I contacted the good guys over at Scooterwest and they sold me the Malossi 3v Variator kit and the idle gear and final output gear from the Primavera scooter giving the 946 about a 10% overdrive.
I received my order in two days and got to work immediately. The first thing I did was to install the overdrive kit. The Primavera and the Sprint both share the same output shaft and the swap is simple. Remove and reinstall... instant overdrive. The 946 has a different output shaft to accommodate the rear disc brake hub. What I had to do was press off both gears from each output shaft and reinstall the primavera gear onto the 946 output shaft. This didn't work on my 20 ton press. I dropped it onto a 50 ton press and the 946 came off at about 18 tons indicated. So much pressure that I almost gave up for fear of breaking the gear. Off it came and reinstalled.
I put the new gears back in and buttoned everything back up. Now on to the Variator.
I installed the Variator and the white contra spring included with the kit. I used the same Malossi 12.5g weights that I had been using with the stock variator. First test ride...so disappointed. Previously my bike was indicating 68mph and with gps I know that it was exactly 5mph slower. So before I was going 63mph. Now with the Malossi Variator and overdrive kit I was going 53mph gps. WHAT THE HELL?
I began experimenting with different weights. Next combo, 12g white spring, 51mph gps. No. Next was 9g white spring 47mph gps. NO!! 13.5 white spring, good off the line acceleration and top speed 62mph gps. Kinda the same...
I thought maybe the contra spring was too strong so I went back to stock. 13.5g stock spring and back to the original 68mph indicated. Oh my...
First question, does the new contra spring need to break in? Will it break in allowing the belt to dig deeper??
Second question, when you install a Malossi Variator do you always need to start with heavier weights to compensate for the different ramp angles?
I have the big bore kit with a modified head and akro exhaust. With the new variator I thought I'd be flying with this new kit and overdrive. My next step is to install the Piaggio PMP to gain access to RPM and torque information.
The Malossi 185cc kit provides an additional 1000rpm. It sounds as though it never gets even close to that as it sits now. I want to push the rpm by lowering the roller weights but in my experimentation that didn't work with the Malossi Variator. I'm going to stop by the shop that dyno'd the scoot tomorrow and see if they have RPM information in my Dyno file.
Today I'm going to reinstall the stock variator and drop the roller weights from 12.5 to 12. Then adjust from there. I think that maybe the 10.7 weights may be in my future...
Anyone installed the Malossi variator on a 3v yet?? Any empirical experience will be appreciated.
When I took the rear transmission cover off I noticed that one of the assembly techs in Italy wrote MOM on the inside of the gear cover... haha. Also if you were wanting to install the PMP, I realized that you only need the PMP and you don't need the leg shield and USB kit to install. It's bluetooth and it's all you need to connect. The USB is only for charging. No information is sent through the USB cable. The USB cable is a stock Aprilia P/N USB SOCKET (643277-CN - 643277) (Caponard). You can fit the cable where you want or forego it all together.