...major issue.....
...so, it seems that a cpl ppl at the NCY Motor Sports facility, a machinist and a quality inspector, to name two, were either having a very bad day, or were high on hippie grass, or something.....
..i didn't install the moveable driven face (mdf) last night, because i couldn't get the seal collar off the OEM...so, i figured after work today, (3:30) i would throw in three 9 gr rollers and three 5.5 gr rollers, soak it in some solvent, which i did, make the change and be on my way to tuning the variator...
...the inside of the ncy mdf had never been machined to a smooth surface...it still had the rough tool marks in it...measured out to exactly .0015" greater than the O.D of the driven face's shaft...basicly a press fit...
..so, i get out my trusty die grinder and a 400 grit flap wheel, remove the seals (didn't like doing that at all) and begin to open it up...now, not knowing what the clearance between the two bits should be, i make an uneducated guess and assemble everything kinda snug thinking that there are some pretty great forces at work in this area, and take off down th' road...MISTAKE...after about a half mile, the damned thing stuck, and i didn't think i was going to be able to get it going at all at low speed........but, i eventually made it back to the shop...(6:30) tear it all down again, and decided to chuck it up in a lathe, to get a more even surface, and expidite the whole process a bit...well of course, i had to reverse the jaws on the lathe's chuck (ain't nothin' easy) and finally achieved a smooth even surface and didn't even bother to measure the dimensions, as by then i'm getting pretty tired and hungry...greased and assembled the clutch, again, and close everything up for the next trial run...well, this worked but 43.5 gram total weight is still a bit too much..can't get the rpms up enough for a quick take-off and the machine won't maintain top speed...
..made it home at 8:30...
..tomorrow is another day......and i'm going to start at 6 grams...