Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

N CX) m .... Check position prior to d isassembly. >~ Cll ::J ~ .0 Q) u.. en ~ w Z ~ « TORQUE BRACKET DR IVEN SIDE Mating power to drive , Honda Odyssey clutch mods By Eddie Brown and Karel Kramer Illustrations courtesy of American Honda Honda' s Odyssey h it the m arket and a lm ost instan tly there was a plethora of parts available for the fun little m onsters. While mos t machines that hi t the m arket do n 't ge t qual- (A bo ve) At low speeds. the V-belt position of the d ri ve pu~l ey maintains a smaller diameter wh ich w ith a correspond ing lar g er di ameter on t he driven pulley. creates a " low gear" ratio . As the speed increases. centrifugallyactuate.d roller weights follow the c~ntour.?f.a bowl -~~aPE!d plate. closing the drive pulley sheaves and c:reatmg a hig h gea r ratio (note the position of the cam actuator). If the load is increased (such as climbing a hill) after the vehicle is up to speed. the cam actuator on the driven pulley takes over and automatically "down-shifts" w ithout loss of engine speed. Then. the engine remains at power range for all but the most severe loads. at which time it will shift into peak torque range. When speed decreases c1W (Below) The roller arm and tensioning springs. 8 When speed increases ity speed parts near th at qu ickl y, the O d yssey en gine had th e . ' . Iarnil benefit of a more-than-. am.I y resemblance to Honda dirt bike th e rpm drops: 3illowi ng the faces to move apart agam. . If the back pulley were solid th ere wou ld be no wa y for th e O dyssey to "dow ns b ift " for h ill s or ot her m o to rs so th e pans rea lly did ma ke increased load. some serious ponies. T he prob lems T he drive and driven pu lleys a re arose wh en a modified machine h it tu ne d to wo rk as a set. Wh en modi fica tio ns a re mad!' to th e drive, ~ ~en th e its powerba n d a t a diff erent rpm th an driven mu st a lso be modified to th e torque co n vener h ooked ·u p. Co nseq ue nt ly, an Od yssey would go a utoma tica lly drop th e gea ring before into " gea r" whi le th e engin e was in th e en gin e bogs o u t of its power cu rve. T he driven uses th e sa me principle th e weak part of the powerband. The key to making an Odyssey perform is a s th e drive, in th at it uses a pair of to have the engine and the torque ' pu lleys. one o f whi ch is mov eable. co nven er tuned so they work in harThe driven sense s torque loadings on m an y. th e belt and lower s the gea r rati o by openin g th e spa ce betwe en the drivFortunately the stock Odyssey ing faces. co mes with a Sa lsbury Model 700 Th e driven does this with th e pans T orque Convener that can, th anks to th e research o f Hi llsi de Honda an d in the illustration labeled: ramp, others, be modi fied to suit other power spring a nd torque bra cket. As you curves. look a t how th ey ar e assembled it is easy to see that when the pull on the . The first step is to modify the en g ine (or drive) pulley so it engages belt is severe. a s it would be in a higha t a higher rpm. Stock. the engagetorque situation , th e moveabl e face is ment is at3500 rpm and the modified forced together. This movement, of . en gi n e should engage at4 100 to 4900 course, low er s th e ratio again , enarpm plus. bling th e Od yssey to stay "on the In rinciple th e torque convener is pipe; at al! tim es. To cha n ge.~ he torqu.e a,t, whi ch yo u r Odyssey downlik e tiaving a variable sp roc ket at the ends o f a chain, only th e convener shifts yo u merely cha n ge th e ramps.. T~~ shallower the ramp, the m<,>re works with a belt. At low engine ' p eeds the pulley drive faces are far sensitive t or th e Iast er ) th edowns~lft. eno u g h apan that there is no, or at Extra ho~sepo~'er fak es th e ~IVen least minimal, drag on the belt. As out and u S~lftS prematurely and th e rpm rises there are roller arms causes the e.ngme to stall o.r damages inside the clutch that push the drive th e !,>cit w.llh ex trem e slippage, A heavier spnng and~or shallower ca m faces together until the belt (if it is not worn) is pushed to the top of the !TIust be used to bring th e convener " V" formed bv the drive faces thus mto balance. transmitting as h igh a "gear" r~tio as A balanced torqu~ conven~r.can be ossible to th e dr iven pu ll ey above tested by the following conditions. fhe rear axle. I.:rhe torque . converter ~ngages with ou t bogging or stalling th e motor. In order to ge t th e dri ve cl utc h to engage at a hi &her rp~ yo u m ust 2. The pu lleys fu lly shift to the ir cha n ge th e sp n ng tensron on th e max imum ratios. ro lle! ar ms. T he spring tensi<,>n must . 3. T he driven pu lley full y do wn. b.e h~h~r. but when the sp!mg tenshifts before slipping the belt . . 4. The drive faces ar e cool enough sron IS increased the p lastic ro llers ca n n ot handle.the load. They shou ld to touc h five mi n utes after ru nni ng. be repl aced wi th .a roller th at has a If you need help with any of these m etal band enca smg the roller. . modS a nd pans in volved contact Hill. At high rpm the drive clutch will side Honda as- they seem to be the 1M' ·· P .a.l' 8' laI1e:OnL.j1- I ex rl sannUiicin the little devils f1v.

• Cover