CA versus CL transmissions

[jnbmoore]

Are the transmission shafts, shifter, gears, etc., the same for CL and CA engines? I have a CA77 but I'm thinking of buying a seized CL engine for the tranny parts.

[mike in idaho]

I believe the 2nd and 3rd gear ratios are different. Swapping gears around could be a problem. The whole transmission assembly should be a drop-in fit though.

[DJM]

Apart from Japanese home market models, gears and gear ratios on the CL models are the same as the CB version. C and CA ratios are completely different.

You could swop over the complete gear set or indeed individual PAIRS of gears but the ratios would be changed.

Honda obviously designed the engines and gears with what they thought was best for the particular model but today's owners might like something different. Given that the C and CB gearsets contain eight different gear pairs changing one or more of them gives almost endless possibilities. Some just might work OK I suspect most won't.

It should be remembered that the CB and CL models were conceived as SPORTS models, if you ride them that way the gear ratios (although only four of them) are pretty good.

If you ride it like a tourer, changing up at around 5000 rpm you will discover the infamous gap in the gear ratios. In particular, to get the best out of CB77 you need to hang on the second gear until at least 7000 rpm and preferably a bit more!

If you ride the bike like a tourer you might like the C/CA ratios in your CB77 but I'm not sure doing it the other way (IE a CB gearset in a CA motor) would work too well.

I don't think the lower output C/CA series engine would cope well with the gap between second and third on the CB gearset.

[G-Man]

Don't forget that the CA does not have undercut gear dogs like the CL and CB......


G

Apart from Japanese home market models, gears and gear ratios on the CL models are the same as the CB version. C and CA ratios are completely different.

You could swop over the complete gear set or indeed individual PAIRS of gears but the ratios would be changed.

Honda obviously designed the engines and gears with what they thought was best for the particular model but today's owners might like something different. Given that the C and CB gearsets contain eight different gear pairs changing one or more of them gives almost endless possibilities. Some just might work OK I suspect most won't.

It should be remembered that the CB and CL models were conceived as SPORTS models, if you ride them that way the gear ratios (although only four of them) are pretty good.

If you ride it like a tourer, changing up at around 5000 rpm you will discover the infamous gap in the gear ratios. In particular, to get the best out of CB77 you need to hang on the second gear until at least 7000 rpm and preferably a bit more!

If you ride the bike like a tourer you might like the C/CA ratios in your CB77 but I'm not sure doing it the other way (IE a CB gearset in a CA motor) would work too well.

I don't think the lower output C/CA series engine would cope well with the gap between second and third on the CB gearset.