Puch ZA50 Clutch Rebuild Part 1: First Gear

I was forced to rebuild my clutches after a total destruction of my first gear clutch shoes by my Gilardoni kit.

 
I looked into the possibility of relining the clutch shoes.  After a lot of research and feedback from the Moped Army and Puchforum communities, I concluded the easiest route for me at this time was to buy a used clutch.  I will attempt to reline my old clutch shoes in near future.

Received my used first gear clutch from Moped Army dude Mad Mike via the Buy & Sell forum:

$40.00 with S&H!!

The preliminary inspection looked good:

 

The shoes on the clutch was in great shape.  No tears, cracks, or d-lamination.  The spring was in great shape too.  But I wanted to modify the clutch for a greater "stall" off the line.  So I set out to change or cut the spring and/or lighten the clutch via drilling holes.  Tools used to break the links (be careful not to damage the clutch shoe material during this process):

Hammer time!!

All apart!!

I weighed my clutch shoes for balance and to get a baseline reading.  After comparing the stock spring and a new 30# Tomos spring (uncut), I decided not to drill any holes at this time.  A new Tomos spring is a lot stiffer than a stock ZA50 spring.  I didn't cut the Tomos spring at this time because I'm curious how much "stall" an uncut 30# Tomos spring would provide.  This is also the reason I didn't use the usual cut stock ZA50 spring instead.

Good baseline!!

Super stiff!!

 

I wanted to rebuild my first gear clutch so that it would be easier to take apart in case of further tuning.  I ordered master link for 415 chain from Treats.  You have to drill out the clutch shoe side holes in order for the new master links to fit.  A 4mm drill bit did the trick.

Now the fun part: reinstalling the spring.  It's fun now because my clutch spring installation tool makes it a breeze:

 

It's a cinch!!

(Note: I reinstalled the metal ring.  I read that its OK not to reinstall it but I felt safer putting it back to prevent the spring from possibly snagging or distorting the clutch.  I could just be paranoid!!)  All that's left is to put on the original washer and master chain linkage:

Washers...

...and linkage

 Done!!  A modified ZA50 First Gear Clutch:

(Note: I'll post a video on how the overall clutch modifications perform)

So get modifying and happy tuning!!