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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.
-Mom
-Mom
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So I solved the issue I was having with the variator tuning using the white contra spring. The new variator needed 20 miles to break in, it wasn't allowing the scooter to grip the belt. I reinstalled the 12.5 g rollers that I was using previously and that brought the scooter back to where I thought I would be. At cruising speeds it indicates 73. The scooter is very sensitive to roller weights. It did surprise me how much 9g rollers acted vs 13.5 dramatic difference.

I know there is more potential in the engine. I bought an AEM Wideband air fuel gauge for tuning the Malossi force Master ecu. I'm going to weld the bung in tomorrow morning and from there I should be able to tune on the fly.

I have the piaggio multimedia unit on order so I'll be able to read RPM's, power and torque. I'll be able to fine tune the roller weights with rpm and torque info.

So today my commute was fantastic. Very fun to actually pass people on the highway!
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Good to hear you're getting good results!
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If cruising is 73, what does it do wide open ?
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Just a suggestion, but you could politely ask a local piaggio dealer if you could borrow their PADS.

That'll give you RPM info.
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acejones wrote:
If cruising is 73, what does it do wide open ?
I wish that was the case. 73 indicated is WOT. Actually, coming from a long sport bike past, I ride almost everywhere at WOT.

I installed the A/F sensor on the exhaust and temporarily mounted gauge on the handlebars. I was able to fine tune the Malossi Forcemaster and found that the engine really likes a/f 11.5 -11.1 WOT. There are three setting for RPM, 0-2k 2-6k 6-redline.

0-2k I tried to lean out for economy while idling a red lights but I was only able to drop to 12.5 a/f before noticeable stumbling and performance was lost. 2-6k same story, I had to keep it close to 12.5 a/f to balance WOT demands and part throttle cruising. At part throttle cruising I was really happy with 14.5-15.1. The Forcemaster doesn't allow for ultra fine tuning, its a bit ham fisted. One single click in the 2-6k range makes a large difference.

WOT on the freeway the bike runs at 11.5-10.9. It tends to richen up at the rpms increase. At 75 indicated the bike runs 10.9 and 68 11.5. This is where I still have some adjustments to make today. To try an lean that upper range out slightly while keeping performance. I tried to run 13 for economy but max speed went down to 65.

Also while the exhaust manifold was off, I took it back over to Pro 1 racing heads and had them taper the inlet of the exhaust. There was a dark carbon line where the exhaust was hitting the inlet before, now there is a smooth cone transition for the exhaust.
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rrlanejr wrote:
I reinstalled the 12.5 g rollers that I was using previously and that brought the scooter back to where I thought I would be.
Did you reinstall the white contra spring as well or still using the oem one?
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I used the white contra spring, but now that I have tuned the scooters fuel map, I can hear rpms drop and pick back up after a hard launch. Before it was smooth, now it must be making more power and needs a heavier contra spring. I ordered the yellow spring so I'll see if that cures that problem. Then I can fine tune the rollers.
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Dis you end up buying the 02 emulator?
It will give you more fueling to work with.
Malossi even states it's works perfectly in tandem with the forcemaster 2.
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mickfitz76 wrote:
Dis you end up buying the 02 emulator?
It will give you more fueling to work with.
Malossi even states it's works perfectly in tandem with the forcemaster 2.
I don't have the 02 emulator, although I will say that the forcemaster does give enough fueling in each pot adjustment to adjust from way too rich, 9 to over 20.

I think that may one of the important aspects of the forcemaster, that it can run too lean if you adjust it to be too lean. There is no safety to prevent it from running too lean. When I first assembled my big bore kit, I just assumed that middle of the range adjustments would be a good starting point. Idle was 20a/f and wot on the freeway was 16. Too lean across the board.

I would recommend either buying a wideband O2 sensor and tune it yourself or have a dyno shop adjust it right after assembly. Maybe someone from one of the big scooter shops can chime in on best practices?
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