Tim Potteiger

To hell with plug chops!!! If you have smoked that many motors in succession, GO TO A DYNO WITH A FUEL SENSOR!!!!! You can guess all day long by glaring at plugs, but the best way to know what is going throughout the fuel delivery range, is to dyno it with a fuel sensor. And until you take it apart, there is still a lot of guess work as to why it blew up or the extent of it. It could be anything at this point.

/couldn't agree more

I ride MX tracks, woods, and mostly Little Sahara in Oklahoma, and I love my twist and I can barely stand to ride a thumb throttle bike now. It took a few hours of riding to get real comfortable with it, but now I wouldn't go back if someone paid me. To each his own though I suppose.

I bought and have run 36mm Lectron HVs for 8 years now, and I would give anything to go back and buy 32mm instead. The 36mm are fine, and the bike runs good, but it is way too much carburetor for a "trail" ported bike.

I run a motion pro twist throttle. I don't know if it's the "best", but it works as well as any.

Just in case you missed it, it is imperative that you PULL THE CLUTCH AND KILL THE MOTOR WHILE STILL WIDE OPEN, so if you don't have a kill switch or tether, you will need one to plug chop. You must pull the clutch and kill almost simultaneously as failure to kill it will result in crazy over rev, and failure to clutch will result in the motor still moving with wet fuel charge and ruining your plug check. Good luck!

I have burned 2 or 3 motors with water leaks. The first was from burned O-rings in the head which allow the combustion pressure in the cylinders to actually pressurize the water system and thus blows the water out the overflow and out the puke tube. This puke tube would normally have the reservoir connected, but I removed that about 8 years ago when I switched to larger carbs and reed spacers. It simply won't fit anymore. You do not need it. It only holds overflowed coolant, and as far as I know, unlike a car, it does not siphon back up through the cap. It merely serves to preserve the environment by not allowing the coolant to spill out on the ground. I have also emptied my radiator by boiling it all out with a broken water pump impeller. With no circulation, it obvious just turns the water jackets around the cylinders into a pressure cooker. Bottom line, there are only a few things that can cause it to overflow: leaking head gasket or o-rings, melted or broken impeller, excessive heat (lean motor condition, constant over rev, just plain riding the shit out of it). I would suggest you remove the cap and rev the motor and observe what happens, both hot and cold. If it boils up rapidly and overflows while cold, you have a head gasket issue. If it takes a while to start boiling over, you have a circulation issue. Other than that, in the hot months, excessive riding might boil a Banshee regardless. You likely wouldn't lose much each ride, but a little here and there adds up. I always check my coolant level about every 2 rides in the dunes, or every hour on the track. Tell us what you find.

Get some fiber plates from a Yamaha FZ600 street bike. Trash can the rubber ring spacers and just rough up the steel plates by rubbing them on concrete. Those plates are only 8 dollars each so with tax and all its only 60ish dollars. If you can't afford that, then you might want to sit out a race. I have never heard of using R6 frictions, but who knows, a lot of Yamaha's shit is interchangeable.

I actually went back to a stock impeller after the Pro Design broke in less than 10 hours time. When you are watching the coolant in the radiator, you need to rev the motor too. If there is pressure in the system, it will do much more than just vibrate and splash a bit. It will rapidly rise to the overflow. Popping will not stop by syncing the carbs. That is most likely a totally different problem. A banshee will run with the carbs out of sync, just not very well. Installing those slides backwards WILL cause popping and erratic throttle conditions.

Any signs of detonation? Which side did the rings stick on, exhaust (i am guessing?)? Detonation from +4 timing could cause excessive heat and soften the rings, and then cause them to seize. I know a lot of people run +4 timing advance, but I was running +4 1/2 with 112 octane and 18cc domes and detonating like crazy. Granted my compression is quite a bit higher than yours, but lowering the timing to +3 fixed my detonation, and will hopefully save me from anymore time in the damn garage wrenching on this POS!!!! The fact that you melted the last one might suggest a lean condition. Before I went riding on another new motor, I would dyno the bike somewhere that has an exhaust sniffer and make sure you aren't too lean. 310 sounds like the right jet for FMFs with stock needles, but being the 2nd clip instead of the 3rd would lean it out quite a bit. Plug chops are great, but nothing can beat a computer telling you what your fuel/air mixture is. I think you are too lean and/or detonating. Good luck, and please post back what you find.

I am not knocking the power of the street bike motor at all. They are badass in their intended application, but they look like crap and rarely run fast in the dirt or sand in a Banshee. I will say that Raptor that LocoGato did is pretty wicked looking though.

Do not relocate the shock mounts or go with longer shocks as this will change the suspension geometry and create a whole line of problems. I am a big guy also at 240lbs and only 5'10". I run works shocks with the stiffest springs they sell on the front and a rear valved and sprung for a 250lb rider. Your best bet would be to look around and invest in a set of Elka or PEP shocks (I like Elka's adjusters the best), and make sure they are very aware of your weight and desire to raise your ride height. Stiff springs + Preload = higher ride. Be ready to blow some cash though, and keep in mind things like future suspension upgrades such as longer A-Arms, Swingarm, etc (assuming you don't have these now, if you do then that needs to be accounted for when ordering also) while ordering new shocks.

Take the cap off and look at the coolant in the radiator while the bike is idling. Rev the motor and see if coolant begins pushing back up through the top. If it is, then it isn't just the cap. Those caps rarely go bad. If water is pushing up through the top and overflowing as soon as you start the motor, then it is likely that you have a head gasket issue. If it takes a few minutes of running to start overflowing, then I would check your impeller. If the impeller is broken, then you would hear sizzling in the cylinders after running the bike for a minute or 2 then shutting it off. As for your popping problem--cleaning the carbs won't remedy this usually. Popping could be an electrical short, carb slides installed improperly--ARE THE SLIDE CUTAWAYS TO THE REAR FOR THE LAST TIME? Slide cutaways to the front will cause popping and erratic throttle conditions. You have never answered that question, nor the radiator check question.

Matt, I suggest since you don't really read or reply to questions or suggestions people make on here, you might be better off just taking it in the shop. There is a process of troubleshooting that goes along with trying to diagnose and fix motor troubles. This process would require that you reply to the questions and try the suggestions that people give you and then post the results. You just keep asking for help and I am sorry to say there is never just 1 easy answer when trying to fix a problem that you can't even see.

Changing your Camber should not effect your caster, unless you don't return the ball joints to the same plane they were on. Caster adjustment will be less visible to gauge, but it will really effect your handling. I just followed the guide that came with the Arms, and they are perfect.

LSR is so full of win, I almost fell for a less expensive Durablue, but was talked out of it by a smart friend who said they are too easy to bend or break. LSR has taken a helluva beating for 9 years now, with no trouble.

I guess I might be biased by the fact I have yet to see 1 street bike motor Banshee that wasn't a total turd in both looks and performance, in the sand at least. Someday I might be proven wrong, but I would bet few could even outrun a 1500 dollar cub in the sand or dirt. I have seen some super fast snow mobile bikes though, but that huge belt flying around under my left leg doesn't excite me too much.

Waste of time and money in my opinion, you can get a much better bike by sticking with some type of Banshee motor. Try a Cheetah Cub.

and yes I mean hit the center pressure screw on the tool that is sitting against the crankshaft, not the flywheel or any other part

I always hit the car wash on the way home, then spend some time polishing. I change my gear oil every 1 or 2 trips (might be wasteful in some opinions, but I do it anyway). If you ride in sand never lube your throttle or clutch cable. Lube causes sand to stick!!! Just buy an extra clutch cable or 2 and carry them with you. Always make sure your radiator is topped off. Grease all zerts on suspension every trip. I like to do it just before the car wash so I can blow off the extra grease that squeezes out. If you are going to ride in sand, get rid of those pods now and get an air box back on that bike. I use UM racings air box. I burned through quite a few sets of pistons with exposed air filters in the sand. I ran even ran 2 sets of panty hose and outerwears. I then made a half box to shield it from sand getting thrown at it. I finally got smart and went back to an air box. The stocker won't fit my bike, but the UM racing box is very customizable when it comes to mounting.

I have snapped mine off and had to saw it down 2 times by trying to impact it. Tighten it down real snug with a wrench, then hit it lightly and sharp with a hammer. I know they say never to beat on the flywheel, but you will just waste pullers if you don't.

If someone offers to do it for less than 400 (which would be cheap) run like hell. Expect to pay around 500 for a good port which will usually include a bore as well.

Almost all manufacturers sell their product lines for over retail or very inflated retail since their real business is wholesaling quantities to distributors. If Works sold cheaper than their distributors, then no one would carry Works, and they would likely go out of business.

I currently have 2 stud holes heli-coiled. 1 has been that way for 3 years, the other for about 6 months and it is the long one in the front. Be careful doing it or take it to someone who is experienced with doing it.