ambassaduer 7000 c4 lever drag upgrade

i finally got around to cracking open the ambassaduer 7000 c4 lever drag that i had in the garage. this one had a composite drag material similar to the ones found in other star drag ambassaduers. the last one that i opened up that had the cork drag must have been very old. the single stock drag washer that i found inside had an inside diameter of 19.50 mm. the outside diameter was 40.00 mm, not including the tabs. i pulled a #6-5600 penn ht-100 drag washer from the box and ground the outer diameter down to 40 mm, then took a step drill and bored out the inside hole to 20mm, slapped a generous coat of shimano star drag grease on both sides, wiped off the excess on the drag pressure plate side and left the spool side goopy.

in terms of the actual proceedure,

1. pull the schematic from the ambassaduer website. here's the link...

http://www.abugarcia.com/schematics...00c4ld/1101.pdf

2. back off the three screws that hold the right side plate on. note that these screws have no key # designation on the schematic because the side plate and screws are sold as a unit.

3. remove right side plate. note that the spool will come out with the side plate.

4. back off the drag preset knob (part #1078236) until you can remove the spool from the side plate.

5. unscrew the spool cap (part #1072163), remove the drag pressure plate (parts #1072162, 1072161, 1072160 and 1072159) as a unit, and remove the graphite composite drag washer (part #1072158).

6. install the new penn ht-100 drag washer (part #6-5600). this drag washer must first be resized to a 20mm inner diameter and a 40mm outer diameter. if desired, you may apply a coat of shimano star drag grease to both sides of the washer, taking care to remove all the excess grease from the drag pressure plate side of the penn drag washer.

7. install the metal drag pressure plate and spool cap.

8. insert the spool back into the frame.

9. re-install the left side plate, tighten all three side plate screws.

10. push the drag lever back to the free spool position (this is very important for all lever drag reels!!!!!!).

11. insert the cam back into the free spool lever until it seats into the lowest postion.

12. re-install the the spring (part #1072174) and the drag preset knob (part #1078236). congratulations, you're done!

now you need to determine your maximum drag at strike before you lose free spool. this proceedure is the same for all lever drag reels. it's very simple. what you do is push the drag lever back into the free spool position, then advance the drag pre-set knob until the drag pressure plate comes in contact with the drag washer. you will know because the spool will just barely turn when you turn the handle. now just barely back off on the drag preset knob so that you can turn the handle without the spool turning. you should still have good free spool.

i got 12 pounds at strike before losing free spool. let me know how you do.  alan