Hi,

Like the spark plug pictorial I did about a year ago, I also did one for the changing of the belt and pins on my J. Costa variator.

If you read this over you should have no problem doing this work yourself. The pictures provide a step-by-step "Pictorial" on how go change out the belt and the pins of the J. Costa. If you are changing out the rollers of your stock variator this will guide you through it too.

Ride safe,

JeffR

Jeff,
This is the best post I have ever seen. I want to thank you for helping so many people by taking the time to photograph and make all the notations. You certainly have encouraged me to do the work myself and to upgrade the the J. Costa. I was just going to tear into it to clean it but, gee, I'm there anyway; so why not change out the variator--- (OH, I'm sorry I'm practicing what to say to my wife).
>> Dennis

I have the Malossi Multivar 2000. Awhile ago i made a video of the variator in operation. You can see the video at the below link.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tdVY6Kone4

Dennis,

Thanks for the compliment for the Pictorial. I hope it helps you and others. If you have any questions please come back to me and maybe I can help. And if you find something in the Pictorial should be changed when you install your J. Costa please tell me that too.

Paul,

I have seen your post before and it is pretty cool. A lot of people have never seen the variator in action. Thanks for sharing.

Ride safe,

JeffR

Note: Though this is the proper way to change the drive belt-at the Honda dealer they don't do all that all they do is stick an air ratchet on the pully unscrew it put a new belt on and then use the air ratchet to put the pully back on. The whole process that the Honda dealer about 10 seconds.

Pete,

When you say "they put a air ratchet on the pully", are you talking about the variator?

Yes I mean the 17 mm nut that holds the variator in place. I am simply saying that if you go to the Honda place during Daytona Bike Week with a busted drive belt they tell you to remove the three covers yourself in the parking lot then they wheel the bike into the shop and they don't go through so many steps. They simply unscrew the variator with a 35,000 rpm air ratchet slap your new drive belt on and screw the variator back on with an air ratchet. This whole process takes them less than 10 seconds and at Daytona Bike Week they are doing this all day every day!

You absolutely gave the correct procedure but at Daytona Bike Week they (The Honda Place) are working on 700,000 bikes a week and they don't have time for all that!

I use an impact gun too and it doesn't take long at all to get it off, but to remove the variator and then put it back on with the belt takes longer. The time consuming part if getting all the covers off.

Jeff, Thanks a bunch for doing these photo shoots for us. Dick

A very useful post, thank you.

JeffR wrote:

Hi, Like the spark plug pictorial I did about a year ago, I also did one for the changing of the belt and pins on my J. Costa variator. This was also sent to Matt at scootertrap.com to put on his website. I also put this on other sites too. Here is the link: http://scootertrap.com/Silverwingbeltandpinchange.pdf http://www.4shared.com4shared.com/file/77483927/844fdf75/J_Costa_Pin_Replacement_and_Belt_Replacement_612kb.html (this is the same link but from the File Sharing Site. I'm playing with this site to see how well it works for us). Ride safe, JeffR

Kenny,

Did you have a question or comment in the last couple of posts? I didn't know if you was wanting go know something about the pictorials. Thanks.

Kenny,

What info do you need?

Jeff, once again your patience while doing these repairs are a great help to us. Each time I start doing a pictoral repair, I start off great taking pics then I forget and next thing you know its all back together. I end up with lots of pictures of the begining of the job, none of the middle (the end is just the reverse of the begining). Thanks again.

While we are talking about pictorial how to's, I saw the one about the coolant drain and refill, but something on brakes (pad replacemnet, fluid drain and refill/bleed)would be nice.

Jeff R. -

Your many posts and pictorials are wonderful for a guy like me. I am a new SW owner and not a mechanic. I certainly appreciate the help your posts provide.

Jim from Stanwood, WA.

I think you've found a new calling Jeff!! Need to make you the tech editor of "S'winger" magazine!! Can you just see the neighbors looks when you go to the mailbox!!??!! Hahahaha

Hey Jim,

I'm glad the Pictorial helped. It would be nice to put a magazine out and I have thought about it at times. There really isn't a "Touring Scooter" type of magazine out there right now. It woudl be fun.

Hey Jeff,
Is there a gasket between the two pieces of the aluminum casing? And where do I find belts and parts?

How do I get a picture into my profile?

Tommy

Tom,

There is no gasket between the aluminum casings so just tighten the bolts down. Also, if you want to get a stock belt you need to go through Honda or another company for it. I have the Mitshubishi belt from www.scootertrap.com .

Here is a link to post pictures in the forum:

http://www.silverwing600.com/tips-on-using-this-site-f8/posting-pictures-in-the-main-forum-in-any-topic-t850.htm

If you want to post pictures in the "Album" just go there and create your own folder. It is pretty straight forward from there to post pics in your folder.

My second time replacing the belt was much more difficult than the first time because I was unable to get the top half of the variator pulley fully onto the spline. It wasn't until Cosmic Jumper told me to tighten the 17mm nut with a ratchet and socket and keep spinning the variator forward and tightening again that I was able to slowly work the plate fully onto the spline then bang bang bang with the digiwrench (I love that thing!). So just in case anyone has the same difficulty I did getting the plate on (mine only got on 1/3 of the way onto the spline), use a ratchet and socket.

At the cost of showing my ignorance why would I want a J Costa Variator over the Honda stock? what performance difference will I experience?
The J Coasta link Here that I watch was excellent.

I'm Picking up the new Belt Wednesday along with an air filter I'm at 21,000

Cosmic Jumper just sent me this link to a youtube video that shows a really easy way to remove the variator nut without the variator tool or impact wrench.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-G_4xK1QCeM&NR=1

It's in... I don't know what language it's in, but the video is pretty self explanatory. Also shows you how easy it is to lose your rollers/sliders when you pull off the variator.