Cannonball DIYs a CG

Get those ridges out of the transfers while it's apart. Won't make a huge difference alone, but with some mild porting it can really wake her up.
There is a TON of power lost in these crappy transfer ports and anything you do to reduce charge contamination is well worth it.

Converting to a wet clutch sounds like a good idea CB, - I'll be interested to see how that works out

I've been looking at a way to convert the clutches on these to a wet clutch and there are a few materials that work well in an oil bath... cork and also the clutch lining paper used on motorcycle clutches as well as automatic transmission clutches.

my idea was to scan one of the clutch pucks and make a G code so I can CNC cut out 15 of them out of 1/4" thick aluminum like 6061 T6 or 7075 T6, then bond the material to each side so the clutch gear only contacts the aluminum and not the friction material.

I just need to find out what cement they use to bond the paper or cork sheet to the clutch discs and see if I can get the clutch lining paper from somewhere, this'll allow the clutch to run wet and have the same or better holding strength as the current dry clutch.

Another option would be to use the clutch gear with the round holes and get a piece of aluminum bar stock the same size as the pucks (or slightly smaller than the holes in the clutch gear) and cuth the bar stock into slices that are the right (and all the same) thickness. These can be sliced easily and accurately on a lathe and a parting blade in the tool holder.

If you know a source for either the lining paper or the right bonding cement for these, I can cut the aluminum pucks on my CNC or slice the bar stock on my lathe. I can make enough pucks to do both bikes and one of us use the cork as a lining and the other use the lining paper then report back to see which one works best. I know cork has excellent holding ability but it might be too grabby to feather the clutch out.

i'm also looking at the other side of the mechanism to see if it can be improved without doing too much modification to the clutch cover to make the mechanism work smoother and more linear for better take offs from a dead stop. Part of the problem is that the engagement point has to be adjusted rediculously high so the clutch will be fully disengaged when locked out, but that's a lever issue, the other part is the clutch cam is designed more for engaged or disengaged and not to be feathered out, not to mention the cam wears on the bucking bar and vice versa so I'm looking at a way to modify this so the action is more motorcycle like and not so on/off like they are now.
I did add a roller to mine and re routed the cable which made it way smoother but it don't address the other issues I mentioned above.

as long as teh oil can't mess up the bonding cement it should work... I got the cork idea from when I was changing out a clutch on a forklift about twenty so years ago. At the time I was surprised that cork was the material of choice for heavy equipment with oil bath clutches. For wood as a clutch lining material I'm thinking maybs look for a wood vaneer that's either elm or oak and at least 1/16" thick. I can see where wood would get really grippy when oil soaked as well as being durable and long lasting

cannonball2 said:

Don't know if folks read the ring gaps. I had heard they were wide. Man are they! like .010! That's reject size for most engines. Had heard they were like this to keep power down. I wont mess with replacing them since performance is not what this engine is about. If I was building for speed I would be cruising Treatland right now for some 47x2mm non chrome moped rings now. If you speedsters aren't replacing rings you are throwing away valuable power!

I ordered a 10mm thin wall wrist pin from Treatland to lighten the top end a bit, not going to drill the piston on this one.

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What was the part number of the wrist pin you ordered?

Yup... definirtely on the right track with the wet clutch idea... As long as the pucks are strong enough but with 15 of them pushing almost evenly, the side loading should still be minimal, The one thing I saw on one of my clutches is that the inside plate is nice and smooth but the outside plate, the one the flower nut goes on some of them have a bit of texture added to them I guess for extra grip. I don't know if all outer plates are this way but if so you may want to lap it down to prevent eating away at the pucks on that side. With the oil bath, both plates can be very smooth and it should grip really well.
I remember the forkilfts I had to change the clutches on used ATF in the clutch housing, which might be a better choice than 10w30 since most ATF's have friction modifiers to help with clutch gripping power but still have the ability to lube and protect the metal parts.

The main test I would think is what type of cement will work best in the oil environment. I'm thinking something like the 3M super weatherstrip adhesive should work once dried and cured. Also a good urethane cement like gorilla glue would be able to stand up to the oil bath without breaking down. Urethane glues like this tend to foam up a little while curing so gluing them then pseeting some kind of weight on the parts to prevent this foam separation may be needed, something like a heavy book on top of a batch of pucks would be sufficient, too much pressure can squeeze out too much of the glue leaving the bond weak.

Keep going with it tho... you're on the right idea