CDI Installed!

[scrible88]

I am amazed! It was a fairly easy, yet lengthy installation. Took some time just sitting down and reading through posts here and the guide on Battlescooter several times.

I am going to try my luck at writing up a guide with some good pictures tomorrow. I have been real busy with school, etc and have only put about 200 miles on my Ruckus this whole winter!

I am amazed at the CDI. I can DEFINATELY tell a major difference. I can't wait until this sleet goes away and I'll be able to top 'er out. I took it up to around 40 today and backed down on a long flat road into the wind! It wanted to keep going but I didn't. The roads are slick!

Thanks abe! ;D

[Kami no Chiizu]

Awesome.

[scrible88]

Hell ya!

Have you gotten one yet? I would advise ANYONE to. Its great.

[chanito]

I have been thinking about installing one, but i did not know how much of a difference it makes, my only gripe is that is made for the Japanese market and i was told that the low grade gas is lower than the one we have here, so the advance does not take full advantage of our 87 instead of 84, but then again, i have not proof of that becouse i never been to japan.
I am looking forward to your pictures installing it

[Kami no Chiizu]

No, I am poor...

[Ruckass]

The CDI is the first and, I think, the most important mod you can make on your Ruck.

Ruckass

[chanito]

Well, everybody is entittle to their own opinion, but the first mod should be the variator, i worked in the high performance and racing area for a while and i left it becouse it got to a point when all i was working in where trailer queens and street racers, not fan of any.
Anyway, the easiest and best way to mod is maxxing out what you have and then starting to accesorice (or whatever
you write it) untill you are satisfied, ovbiouslly some mods work, and others don't, so doing one at a time is a good idea, in my opinion the gearing in the variator is very conservative (unless you live in a hilly area) and the intake is very restricted in order to get good millage,
so opening up the intake and replacing the variator (or modify the stock) give a lot of improvement, the great thing about a CDI is the ability they have to advance the timing and by-pass the rev limiter, however i am very tempted to get to the crank sensor and elongated the holes where the bolts go that attach it to the crankcase, but yes a CDI seems a very easy mod, but in my opinion it should not be your first.

[pain merchant]

This might be for Chanito being as he has posted a lot about this topic. I want to change up some of my roller weights to better my acceleration. What's all the hype about shortening the spacer in there. Here is what I've gathered; decreasing the weights of the rollers, you will accelerate better. Shortening the spacer will give you more top end but might decrease your hill power. Correct me where I'm wrong and feel free to teach me more.

[chanito]

;D you are absolutelly right, lighter weight roller allow the engine to spin faster before the variator start closing and shooting the belt farter out, like keeping your car on a lower gear longer, zoomerman posted a web site address that explain how a variator works.
Now. shortening the spacer allows the variator halves to close more than the original specs, therefore sending the belt even farter out, so you have more top end speed. But like upshifting lower in the revs you loose pick up, doing both mods give better performance all around, some were i posted the measurements of my modified variator, it works great for me, i am 5' 11" 220lbs, about opening the intake
what i did was drilling the little slits on the air filter cover untill they got to the passageway that allows air into the air filter housing, now i went one better and did a home made air intake you can see the instructions on a how-to i posted

[Ruckass]

Kim, you could also get Wayne at "Scooter" to install it for you for CHEAP.

Ruckass

[Ruckass]

No, its this guy, wayne.visualloft.com/scooter/

Ruckass
pay attention, I'm gonna ask questions later

[tygerfifteen]

anybody have trouble with the speedo lights and turn signals when they instaled their cdi?
thanks

[tygerfifteen]

turn signals fixed, BUT
what improvments did y'all get?
i only got faster acceleration , nothing really for top speed.
anybody???

[Dandy Dan]

Check your shims.

Also the CDI doesn't really give your much more power. It just doesn't stop the party at high RPMs like a stocker does. I'm running low 40's with a CDI, opened airbox and minor variator mods. At least 40 without the variator mods.

[tygerfifteen]

so dan , i wou;dn't notice anything without getting a variator and roller weights?
what gram combo do you use, the weights/ variator are my next purchase.
any other tips for faster top speed?
thanks

[Dandy Dan]

I would say that you SHOULD notice an increase in top speed with the CDI. When I first installed mine it just felt like it ran a bit better on the top end so it climbed up a few more km/hr. It's just that when you're valve gaps aren't correct your Ruckus will run fine off the line and midrange (cuz the revs aren't as high but even if they were it's harder to tell cuz you aren't quantitively evaluation (with numbers) you acceleration (you go by feel) where as with top speed is much easier to notice a change cuz you can read it on the speedo.) The more you valve gaps are off the more you're ruckus will die off above 30mph.

If you valve gaps are too loose you can tell by bombing down a big hill and you should notice a buzzing sound between maybe 40 - 45mph. If you can't reach this speed on a big down hill then you're shims are probably too tight. (pretty rough method)

With a CDI as you're only mod I would guess a top speed of about 38-39mph would be achieved with good valve gaps. With an opened up airbox (or one of those pod filters) and a properly adjusted carb you should go 40 - 41mph.

The length of your variator spacer determines how close the two variator plates can be pushed together. The closer they get together the farther outward they push the belt (Recall how on a bicycle you select a bigger gear on the front to be geared taller for higher speeds). You can also shave down the inner lips of the plates so they get closer. I would suggest a spacer length of 35mm and perhaps file the lips down too for more top speed but I haven't personally done this. You want a 6gram average weight in the variator weight to run as fast as possible while still reaching your top speed. I suggest running 3 stock weights (7.5g and 3, 5.5g or maybe 3, 6g)

[tygerfifteen]

thanks dan,
i was wondering if I got the lawnmower filter instead, I had t before and thuoght I was running lean because the holes were nigger than the stock.
Also , i'm useless when it comes to automotives, but where exactley is the shims and valves?
Oh and i tested the top speed with a portable gps, 59km tops.

[Dandy Dan]

tygerfifteen said:

nigger

Whoa! You don't have to bring out the ethnic slurs (j/k I realize it was a typo)

To check out your shims you remove the seat, floorboard and then there's a cover on the front of the engine you remove via 5, 8mm bolts. That cover is the valve cover. Under that you'll see the cam shaft and it pushes via little rocker arm things on the valve, slide the rocker out of the way. You just crank the camshaft over until it's not pressing on the valve (use the kickstart) and measure the gap and compare to the recommend gaps. You can slide the rockers out of the way to remove and install shims. This is a super quick explanation. There are detailed instructions elsewere on this site and on battlescooter.com (included pics).

You can adjust your shims any time but if you want more power I'd say get the lawnmower filter and open up your airbox and then adjust the carb accordingly. (I use a mower filter)

[chanito]

Ok now you guys got me intrigued, the cdi is a little proceser that eliminate the 8k rev limiter set by the factory and also advance the timing a couple of degrees, so you should have more pick-up, how just a cdi would affect top speed is a great mistery (unless is in a down hill), i would think that you need to tinker with the variator to take advantage of the cdi, but then again, i do not have a cdi

[Dandy Dan]

chanito said:

how just a cdi would affect top speed is a great mistery

I'm not really an expert but I think the ignition advance increases your power slightly across all rpms. I believe the reason that you get more 'off the line' pickup is also the cause of the higher top speed.

Once you have a CDI the ruckus just seems to run better at higher RPMs. Kinda like the top end difference you get when your valve shims are properly adjusted. This could be just my imagination, or the ignition advance could be the cause or a third option is that the stock computer start robbing your power a bit before the hard limit of 8k. I don't really know how it works but my Ruckus does go over 40mph without any variator mods. If I geared it as tall as yours I should be cruisin around 45mph since you got a stocker (37mph top speed) to go 42-43mph with just a top gear change.