Liquifire #621, Part II, Take III

[JoeRainville]

Thanks for the offer Dustin, but I have a few of them down here and may upgrade the tank with a latched door.

The next step was getting the drive clutch re-calibrated. I first tried a 46.5 gram weights, but they did not allow the motor to reach full RPM. I purchased another set of lighter weights to try out. One thing to notice was the the old series "B" wieghts that fit into a Comet 108 do not fit into the Cat drive clutch.

The drive clutch was already removed from the motor in the tear down last spring. Taking it apart and installing new wieghts was pretty straight forward, but I am going to review the process here. The procedure is very similar for servicing a Comet 102-C or it's modern derivatives.

First step is to loosen all the cover bolts and then hold down on the cover and remove the final bolts. Note that it's spring loaded so use caution:



With the cover removed, the spring comes right out. Note that a stiffer spring raises the engagment RPM, while a softer or worn spring lowers it:

[JoeRainville]

Removal of the flyweighs is slightly easier on these new clutches that use bolts instead of pins:



Many of the older profile weights have been discontinued, but newer profiles are still available in the 40-50 gram range. Take care not to drop or missplace the small shim plates that go on each side of the flyweight. This is of course also a good time to inspect the rollers and bolts for wear:

[JoeRainville]

To install the new weights, I place the slot parallel to the table and place the weight and shims into position:



In some cases I find it easier to drop a small screwdriver into the bolt hole to make sure all the parts line up before dropping the bolts into place:

[JoeRainville]

Before installing the clutch, I make sure to sand the shieve faces with 400 grit paper to remove the embedding belt material:



Once the clutch was cleaned with brake parts cleaner, it was ready to install on the sled:



Note that it is important to use the correct puller and clutch holder when removing and installing drive clutches. Some pullers interchange, such as a Comet 102 and a Polaris P85 puller, while many Comet 108 pullers do not fit Cat or Polaris drive clutches and vice versa.

[JoeRainville]

With the clutches installed and alignment checked, the belt guard was next on the list:



Since this was a low stress point, I used stainless nyloc nuts and washers. The oil tank was placed on its bracket and the oil line clamped up to the pump:

[JoeRainville]

I wanted to put the hood on next, so I can check for interferance between the handlebars and the windshield options, but I forgot a small detail. Although the hood basically survived the trees misshap with minimal damage, the hinge did not:



So it was off to the parts left over from the 82 doner sled. That hood was broken, but the hinge was straight and not too rusty. I used a little heat to remove the original dealer sticker, and then wire wheeled it clean and rattle canned it before installing it on the original hood.

This was the hinge before removal and clean up:



Once again I have to give Brock credit for his decal removal method. A little heat behind the sticker and it lifted right off in one piece.

[WinnipegStPaul9]

Joe, your sled is really looking good!! Your prep work will pay off of that I'm certain.

DA

[69camaro]

Especially if there are no rocks or trees in the way.

[JoeRainville]

Thanks Don! And good point Duane...I hope the sled survives the I-500 to then run the Vintage Challenge the following weekend. Stupid rocks and trees anyway, LOL!

After bolting on and adjusting the hood, it was time to look at windshield options. First up was the low option, using a Cannon Classics windshield. While I liked the look and the handlebar clearance was good, there was not much hand protection from the wind due to the wider Cat bars:



I also tried the "Cross Country" Kimpex Lexan replacement windshield. It would block the wind much better, but the bars hit it. Even with adjusting the bars downward, contact is still made. This leaves me with a few choices, alter the high CC windshield, or use the low one with hand guards. So far I am leaning toward putting the guards back on, but I may try a mid-height winshield also.



This pretty much catches the story up to the holidays. Last weekend was spent unloading the trailer and parts, so this weekend I will be reparing the plywood in the seat, hooking up a few things and should have her fired up soon.

Thanks for reading,
-Joe

[kawidave]

Great thread Joe. Do any Texans get a look into your shop and think, "This guys is nuts, WTF is that thing?

[JDT]

Joe, your sled is really looking good!! Your prep work will pay off of that I'm certain.

DA

Your time has come Joe. Lookin' good.

[JoeRainville]

Thanks guys, and yea, my neighbors find me, "unique"...but they really liked riding on Cat during the ice storm.

I wanted to revisit the hydraulic brake set up I was using on the racer, as it was running a combination Willwood master cylinder from a Cat and a Polaris style Hayes caliper set up. I wanted to see if I could simplify the set up with a Willwood caliper that Wahl Bros. sells. This unit arrived this week while I was out of town on business:



I don't think it will take too much effort to install, and I have the other system to fall back on if this doesn't work as well.

[JoeRainville]

Before installing the brake, the fuel tank was rivited into place:



The busted tank door didn't look too good, so that was replaced with an new one:

[JoeRainville]

Even though the seat was redone a few years ago, the darn staples rusted away. After digging them all out, they were replaced with stainless steel staples:



With the seat and tank installed, she was looking like a complete Liquifire again:

[69camaro]

It looks really nice Joe. Hope this year goes without incident. I didn't see any Monster energy drink stickers though. I heard that adds 5 mph.