Aftermarket CVT push belt

I mean, really, this is the key to making monsters out of CVT Civics.

The CVT Civics of the 10th generation have proven their might on the track and in the street. It's a capable transmission. Moreso than people like to give credit for. But they're quick, interesting, and pretty fun to drive. Turbos love 'em.

Information on the OEM Honda CVT belt in the 10th gen Civics is extremely sparse. If we have any Honda technicians here on the forums with access to such information, maybe they could chime in?

What seems to make the biggest difference in what a belt can handle seems to be the size of the elements and the number of rings, according to Bosch's catalogue and some information shared by CVT savvy mechanics and engineers. Going by Hondata's video when they took apart their CVT, it looks like we have 12 ring belts, which is good news. Obviously it's hard to tell the size of the elements from a picture, though. Let alone the materials used.

Anyway, those of you more educated in the workings of transmissions, is it even feasible to throw a more capable belt in there?

It would get even more complicated from there, considering the fact that the sheaves are also a wear point and it'd be worth it to upgrade those as well, though the belt is the weakest link...

Late night space age transmission thoughts. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Revisiting this topic/thread. After seeing some Nissan threads of CVT failures it seems like at least in their case that the belt was not the main failure point but rather other parts failed which results in damage to the belt.

So my curiosity is can we beef up those other components of pulleys, shafts, bearings, etc... so that we can push the CVT more. Or can we do a Frankenstein accord automatic transmission swap as those seem to be holding 400wtq vs the mystical "250" wtq.

xjoshuax89 said:

Revisiting this topic/thread. After seeing some Nissan threads of CVT failures it seems like at least in their case that the belt was not the main failure point but rather other parts failed which results in damage to the belt.

So my curiosity is can we beef up those other components of pulleys, shafts, bearings, etc... so that we can push the CVT more. Or can we do a Frankenstein accord automatic transmission swap as those seem to be holding 400wtq vs the mystical "250" wtq.

Click to expand...

From what I read, in Jatco CVT transmissions there is a significant lack of cooling within the transmission thus the heat pretty much causes the parts to fail prematurely. Interestingly enough the incidence rate is lower for CVTs coupled with larger engines (Maxima, V6 Altima) compared to the 4cyl motors.

Some prior posts on this subject.
What would it take to upgrade a CVT

@r.camlin I have even tried tackling this somewhat in my Honda Fit days (Fitfreak Forum)
Lightweight CVT Drive and Driven Pulley Question

I went as far as trying to work with manufacturers and snowmobile aftermarket CVT companys. I've reached out to a few and was willing to be a guinea pig to help develop modifications (Or newer) for the CVT belt(s) and drive pulleys. None were willing to work on it at that time but at least one of them stated they may possibly get into this market for cars (There still isn't one) in the future.

From a TCU (Transmission Control Unit) standpoint, I've also reached out to Ktuner to see if this could be modified/changed for performance. He can visually see the code but wasn't quite ready to tackle this or change anything for fear of possibly messing something up.

Good luck! I'm always interested in this.

Myx said:

Some prior posts on this subject.
What would it take to upgrade a CVT

@r.camlin I have even tried tackling this somewhat in my Honda Fit days (Fitfreak Forum)
Lightweight CVT Drive and Driven Pulley Question

I went as far as trying to work with manufacturers and snowmobile aftermarket CVT companys. I've reached out to a few and was willing to be a guinea pig to help develop modifications (Or newer) for the CVT belt(s) and drive pulleys. None were willing to work on it at that time but at least one of them stated they may possibly get into this market for cars (There still isn't one) in the future.

From a TCU (Transmission Control Unit) standpoint, I've also reached out to Ktuner to see if this could be modified/changed for performance. He can visually see the code but wasn't quite ready to tackle this or change anything for fear of possibly messing something up.

Good luck! I'm always interested in this.

Click to expand...

I believe if the code could be hacked there would be a large margin for possible improvements or increased holding capacity just with internal pressure adjustments. This holds true for most conventional automatics and I would imagine similar rules would apply to cvt units.

For instance. Stock awd automatic dsm transmissions have been in the low 9 second ranges and are daily reliable in the 10 second range with just increasing line pressure to 100% during the shifts....

Semi necroing an old thread because I came across this article randomly while on the net.

CVTs possibly being used on EVs?

Maybe some sort of corollary and have more development for its gas combustion version?