Transmission Modification

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

Hey,
Just curious what other teams have done to improve the stock tranny on the bike engines for better shifts, less rotating mass, ect...this has been one area that has gone untouched for our team.

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

Hey,
Just curious what other teams have done to improve the stock tranny on the bike engines for better shifts, less rotating mass, ect...this has been one area that has gone untouched for our team.

[Jon Weir]

I know other teams have removed gears in their boxes, but other than that I don't know. Our team has never tried that yet. Hopefully we will soon.

I suppose you could machine the dogs to modify the shifting feel/compliance, but most sportbike transmissions do clutchless shifts pretty good already.

Oh, and you could play around with the clutch pack (removing/changing discs).

[jack]

if it aint broke...dont fix it http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

jack,
if that was the case, what would we need engineers for, guess I better pick another field of study!!

[Denny Trimble]

Well, you have to pick your battles. Removing gears (or teeth from gears...) is a small performance gain for the time required (by a knowledgeable team member) to get it done. Save it for when your engine package puts out 70HP, you have great fuel economy and driveability, and no reliability issues. http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I've said it before, and I speak from experience: getting these cars done early and dialed in (and bugs worked out) is what it takes to do well. All the trick gizmos in the world won't help you if your car overheats, won't start in the driver change, breaks shifter cables, loses bodywork to cones, has some weird cam sensor bug (we spent 8 months on that one), etc. So until you're bored, well-rested, and all you do in Detroit is double-check bolts, keep it simple!

[fade]

amen http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[drivetrainUW-Platt]

well put Denny, I wish we would have been rechecking bolts, not turning them for the first time at comp!!

[J. Schmidt]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by drivetrainUW-Platt:
I wish we would have been rechecking bolts, not turning them for the first time at comp!! <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey that wasn't the first time those bolts have been tightned. They were on the '03 car, remember?

"If it ain't broke don't fix it." So true. Last year were were trying to fix things that wern't broke, then ended up having to fix them because they got broke. Save yourself the trouble and simplificate.

[Angry Joe]

Unless you're really bored, you don't want gearbox problems on top of everything else. Unless you have a really good reason, don't mess with it.

[jack]

denny and joe said what i was getting at. I have had the "oh i bet i could make this engine better by doing this" thought a couple of times, but usually it comes down to "damn those honda engineers really know what they are doing--go figure".

[EliseS2]

The engine and transmission are probably the only thing on the car that we buy that is near perfect for the car. The tires are too hard, the shocks are meant for 50lb bikes dropping 20ft, the stock bike radiator is too small, all the available steering racks are too heavy, the stock exhaust will not fit in the packaging, the fuel injection for some reason allows 12k rpm at half throttle, but only 9k at full throttle (well maybe that one is just us). But the engine and tranny are about as near perfect (save probably dry sump) for our application. There are many other many other places to improve before you need to open up the tranny.