Skiddz

I looped my 'she a few years back and smashed the crap outta everything above the top frame rail. I fixed the steering loop by taking my Hi-Lift jack and putting the base end on the loop and the "hook" end on the push bar and cranking it "up" slowly. Took a few different tweak session to get it to where everything fit properly (The radiator mounts are key here!) and everything was square. (i.e. aligned properly with the rest of the frame) I agree, it's a poor design and needs some beefing up. I'm rebuilding my entire bike right now and as soon as my frame comes back from the sandblaster, I'm gonna gusset the livin' crap out of it, especially that loop! Only thing that should bend in a crash after that is me. hehehe

I just bought the J to A arm conversion "kit" for my '87 rebuild project. $189 from www.atvracing1.com. Comes already fabbed up with a new upper arm bolt and a jig to get it all aligned before you weld it off. Ordered a set of +2+1 A arms from gary at Quicksand Motorosports to go with it. Both Gary and I agreed that a beefier solution than cutting off the rear of the original J-mount would be to leave it, and just modify the spacer tube so there would be 3 points of contact instead of two for the upper mount. I'm expecting the conversion kit early next week and will get it welded in as soon as it shows up. I'll post pics then.

Polishing the stock head could yield results from spectacular to blah. Depends on the casting. I've been polishing the crap out of every piece of aluminum on my 'shee and tried doing my milled OEM head. After I bead blasted the paint off of it, it looked pretty good, but as I sanded it to get rid of the casting mark "orange peel", more and more holes became apparent. Evidently some of these castings are pretty porous. I ran into similar holes when polishing my clutch cover, but was able to sand them all out without too much effort. I finally gave up on the head and just repainted it. They do look nice freshly bead blasted and then painted with VHT Flameproof Clear. Very bright and sparkly..

Get a big BRASS hammer and you can beat the snot outta the threaded end all day without buggering the threads. The hammer will probably get f00ked up, but that's it's job. That same hammer can be used to beat the crap outta the swingarm bolt to get it out. Just went through this exercise on my 'shee a couple weeks ago.. Took a torch, lots of penetrating oil and a BFH to get it out.

Had a nice chat with Gary @ Quicksand a few days ago. Super nice guy. Ordered up a set of his +2+1 arms and am havin' him extend my swingarm as well. Should be quite an improvement over the old girl's ('87 shee) OEM pinnings... Now to find the right shocks....

If your pipes are already blued up, Caswell Plating has a kit that'll remove the bluing. www.caswellplating.com is where ya get it. (I'm not affiliated with 'em, just a happy customer)

I use the ol' Syncromatic 2000 finger method. Run the adjusters all way into the carb tops. You want the cable as slack as possible before you start. I stick my ring finger down one carb, my index finger down the other and slowly open the throttle to see which slide moves first. The one that's "laggy" gets a slight tightening of it's adjuster and I repeat the process until they're both moving at the same time. Once I got 'em dialed in, I tighten the adjuster lock nut and snap the throttle open several times, then check sync again. Sometimes it takes a few times to keep it all synced up. Once they're synced, fire it up and tweak your idle and air screws identically until the throttle response is nice and crisp. Tedious, yes, but worth it once ya get it tweaked just right.

LOTS of careful measurements off the "unmodified" side, a torch and some patience should straighten it right out. Once the steel is a dark cherry red, it'll move pretty easily, just go S L O W. You don't want to kink anything. Once you think it's close, let it cool naturally. Don't douse it with water, you'll just weaken it. Once it's cool, try bolting everything back on to make sure it fits properly. If it doesn't, try again. It may take a few times to get it right. Good luck!

When I yanked my TORS, I had to do a few tweaks. 1) Remove the "brains" from under the tank. 2) Disconnect the TORS wiring from the main harness 3) Remove the TORS units from the top of the carbs. 4) Replace the throttle cable 5) Drill and tap each carb body for an idle screw. My 'shee is an '87 and I haven't had the TORS system on it since it was a year old. All the goodies I needed to remove that crap were included in my twist throttle kit from Toomey.

Can he do the same type of mod to the stock J arms?? I'd definitely be interested in that mod...

Pivot works makes a set of bearings/seals for that banshee. Right about $30 for both sides. No need to haul it off to a machine shop to remove/replace 'em. Pry the oil seals out with a screwdriver being careful not to scratch the inner race of the hub. Get a brass drift punch small enough to fit down inside the hub and catch the edge of one of the bearings with it. Give it a whack and then move the drift to the opposite side of the bearing and give it a whack. "See saw" the bearing out that way then remove the center bushing. Find a deep socket that'll just fit inside the hub and slide it in. whack the socket with a brass hammer (Brass won't f**k up your socket) until the bearing pops loose. To put 'em back, get the new bearings lined up, place a block of wood on them and whack 'em in until they're flush. Use your socket and brass hammer to drive 'em in all the way. Press in the oil seals as far as you can by hand then finished up with the wood block and the hammer. A large plastic mallet will work by itself as well. If you want, you can heat the hubs for a few mins in your oven to ease both removal and reinstallation. Just make sure you get the center bushing installed the same way it came out.. Good luck!

Welp, the entire issue may be moot. The wife heard me on the phone the other day asking about getting the stockers done and after hanging up and voicing my frustrations over the whole stock vs. aftermarket bit she said "Just take some money out of the savings, do the A arm conversion and get the new arms." I damn near lost a tooth when my jaw hit the floor.. heheh Glamisbanshee, did that $600 include ball joints, bushings/bearings, new tie rods and new brake lines??? Duncan is a 30 min drive from here and I'd love to get the suspension hung back on this thing right after the holidays are over..

Also make sure you check the hose that runs between the two carbs on the inboard sides of them. If this hose pops loose, it'll lean out the right cylinder and cause similar symptoms. Did you re-sync your carbs after you rejetted? They normally won't pop out of sync when rejetting, but it wouldn't hurt to check.

Not in East county, but Racer's Toy Store on Enterprise in Escondido does nice work at $55 a jug. Bring in your new pistons for them to match up to the bores. Might as well do both sides at the same time. You're literally 4 nuts away from removing the 2nd piston once you've got the one side done. A head's up here. *BEFORE* you remove the circlips holding the wrist pins into the pistons, stuff a rag down into the case so in case you drop the things, they don't fall all the way in. Leave the rags there until you get the new pistons back on and don't take 'em out until *JUST* before you slide the jugs over the pistons during reassembly. Top end is pretty easy to do on Banshees. You might want to pick up a service manual to help you out. If you go with Wisecos, when ya break the motor in, make sure it's completely up to temp before you go ride. Forged pistons are sometimes prone to cold sieze if everything's not warmed up before you can the throttle. Make sure you break the motor in slowly. The Duncan Racing web site has good instructions on break in of two stroke motors. I always take it very easy on new motors for at least the 1st tank. My last motor lasted almost 6 seasons and I'm hoping the rebuild I'm doing right now lasts as long.. Good luck!

Use Goof Off to remove leftover sticker "funk". Denatured alcohol will work too. Not sure what laquer thinner will do to the plastic but I do know MEK or Acetone *will* eat it.

Sounds like a hose is collapsing on you. I've seen this happen on cars several times. The bottom hose collapses under the draw from the water pump and the water flowing back into the radiator has nowhere to go so it dumps out the overflow. Could be the same thing here. Also, check to see the hose between the right and left carbs is secure and not cracked. If it comes loose, the right cylinder will lean out and overheat and will do the same thing you describe. My buddy's '90 used to do this all the time. We replaced that hose and it's been several years since he's puked coolant. Good luck!

I've got my '87 completely torn down out in the garage and I'm putting together a pile of items for the powder coater. I know the ball joints on the stock J/A arms aren't replaceable but I'd really like to get the arms powdercoated to match the rest of the machine. Is it possible to seal off the ball joints from the abrasive blasting and powder spraying operations? I know the grease in the ball joints will probably cook off in the oven once the parts are sprayed, is there a way to repack 'em? I don't really want to drop $600 on A-arms and another $150 on the J to A conversion kits since I've already got close to $2k into this rebuild already ($508 in tranny parts alone!) and my arms are in extremely good shape and don't need replacing. Anyone ever powder coat a set of suspension arms like this? (Aren't some of the Honda arms the same way??) Ideas? Suggestions?? Thx!

I feel your pain. Just went through this on my '87. She's undergoing a complete rebuild and that swingarm bolt was a bitch. My solution was brutal and straightforward. set the frame on it's side and put two large bar clamps across the frame, one "above" and one "below" the swingarm pivot. (To keep the frame from spreading) Out came the BFH 2000 (a 5 lb BRASS hammer) and the penetrating oil. It took literally a hundred whacks to get the bolt to move 1/4". Once I'd moved it that far, I sprayed the penetrating oil in liberal quantities on both ends of the bolt, flipped the frame over and beat the bolt back flush. I then flipped it over and had at the threaded end again. After a few of these cycles and some application of heat, I was able to drive the bolt flush with the frame and then use a 3/8" brass drift to drive the bolt out all the way. I had the same problem as you. The bolt had rusted itself to the inner bushing and needed to be persuaded with brute force. About the only salvagable part (other than the swingarm itself) was the bolt and nut. Both bearings were rusted, the thrust caps were beat to hell and the oil seals were melted from the heat of the torch. The center bushing was completely pitted where the bearings rode on it. Thankfully, Pivot Works makes an inexpensive bearing kit for these things..

I hated that very thing about my 'shee when I first rode it at night. My solution was pricey, but works great. Alba 260w stator and 4 Ricky Stator 55w Illuminator lights. I replaced the factory "fender" lights and added a Ricky Stator top clamp with light mounts and put two lights up there. Fender lights come on with the low beam setting, all 4 light with the high beam setting. They all come up to full brightness just barely off idle. The stator ran me close to $400 and the lights were about as much. Again, pricey, but worth it.

Pull the castle nut off the ball joints and smack it a few times with a BRASS hammer. The brass is much softer than the steel of the ball joints. You'll munge up the hammer and not the threads. You can also use a large brass drift punch with your regular steel BFH to accomplish the same thing.