I took a couple of hours for lunch today so I could take my variator apart...
I'd read someone's post about carving out the tracks in the variator for the roller weights, so I wanted to see what it looked like in there...
First of all, the thing was packed full of grease. I don't see how the weights can move freely with all that grease in there, so I cleaned it all out. All of my rollers have flat spots on them (even worn down to the metal on a couple), and the tracks that they roll in are a little scored, but not too bad. I called the local Honda dealer to see if they had them in stock. Nope, they'd have to order them, and they were gonna cost me around $40 for the set (just the roller weights). I've seen them cheaper at ScooterTherapy.com, so I'm gonna order from them. Anyone have experience dealing with them?
I found that the metal sleeve that pushes the pulley halves apart sat slightly recessed in the rear half, about 1.5mm, so I shaved the rear half till the sleeve was flush (I didn't want to take off too much meat). This allows the pulleys to ride a little closer together, so the belt can ride a little higher.
Cleaned it out again and sprayed the innards with a light coat of lithium grease, reassembled everything and took it for a test drive. So far, so good. Drove it home 11 miles from work.
Acceleration is smoother, and I've gained a couple mph on the top end. It was worth the trouble, even though I'm gonna have to do it again when I get some new weights and a belt. I can't wait to see how it does then!
Had a little mishap on the way home... I'll post that separately.
david