killerbanshee

I'm running fatty's on mine. I've ridden bikes with toomeys and I prefer the fattys for the sound they produce and the way they ride. You can do other mods without pipes, but you won't really get any benefits out of them until you upgrade your pipes and rejet accordingly. When you change pipes you will have to rejet your carbs..it's still easy though.

That right side doesn't look too good to me.

When you try to move it does it even try to budge?

If your banshee is completely stock with stock pipes then aftermarket pipes are the best first mod you can do.

Good info. Def going with a bench grinder. Mainly just looking for any info I can get. The first thing I want to polish is my stock clutch cover while my engine is apart.

I'm trying to get set up for polishing. I want to buy a bench grinder and use it for polishing and grinding when need be (just change wheels when needed). I was wondering what some of you guys use for your own setups. I know I need a bench grinder with at least 3/4 hp and 3500 rpm or more (correct if I'm wrong) and some polishing wheels. I'm still in the research stage on all this stuff. I'd also like to know what is reccomended for use on the initial sanding. I'd rather not do it by hand..lol Mainly what I'm after is some good specs on a grinder and polishing/sanding stuff.

4-choke......2-smoke

Look if you took a stock new Banshee and just rode it without mods... As long as you took decent care of it the thing would last longer than you own it for. Same goes for most 4-strokes. If you beat on it and don't do any maintenance or tuning it WIll break down on you eventually. The Banshees are simply high-preformance machines out of the box. Anything that performs like that has to be taken care of accordingly.

It's been a while since I've posted, but I'm still working on it. I might end up splitting my cases before the winter is over. Anyway I was wondering about my wrist pins. They were really hard to get out of the pistons. How hard should they be? The bike was stock though so they have been there since 2000. Also, the reason why I'm thinking about splitting the cases (other than it's never been done), is that the guy that owned it before me got it stuck in 2nd gear once. He said it wouldn't come out of that gear, but it would still run in 2nd. He said he finally said f#ck it one day and rode it over a jump in 2nd and it came loose. Never had a problem since other than it's a little tricky going from 2nd to 3rd under heavy load sometimes.

I run the Yamalube 10w-30. I tried the 10w-40 and a couple different Maximas. 10w-30 is definitely the way to go, anything thicker will cause clutch creep unless it's really hot where you ride. I never tried transmission fluid though. A lot of people say they run it with no problems, but if you don't change your fluid often I would say go with the Yamalube and don't worry about it. By hot I mean 100 degrees or more.

Okay so I finally got it tore down this weekend. I've been a little busy lately. I built a leakdown tester and did that fist. It failed miserably so I got out the soapy water and started hunting leaks. Come to find out the left reed cage was leaking almost all the way around where it seals to the carb boot so I siliconed that and kept doing the test until I plugged up all the leaks. When I got all the obvious leaks fixed the test passed with flying colors. I think it only lost like a pound in 20 minutes. So I'm pretty sure I'm good there because I'm probably going to get new reeds and cages anyway. Now the cylinders. The cylinders, pistons, and bearings all look really good for being stock. No scratches or anything like that. There was a little more play than I would've liked to see with the piston in the cylinder. Maybe like 1/16 of an inch back and forth when moving the piston from the top with my fingers. I'm not sure how much play is allowed here so I'm just kind of guessing at this point. There are also no visible cross hatches in the cylinders. The tops of both pistons have carbon buildup on them also. The bottom end feels tight with minimal play in the bearings. I did let a few little pieces of dirt/gasket material fall down in there, but it's not anything a shop vac won't take care of. This bike is stock as far as I can tell. I'm pretty sure the reed cages are stock, but I'm not sure what I'm looking at with the reeds so not sure on them. If I had to guess I'd say stock though. Right now I'm planning/hoping to go back with a fresh top end, vforce reeds, and maybe a cool head along with the fmf fatty/powercore2's I already have. I will definitely be taking any advice I can get on mods though.

I'm with you man. I'm not just trying to do something half-ass, but there are several reasons why I don't want to split the cases unless I have to. I'm not an expert in Banshees as you can probably tell so I'm trying to decide what all I need to do with the help of some people that know. You can't see what I see so in the end I've gotta decide and I want to do what's best because I plan on having this bike for a long time. I don't want this bike to be torn down for a long time either. I'd like to have it together and ready to rip before the end of August at the latest. This is a stock build as far as I know so the bearings in it are stock. Another problem is I don't really know what all I would need to buy to put the bottom end back together and I can't really afford to spend more than a few hundred bucks right now. When I started looking into this I had planned to do a top end rebuild and then tear the thing down this winter and really do it right so that's kind of where my mind is at this point. I just don't want to do something stupid or half-assed that will cause major problems later on. If I can't just do the top end and have it ready to last at least a couple years (it won't have to) then I don't want to do it that way. I have a Clymer manual too and they are good you are right about that.

Yeah I think that's what I will do, but I'm kind of scared to split the cases. I've just got this feeling that if I do I might not be able to get it back together, and if I do it will take me a year. It just sounds like a lot of work to me. I didn't overheat it I just got it hot from riding and it pushed some oil out the clutch actuator I'm sure that seal wasn't in great shape to begin with anyway. Does anyone else think I need to split the cases???

Anyone know whatever happened with this guy? I read his thread and now I'm interested cause I'm about the redo the clutch on my Banshee.

I just found out it's called the clutch actuator arm.

Okay so I took it out this weekend because I wanted to ride and I'm gonna start tearing it down this week. It ran about like it has been, stumbling a little through the midrange and being boggy from idle. It is also getting a little harder to start. It used to bust right off on the first kick whether it was cold or not. Now it takes a few kicks to get it started when cold. Hopefully the bearings in the bottom end are good and I won't have to split the cases, but I have a new problem. I got it hot Saturday, not overheating, just hot and trans oil started slowly bubbling up from the clutch shaft on top of the case under the left carb. The one that attaches to the clutch cable and actually disengages the clutch. I can see what looks like just a flat washer at the base of the shaft where it goes into the case that is loose, not extremely loose, just loose enough to turn. Anyway, I was wondering why trans oil would bubble up there when hot and how hard would it be to fix? I am probably gonna put a new clutch on the bike when I do the top end.

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How dark is the porcelin on the plugs supposed to be? Mine were like a real light tan when I checked after running is wot down the road and then killing it. The logical explanation is the jetting being off, but it ran good before and just recently started running like it is now. idk I'm thinking I need to at least take the carbs off to clean them and check what my jetting is, but I'm also thinking why not pull the jug while I'm at it. It did run better with the lid removed, but again the lid has always been on it before. It also didn't really seem to run right like it did when it was running good. I've got plans this weekend so I won't really even be able to mess with it till next week. If my pistons look good could I maybe get away with just rings or should I change the pistons anyway? I would think I'd need a bore at that point. Also before anyone asks I have checked and rechecked my gas I am definitely down to something being wrong with the bike.

I'm not afraid to do the top end, but I definitely don't want to do the bottom end right now. So you think I will need to have it bored no matter what??

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Any advise? How do my comp numbers look? I've been told that's on the low side and I should rebuild, but I've been reading threads on here where several people say that they have been running at 100-105 for years with no problems. My petcock started leaking a little bit a while back (while bike is sitting) I don't think that could have anything to do with my problem, but thought I'd bring it up anyway. Like I say I haven't touched it. I was thinking the carbs were trashed up, but wouldn't that cause a lean condition?? I am getting more of a rich condition with a little carbon buildup on my plugs. It definitely feels a bit boggy off idle too. Sorry for the long posts I'm just trying to get all the info out there so someone might be able to lend a little advice. Also...any good solutions for the leaking petcock..those things are difficult to find I am learning.

I'm looking into rebuilding it, but haven't tore into it. I'm wondering what the chances are of not needing to touch the cylinders. Would it be possible for me to get away with just a set of pistons and rings? What are some things I should look for when tearing into it?

stock, stock, and it's jetted for fmf fattys with powercore 2's has ran good on this setup before

I need a little advice on the tuning of my Banshee. I haven't touched it yet, and am trying to decide whether or not I should. It has been running rich and the plugs are steadily coming up with carbon buildup. I change them every time I ride so this is a persistent condition. It also stumbles just a little through the mid range (seems more to the boggy side than if it was a lean condition). Okay, so I know my compression is low (105 both sides), but I don't want to tear into it for a little while because I still want to ride for a few more weeks. What I'm wondering is if there is anything I can do tuning wise to smooth it out just until I can tear into it. The guy at the dealership told me it probably wasn't getting a good burn because of the compression. I just took it out in front of my house with the airbox lid removed just to see how it ran. It cleaned up the midrange and felt good on top with the bottom end about the same. I ran it wot for a block and then killed it and pulled the plugs. They looked great, light tan just like they're supposed to. I don't want to burn it up though so I'm afraid to run it like this. Any advise...what should I do??