suzuki clutch conversion

[coater87]

Pictures again, maybe..

[coater87]

 For the inside, I turned a shallow bearing stop, drilled and tapped for counter sunk screws. These go all the way through to the back side of the bearing sleeve. It sandwiches everything together.

[coater87]

 Then I worked on the inner basket. I bought a new 4 spring cast iron basket and then carved it up. I reduced the thickness of the Suzuki basket, and the opened up the backside so the cast iron disk was a .003 thousands interference fit, heated the aluminum and pressed in the cast iron. I also reduced the boss in height on the inside for a custom nut I have yet to make (no stock).

[coater87]

 After I installed the iron disk, I found I had to relieve a small amount from the aluminum so the adaptor didn't interfere. Did that, spot faced six spots inside the basket and bolted it together with some locktight. Also chance had it that to holes in the disk and aluminum lined up so I taped those and used set screws and locktight in those also. I am happy with everything to this point, now I need to make a custom nut and lock washer. I am still on the fence about cutting the adaptor off for an inner case oil seal, but we will see. Also, could anyone explain to me how the pressure plate roller lift was handled on one of these conversions?

[chaterlea25]

Hi coater,
Only yesterday I was wondering how you were getting on with the conversion
I bought a s/h 4 spring inner drum yesterday on ebay to chop up for the conversion
Today when working on an A10 I found the inner drum needed replacing but it would have been ok for use on the conversion

could anyone explain to me how the pressure plate roller lift was handled on one of these conversions?

The suzuki pusher spindle is turned down to  1/4in and the original BSA pushrod shortened to accomodate the difference
the pic attached should show the modified pusher
On your conversion will the pressure plate clear the allen bolt heads at the bottom of the inner drum?

John

[coater87]

 Hi John,

 I used reduced height allen heads, you have to look around a little to find them but they are out there. After everything is together, I have .036 clearance between the pressure plate and those allens.

 The inside of the cast iron inner hub is the boss that goes against the bearing race. So basically after you cut the disk out of the cast iron inner, the disk is backwards to how it would normally be. That boss is long enough to get you above the fasteners without having to use any kind of spacers.

 I just ordered some hexagon stock to make the nut with, after that is made hopefully the clutch is done.

 My only concern now is the thickness of the entire clutch assembly. It would be a real bummer if it interfered with the primary cover, but without a way to check it I am just going to have to hope its ok.

 Lee

[coater87]

John,

 I now see what you mean, you are talking about the Allen heads inside the inner basket! And yes, they do interfere with the pressure plate. I am changing them out right now for socket head set screws. Those are only for shear ( stop the cast iron from spinning in the aluminum basket) and set screws will act exactly the same as the Allen's, but will be low enough not to interfere.

 Thank you for spotting that! It's much, much easier to fix it now than find out once it's on the bike!!

[kiwipom]

hi guys, I seem to have one of these baskets that I have no use for so, cheers

[coater87]

 there you go friend, that was the single largest expense I had building the clutch- and you already have one!

 Other than that, a sprocket, a cheap suzi clutch, a bearing, and some hardware (thats in order of cost also).

 The really hard part was figuring out the first one.

 I like the way I did mine, but of coarse it could be done many ways.

 I can take more pictures or exact measures of the way I did it, and someone could take it from there to either copy or modify as               

 they see fit. But at least they will have a road map to follow if they choose.


 Lee

[coater87]

 OK,

 When I fitted my clutch and set the chains, I could see a quite noticeable wobble in the whole thing. I have limited tooling for machining here at the house, but I cobbled together enough stuff to place an indicator on and found the main shaft bent.

 Ordered a new shaft from DeGroot. Very nicely done that, the nicest reproduction part I have ever received from the British parts market by far. Polished kick start side for bearing fit and fitted straight away.

 Now ran into the problem of outer basket and pressure plate fouling the primary cover. Not a lot, but you can see the shiny witness marks inside the outer cover.

 Seeing its a tight squeeze to fit this thing in the first place- I imagine every clutch, bike, and primary case difference is going to matter when it comes right down to it.

 So: if your frame is tweaked, if your main shaft sticks out slightly more, if your primary cover has been glassed aggressively a few times, if your clutch adaptor sits slightly more proud than the next bikes, etc etc. you may have the same problems.

 I could modify my inner cover and add a spacer at the crank snout. I could cut a 1/4 inch spacer and polish this to fit between the inner and outer. I could look into tweaking the gearbox mounts and adjusting drive chain alignment, or I can do some additional measuring and try to thin the clutch down one set of plates- which is exactly what I am going to look into.

 My inner cover is NOS, and way too nice to butcher.

 So thats where we are at right now, I am going to try to thin the inner and outer baskets and hopefully everything will work out.

 Lee

[orabanda]

Take one fibre and steel plate out, and machine down the outer basket accordingly.

[duTch]

 Unless I missed something, how about an extra spacer/shim behind the inner cover at the Crank end?

 Been a while since I played with a Swing Arm model though

[coater87]

 I could modify my inner cover and add a spacer at the crank snout.

 Lee

 Dutch,

You missed.

 As far as removing 2 plates, when I do that I don't have any pressure plate pressure.

 All these parts are used, and I think my frictions are well worn.

I have not measured anything, but is it possible to shorten the inner basket without making the pressure plate bottom out on the spring perches?

Lee

[coater87]

 If someone who uses one of these clutches, or someone who has owned a few Japanese bikes had to guess:

 How much clearance do I need for full pressure plate lift? If I have my measurements correct right now, I have between 65 and 70 thousandths before I rub on the outer cover.

 I am finding this measurement very hard to make with any accuracy at all. 

 So if a good guess is made, what do we say? 100 thousandths, 200, 300?

 Whatever I do to get this clutch to work, I am going to have to modify an inner cover. There is only so much I can take off the thickness of the ear that mounts by the foot rest.

 Lee

 

[orabanda]

Hi Lee,
You need to "lower" the inner basket; it is sitting too high on the cast iron splined adaptor.
Send me a personal message including your email address  & I will send you a swag of pics how my arrangement differs to yours.

Richard