ssanddemon

Most probably a leaking head gasket

Run an ebay search for "banshee grill" under the atv parts section. You'll get lots to choose from.

You might have the guy doing your porting check the cylinder dimensions for you with a bore guage; he's probably got one. According to the book, new bore measurements are 64.00 to 64.02 mm, with a service wear limit of 64.10 mm. That's a fair amount to play with, so if you can get a good measurement with the bore guage, that will tell you the way to go. I would probably just plan on doing a bore to the next size up since you'll already be doing most of the work to put it new again anyway.

Congrats, those old Honda bikes are real durable. Sounds to me like either a piece of crap floating around in the float bowl occasionally plugging up the main jet or water in the float bowl. No matter what, I would pull off the float bowl. Maybe another idea is to see what fuel flow looks like with the fuel line off and then fuel valve turned on. If it is a wimpy trickle, you may have a plugged fuel filter or in-the-tank-strainer.

Am I stupid, or aren't the pipes supposed to blue 2" to 3" from the head?

I snipped the wires on the key side of the connector. When I'm camping for the night, I pull the pigtail off; that's my key.

Sounds like you hit the nail on the head: erratic , high idle and backfire is a lean condition. If you can TIG, it may be fixable. Just make sure the crack doesn't keep going up into the water jacket.

I wouldn't trust em. If you have a shop with a dyno they could do a good job, but usually you have just got to get an assortment of jets and go for it. It's a pain in the ass, but 280 to 310 jets are going to be your range I'm thinking. I would drop in 300 jets at home and see how shee runs when you get to your riding place. You'll probably be awful close- I have TR-6s and I was at factory pilots and I think 280 mains (sea level) before the other mods. Edit: before motor mods but with K&Ns.

Make sure it's set at + not - . I couldn't figure out why mine ran like such a pu$$y after putting on the new stator kit, finally figured out I had it at -6 not +6 . My buddies reamed me all weekend over that one !

He's right. But if you are wearing out sprockets prematurely, that's a seperate issue. If the teeth are getting sharp and generally worn out more often than in a year or (usually) more of riding, you are probably running the chain loose. This will cause MASSIVELY premature wear of the chain and sprockets. To set chain tension, it should have 1/2 to an inch or so of free play WITH THE SUSPENSION COMPRESSED. I cannot stress this enough. When the suspension compresses, the chain tightens due to the decrease of swingarm angle in relation to the countershaft sprocket. If you have the chain at 1/2" of free play with the suspension unloaded, it will be banjo-tight when the suspension compresses after landing a jump, etc. binding the suspension and stressing the crap out of the countershaft bearing. So to check chain tension, I always kneel on the grab bar with my full weight, then reach down and check tension. The proper amount is pretty snug, but not banjo level. Sounds as though you are at the opposite end of the spectrum, but either way, proper adjustment will give really long chain & sprocket life even in the sand.

How's the plug chop look?

340 sounds awful big. I'm at 310s with the mods in my sig.

Check out your clutch basket & hub. Make sure you haven't got grooves that are hanging up the steels or fibers- It's a pretty common problem.

Made the big trip to Glamis earlier this year with a bunch of buddies. We were swapping around tires just to see what worked best on each bike.We had sand skates, my 20x10 9 paddle extremes, geckos and 22x8 10 paddle haulers. the geckos were like a bad joke They would hook before I hit the band, then fold over as I came into it- pathetic, really crappy to ride. The skates were ok for the piped only shee, but I could overpower them and go nowhere. The 22x8 10 paddles were too much for me, but worked great on the ©raptor with it's big torque hit. I ended up liking my tires the best of all of them.

Clymer. Like Loco says, most mechanic-oriented guys use it once per type of repair, then just for torque specifications and such.

I wouldn't be looking at the oil. Do you have any idea how many guys are beating the pi$$ out of their bike every weekend on WalMart ATF? And the bikes are fine, some of them are pretty old, too.

22x8x10 are a drag /hillshooting tire, and they soak up bumps better, but don't steer or handle as well. 20x10x10 are more like general useage, since you can throw the back end around more. The 20s don't have as much sidewall give and have a smaller contact patch than the 22s- all of which are why I run 20s.

I have the Cascade shift star, it's a noticeable improvement.The Shift Pro is on my short list, and while I have the clutch basket out, I'll file down the notches that are causing the bulk of my shift problems in the first place. Unfortunately, I'm too cheap for a Hinson basket.

It won't hurt anything to just switch out all at once. I use John Deere tractor oil; cheap and works great; gives great clutch feel. Big buck oil is not necessary on the shee trans. As long as you change it out often, the trans will hold up forever. Guys are running anything from tractor oil like me to ATF, Belray, and just plain 'ol 10W 30 crap oil. Not surprisingly, the main problems we hear about are bent shift forks & etc from abuse but not worn out gears, clutches or bearings from poor oil selection.

I second the tractor oil. Like ATF, it is designed to be run with wet clutches, but it's a little thicker, and has better additives for the gear teeth.- Auto trannies have tiny teeth (planetaries) so they don't have real wear problems like trannies with the larger tooth surface area like the shee trans or any other manual trans for that matter. Plus it's cheap enough to be changed all the time. I think the guys spending big bux on their tranny oil are probably leaving it in for a long time, whereas the guys running the cheaper stuff cycle it often. It's kind of a judgement call since the shee trans is so tough. They don't break much no matter how you treat them.

Stay away from the 10 paddles unless you have a hot motor and long swingarm.- you'll have way too much tire. Remember: in the sand, wheelspin is our friend. You want enough to be able to get the back hooked up at the higher rpms, but not so much that you are hooked up all the time, or you'll end up with a very boggy-feeling bike. I have 9 paddle haulers and they are a bit much. If I was going to keep the factory length arm, I would want some 8s. And the straight paddles steer just fine. I ran with the factory knobbies on the front for a couple of years with haulers and never had any problem hooking up the fronts. With my trackers on the front, it maybe steers too well- It'll hook and throw you off if you get too crazy.

You have got to buy a lighting coil. Rocky Mountain has them for CRs 97 thru 05. They run around $200. Then you get to buy front & rear lites, another $100 or so. Edit: They show a voltage regulator necessary only on the 400EX and Banshee.

Scat-Trak Extreme is the best tire BAR NONE for the sand. I have the 10x10x20 nine paddle, it's got a bit too much hook up for my factory swingarm- I look at the sky a lot. I should be using an 8 paddle, but I will be doing a +4 arm soon, so the nine should be just right. The Extremes (as compared to the standard Scat-Trak) have a bit taller paddle that is kevlar- reinforced; they won't fold over under big HP and don't wear out nearly as fast on the inevitable pavement cossings and don't cost much more $.

A little play is too much. You should feel no play, just smooth rolling when you turn the crank by hand. Play in the crank can make the left (stator) side seal leak air which can taost a piston real easy. You're gonna need to do the bottom end.

I love my Elka Dunes- they are a real basic shock that works and looks fantastic. My bike rides plusher with the Elkas than every other bike I have ridden.