itself(no reason to suspect that was the problem). No sign of the ball bearings(the AdvancePro ones that sits between the clutch spring and the rear pulley assembly) or the housing for them. I figure either the chop shop lost it and lied to me about installing it, they lost it at a later disassembly, or the motorcycle dealer lost it. Either way, it's not in there.

I didn't see any evident signs of what might be keeping the rear pulley from opening up, other than the fact that I couldn't pull them apart with my bare hands. I would assume the Takegawa center spring is the root of the problem, but that's just an assumption.

I got the clutch nut off with little drama(getting it back on was a little tricky). Just that in the future I figure tightening should use the torque driver and not the impact driver, as the 12-point socket with a 6-point nut seems like it would strip the head easily. It took a little while to figure out the rear pulley assembly, but I was able to figure out what went where and realized that I didn't really have to touch the one that was inside(NCY set) at all.

I noted previously that the NCY rear pulley was extremely discolored in the center, like someone took a blowtorch to the thing and partially melted it. Not knowing if that's the cause of my problems, I decided to go back to the KN Planning torque driver with the stock pulley face(torque driver is not a complete set like the NCY, so it's KN Planning + OEM pulley half). I did also note that whatever grease the chop shop(yes, I will be sticking with this moniker) used, it's not the same color as what is usually supplied(by Honda and by Yuminashi), as it is more of a grey color rather than light brown. There was also a hell of a lot of it. I would assume that excess could potentially stop the faces from moving effectively.

I rinsed out the rear pulley halves with 99% rubbing alcohol to remove all the old grease, re-oiled the O-rings and seating faces with incorrect spec Honda 4-stroke synthetic oil(HP4M 20W-50), and regreased with Triflow Clear Synthetic Grease(H1 rated with PTFE). I put that all back together and used the stock center spring instead.

Results were promising:
-About 7700 pulling rpms.
-80 mph stand speed on the speedo with limiter raised to 10,000rpms.
-75 mph speedo reading downhill on the highway with stock limiter, but I can't say it couldn't have gone faster as I had to back off before I ran into a van in front of me.
-No takeoff lag(which is weird IMO).

I'll have to see if I can maintain these results throughout the week. I'm not entirely sure if I used the appropriate oil/grease for the job, or if heat buildup with repeated use might change the results. The strange thing for me is that the takeoff delay is gone, as that was the initial reason why I went with the Takegawa spring. I went back to stock once and the lag was MUCH worse. So it's strange that there's no lag this time around, or any shuddering.

Another strange thing is that this whole transmission issue started when I was running the Daytona vario with the KN Planning torque driver, so it's a little odd that going back to what didn't work before would have better results this time.

Anyhow, fixed for now... We'll see how long that lasts.

[Pcxdemon]

Alrighty, so I think I got it to another "I'm sure it'll work this time" state again.

I popped open the trans and completely removed and disassembled everything except the clutch itself(no reason to suspect that was the problem). No sign of the ball bearings(the AdvancePro ones that sits between the clutch spring and the rear pulley assembly) or the housing for them. I figure either the chop shop lost it and lied to me about installing it, they lost it at a later disassembly, or the motorcycle dealer lost it. Either way, it's not in there.

I didn't see any evident signs of what might be keeping the rear pulley from opening up, other than the fact that I couldn't pull them apart with my bare hands. I would assume the Takegawa center spring is the root of the problem, but that's just an assumption.

I got the clutch nut off with little drama(getting it back on was a little tricky). Just that in the future I figure tightening should use the torque driver and not the impact driver, as the 12-point socket with a 6-point nut seems like it would strip the head easily. It took a little while to figure out the rear pulley assembly, but I was able to figure out what went where and realized that I didn't really have to touch the one that was inside(NCY set) at all.

I noted previously that the NCY rear pulley was extremely discolored in the center, like someone took a blowtorch to the thing and partially melted it. Not knowing if that's the cause of my problems, I decided to go back to the KN Planning torque driver with the stock pulley face(torque driver is not a complete set like the NCY, so it's KN Planning + OEM pulley half). I did also note that whatever grease the chop shop(yes, I will be sticking with this moniker) used, it's not the same color as what is usually supplied(by Honda and by Yuminashi), as it is more of a grey color rather than light brown. There was also a hell of a lot of it. I would assume that excess could potentially stop the faces from moving effectively.

I rinsed out the rear pulley halves with 99% rubbing alcohol to remove all the old grease, re-oiled the O-rings and seating faces with incorrect spec Honda 4-stroke synthetic oil(HP4M 20W-50), and regreased with Triflow Clear Synthetic Grease(H1 rated with PTFE). I put that all back together and used the stock center spring instead.

Results were promising:
-About 7700 pulling rpms.
-80 mph stand speed on the speedo with limiter raised to 10,000rpms.
-75 mph speedo reading downhill on the highway with stock limiter, but I can't say it couldn't have gone faster as I had to back off before I ran into a van in front of me.
-No takeoff lag(which is weird IMO).

I'll have to see if I can maintain these results throughout the week. I'm not entirely sure if I used the appropriate oil/grease for the job, or if heat buildup with repeated use might change the results. The strange thing for me is that the takeoff delay is gone, as that was the initial reason why I went with the Takegawa spring. I went back to stock once and the lag was MUCH worse. So it's strange that there's no lag this time around, or any shuddering.

Another strange thing is that this whole transmission issue started when I was running the Daytona vario with the KN Planning torque driver, so it's a little odd that going back to what didn't work before would have better results this time.

Anyhow, fixed for now... We'll see how long that lasts.

Good going mate, it's the best when you can get in there and sort it yourself. Go and get a can of degreaser from the local auto shop and spray the whole of inside of the trans,belt etc..gotta get any grease out that shouldn't be In there bar the inside of the torque driver..
Oh and your bearings were deff in there as those pulleys showed you the damage. That's exactly what they do when they're let loose in there...

[Valiant]

Front pulley yes, didn't see anything like that on the rear pulley or either of the clutch/clutch bell, which is where I would expect to see the most damage, nor did I see anything on the transmission case.

My opinion:
The bearings were never put in there.

[Pcxdemon]

Front pulleys are made of soft metal aluminium but rear pulley is hard steel and so is the bell so you won't see damage there..trust me it happened to me once it's exactly like that

[Valiant]

Well, it's hard to say whether it's really "fixed" at this point.

It's pulling at about 8000-8500 rpms, which does seem high for the weights, and the fact that I don't have the Takegawa spring.

Speed is 75 mph on the speedo at 9600 rpms, which is about 70.5 mph GPS. Still better than stock, but not by much IMO.

I know running it on the stand it seems to open and close fine, might be a different story under load. I can't say what's causing it, unless there was enough heat to change the stiffness of the stock spring as well, or if my previous runs with the stock 18g weights stretched out the kevlar belt to the point where it won't ride all the way out on the front pulley. Not really in the mood to order any more parts to try and fix the problem.

I've placed orders for the missing screws and bolts, as well as the airbox rubber seals(when I opened it up at the chop shop, one of those seals was partially inside the tube leading towards the engine, so some of that rubber might have gotten sucked in). I figure I would replace the missing pieces, and just sell this thing as is, hopefully for a decent price.

[Valiant]

I stuck the shorter drive boss back in, along with the missing transmission case bolts and a couple of bolts that seemed to secure the clamp for the throttle cable to the cylinder block.

No change to stand speed, but the belt didn't seem loose in low gear anymore, so it'll be interesting to see what the effect on the road is.

I cant quite seem to get the last bolt into the throttle cable clamp because the cable itself is blocking easy access to it, but I figure 2 bolts should be good. The missing screw on my airbox cover doesn't seem to want to stay in because the treads are probably stripped from the seating face, so hopefully liberal amounts of loctite will fix that(sort of want to clean the filter and replace the rubber seal before that though).

I did get a missing screw for the grabrail cover, but there doesn't seem to be anything beneath it to screw into, like there's no frame under it. Hopefully that's just misplacement and the chop shop didn't seriously f*ck up the frame underneath. Starting to think $1000 might be a fair asking price for the PCX at this rate.

[vamootsman]

I stuck the shorter drive boss back in, along with the missing transmission case bolts and a couple of bolts that seemed to secure the clamp for the throttle cable to the cylinder block.

No change to stand speed, but the belt didn't seem loose in low gear anymore, so it'll be interesting to see what the effect on the road is.

I cant quite seem to get the last bolt into the throttle cable clamp because the cable itself is blocking easy access to it, but I figure 2 bolts should be good. The missing screw on my airbox cover doesn't seem to want to stay in because the treads are probably stripped from the seating face, so hopefully liberal amounts of loctite will fix that(sort of want to clean the filter and replace the rubber seal before that though).

I did get a missing screw for the grabrail cover, but there doesn't seem to be anything beneath it to screw into, like there's no frame under it. Hopefully that's just misplacement and the chop shop didn't seriously f*ck up the frame underneath. Starting to think $1000 might be a fair asking price for the PCX at this rate.

Anyone who has monkeyed with bikes, cars, etc has gone thru what you are right. Keep your chin up, chalk it up to learning, get the bike running right and ride the $H!T out of it! You know more about that thing than most people know about themselves. You're getting there so keep going.

[Valiant]

I was thinking more along the lines of:
A) I feel pretty comfortable with tearing apart the transmission, sans the actual gears. I figure this means I ought to be ready to do most of the normal maintenance on a motorcycle.
B) If something breaks beyond the transmission, I'm not equipped to fix it. I also don't believe there are many people on the island who would be competent to fix it, given that most mechanics either deal with 50cc GY6 mopeds or actual motorcycles. The market for maxi-scooter mechanics seem very small around here.

As it currently stands, I won't get anything more out of the PCX unless the larger throttle body can be installed. I'm not sure I can accomplish that without breaking a few more panels, and shipping comprises a majority of the cost(costs more to ship the panels than the actual cost for the panels). Breaking more fairings would likely send me into another nerdrage, so even if I were in the mood to screw around with the bike, I'd prefer metal panels with actual screws and bolts.