tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

New to the forum and did a lot of searching and still a little confused on the tuning of the comet clutch. I have a G1, doing a new top end now and wanted a little better take off. Doing a burnout in gravel and some wet grass would be great!! Right now the motor barely spins and the cart takes off. I have not taken it apart yet till I asked on here if worth the work. Can i just shim a spring, if applies to this one and not just the older style? The weights, the lighter the faster in engauges? The heavier the weights, the higher the motor revs before engauging? What does all 9 weights weigh, and where should I be to do what I want? Thanks for the help, Tony.

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

I am a little cofused about what clutch you have. Is it a Comet 94 series or an OEM clutch? Here are three possibilities. Which clutch do you have?

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

I guess mine looks like the second pic. It has a thin goldish tin cover held on by three allen head screws. The label inside says comet duster. I count nine pucks total.

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

If your clutch looks like this it is a Comet 94C Duster. This clutch is also in my third pic, but has the plastic dust cover installed. The clutch in the first pic is the original OEM G1 clutch. The second pic is the later type and replacement part OEM clutch. Search this forum for "Comet clutch". There are several threads about how to tune a Comet clutch.

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

Longer or shimmed longer spring gives higher engagement but changes shifting little. More spring strength shifts higher rpm, less weight/weights/pucks shifts higher and may engage higher. More weight/weights shift and engage sooner = lower rpm.

The best setup for a G1 was to have it engage higher than stock, enough it will spin in gravel on takeoff and rev higher when it starts moving. Then have it shift fast so the rpm goes lower as you speed up, then it shifts all the way and rpm go back up. That would win in a drag race every time, do nice donuts in gravel and powerslides in wet grass, etc. You need more rpm at take off, but the g1 tends to make the best power lower than you think in rpm even though it will rev quite high. That would generally be a longer spring and heavy weights to get that combo, though I had modded the original G1 clutch to work that way.

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

So should i just lighten the weights/pucks myself? Drill them each out little by little? I am looking for a gravel spinning, wet grass drifter! shim spring also? Thanks for the help guys

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

What you should do first if the clutch is somewhat right for the application, is shim the spring longer or buy a longer spring. Changing the weights or spring tension will change how it shifts, and most clutches for X use should be shifting at the right rpm the way they come. Even my G9 loses power after it shifts out (all the way shifted) and that means it would go slower if it shifted at higher rpm. Sometimes you have to dig into them, but most of the problem here is low engagement for a golf smooth take off that we don't want. Try a shim and see where you are at, it will also get the rpm much faster on takeoff, into the power faster, you will not have that bogging feeling all the time.

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

ok ill try shimming the spring first. i do have the newer style clutch, so will this still work? i have the clutch that is in the pic all by itself at the top of page. i want it to rev first then engage. plus, is it worth changing the rear spring out and putting a torque spring in? we do a lot of racing around in our camp ground in spring and fall, and a lot of grass drifting at night.

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

OK, so you have a Comet 94C clutch. This is an aftermarket replacement clutch and is completely tuneable to do whatever you want it to do. This is the best clutch of the three for your purpose. Snowmobilers like to use this clutch for that reason. The downside is Comet went out of business about a year ago and the tuning parts -pucks and springs- are hard to find right now. Word is that someone has bought the equipment and production may start up again. Do a search on this forum and read up on what other members have done to tune their Comet. There is a lot of good info already posted on this matter.

Re: tuning a g1 comet clutch
 

I posted the name of the place that bought them, somewhere I forget what thread. Try to shim the spring with washers or slice of pipe, etc. Put 1/4" shim in it and try it, even 1/8 would change a sled clutch 500rms or more at engagement. That will get the tires to break loose faster and should help you. You should have a tachometer and power curve of the engine handy to set up the shifting and put in different weights and spring....or use a known setup. My fastest G1 engaged it would spin in gravel like nothing, but then the rpm gradually went lower as it picked up speed until it was shifted out. I could beat all the other G1s with it. I only had a shim in the stock old style clutch, on the other hand if we got 10 new carts in all of them the clutch worked a little differently. If your clutch has multiple small springs you may have to buy different ones or different weights to raise engagement.