My Fuoco is a 2007 model but has only done 4000 kilometres (about 2500 miles) due to my being away a lot over the last 5 years. After a response to an earlier post I felt that 7 years was about long enough for the belt, irrespective of distances travelled. My use is commuting in usually quite heavy traffic, so relatively slow and variable speed with very little WOT, except for brief squirts. For the last month the shuddering and screeching noises were clearly telling me that the time was right!
When I opened it up I found no obvious damage to the belt, but it was clearly worn. However the variator faces were quite badly grooved with a definite 1 to 2mm ridge about 3cm from the centre and another about 1.5 cm in from the edge. After an initial panic I sanded down both faces with wet & dry sandpaper on a cork block and achieved a relatively flat surface. [Sorry no Pic.s.]
I cleaned every thing up and fitted the 17gram sliders and the (apparently) OEM variator plate guides from the Scooterwest kit. They seemed to fit better and certainly slid more freely than the Dr.Pulley units, and I recall it being said somewhere that there was no real advantage in using the Dr.Puley units, which needed a bit of fettling. The clutch showed a very light glazing so I also treated it to a sanding as per the BubbaJon PDF.
After about 2.5 hours, with about 40 minutes sanding, I buttonned it all up, using a fuzzy washer of course, and gave it a test run. So far the difference is obvious. No screeching, rumbling, or shuddering on take off or slow speed throttle variations, and a smooth powerful feeling on the road. Not quite a new scoot, but if I'd taken it to a shop and it had emerge like this I would have been happy paying!
Like others I found that the rear brake would not hold the wheel to get the clutch nut off, so a piece of 2x4 softwood was used.
I plan on going in again in about 1000 k's to check the variator plate for wear. Does anyone know how thick the metal is, and how much you could remove when fairing the surface before you risked catastrophic failure?
On a scale of difficulty I would put the job at 4 out of 10 for a reasonably handy bloke/gal with the right tools, so it's well within the capability of most anyone on these forums. It gives you a great feeling of satisfaction, and saves a few dollars too.
Thanks to BubbaJon for the PDF and the fuzzy washer, Maksor for the Dr.Pulleys, and ScooterWest for the deluxe kit, including the Buzzeti tool. There are also a number of YouTube videos which were helpful.
GO ON: GET YOUR HANDS DIRTY!!!
