There was a car made in the Netherlands - the DAF, back in the 60's that had a CVT, and it was a big belt drive with tapered pullies that spread apart to reduce the effective diameter of the pulley, changing the ratio of the drive pulley to the driven pulley.
My Polaris snowmobile has a CVT. It's fairly simple how it works. there are two pulleys with a v-belt on them. as speed increases, one pulley gets wider and the other gets narrower. this causes the belt to ride deeper or shallower in the pulley, effectively changing the ratio.
Tracy
2002 C5 M6 Convertible
1994 Z28 M6 Convertible Current Mods:
SLP Ultra-Z functional ramair, SS Spoiler, STB, SFCs, Headers, Clutch, Bilstein Shocks, and TB Airfoil. 17x9 SS rims with Goodyear tires, 160F T-Stat, MSD Blaster Coil, Taylor wires, Hurst billet shifter, Borla catback with QTP e-cutout, Tuned PCM, 1LE Swaybars, 1LE driveshaft, ES bushings, White gauges, C5 front brakes, !CAGS, Bose/Soundstream audio, CST leather interior, synthetic fluids
Wow, I had no idea thats what it was. I woundered how the heck that was possible. Man I even asked my father (a 25 year Mechanic) and he has no idea about this type of Tranny. Very interesting.
The CVT is good for two reasons. First of all, CVT's get better mileage because the RPM's can match to the power output necessary at the time. You're not limited to 5 or 6 gears, they are literally infinite, so it finds where it needs to be depending on the load. Secondly, when accelerating you are always in the powerband, because once again you are not limited to certain gears.
The downside is that it is not as strong as metal gears, so weight restrictions apply and you cannot tow much behind whatever vehicle it is in. So it's fine for cars and small SUV's, but you won't see one anytime soon in a big vehicle with a big boat behind it.
"No, officer, that bottle is my onboard Halon system"
During my apprenticeship I worked with a guy that had an old DAF. It was pretty fast and the fun part was that you could drive backwards as fast as you did forwards.
97 Trans Am A4 more or less stock (Mods: WS6 Ram Air with Fernco & K&N, 12 disc CD changer, power antenna, SLP Fan Switch, LS1 Aluminum DS, Borla Cat back, McCord power plate, Spohn tower brace, Sirius, HID fog lights)
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