boonman

This is the proper way to get any taper locked stud out. You have to "shock" the taper and make it "push" the stud out. Wacking the stud with the nut on it will damage some of them. The nut is softer than the threads, which can let it get damaged. You can whack the side of the knuckle and not damage a thing. Works every time.

Put your reeds back in, and kick the hell out of it without spark plugs. It shouldn't spit out of the carb throat, it should come out of the spark plugs.

Use Yamabond on the case mating surfaces and I use ATF fluid on the gears before I assemble it completely. Use a GOOD torque wrench. The bolts don't take much before the break.

Does the spacer protrude out of the dust seals? The bolt should tighten down on the spacer, so that it does not crush anything.

First off, I would pull the carbs off and clean them, so you can be sure to eliminate that problem. You mentioned that you just got the bike? The pilots are very easy to clog. And then, the bike receives no fuel on the idle circuit. To adjust the slides, I am assuming you have the TORS removal kit, because you said "twist the throttle". In order to have a twist throttle, you have to have the kit. So, on the top of the carb, there should be adjusters where the cable comes in. Open the throttle, and look into the little windows on the sides of the carbs. You will see an indentation on the carb that should show through the window(s) at almost WOT. Adjust those adjusters untill both slides are in the same spot on either carb. Then, you can adjust your idle with the idle screws. These are the ones with the locknuts on them, located on the side of the carb.

I am assuming that the machine wasn't running right before you messed with it, otherwise, there would be no need to mess with it. Right? Anyways, it sounds like you have something clogging up your jets. Or, perhaps your mixture screws aren't set right. These are the screws that do NOT have the locknuts on them. Screw them in untill they are seated. Do not tighten them, just untill they stop. Then, count the # of turns as you back them out and go 1 1/2 turns out from seated, and see how it runs. If it still runs like garbage, you will need to pull the carbs off and clean them. They may be dirty. if nothing else, you will will then be able to see what jets you are running. Edit, be sure the slides are in the proper carb. If you pulled them out, they could go in backwards. The cutaway on the bottom of the slides has to face the rear of the carb.

Your jetting likely wasn't off, BUT, it could have contributed to the problem, and made it a little worse. You had a detonation problem. A hole in the piston is 95% of the time a detonation problem. As mentioned, thejetting being a little lean could have contributed a little, and heated things up a bit quicker, but a hole in the piston is from detonation. Every one I have seen. And every one I have known about. It could have been from bad fuel, a timing issue, or a bad squish. On a fresh rebuild, there is a couple things to do before the motor is fired. One is a squish test, which can be done with solder. Another thing is a leakdown test. To make sure there is no air leaks. After this is checked, heat cycle the motor. I have had motors burn up during break in from not checking the squish. It's a must.

Your carb could have been leaking fuel into the cylinder causing it to load up on that side. Or, one of the reeds could be cracked. How does the plug look on that side? Try pulling the plug out, and kicking it over with the kill switch off to prevent fire. Whilst kicking it over, check to see what is coming out of the empty spark plug hole. If the carb has been leaking, it will be shooting fuel out. If your reed is cracked, it will still be shooting out fuel, but while the bike is running, you will have no power in the mid range-top end, and it won't idle. Now, if the crank seal is shot, the exhaust will SMOKE like none other. It will smell like used gear oil, only worse. This reply is hard to follow, but it's early in the morning, and I haven't had any coffee yet...

I have a custom stem, (+3) and it hit the tank. I also have an attachment thsat moves the bars forward 2". I heated up the tank, and re-formed the top section so that the steering would clear. It worked. And I also did the boiling water trick to get a few extra tenths of fuel into it..... FYI, boiling water trick is pouring boiling water in the tank. Fill it up. I mean boiling hot, right off the stove. And then pressurize the tank with a little air.... It expands the tank, and then just let it cool, and presto, you have a little extra capacity....

I cut mine and I wouldn't go back...

Use a.500" end mill, and center it on the neutral detent. Every star is different, and I don't know how you'll clamp it. I put them in a vice on the mill, and go about .740" off the back jaw. It gets me to a good starting point. I usually have ot move it a few thousandths either way to get it centered. From the top of the star, (while it's laying flat) cut down about .210-.220", and cut into the star about .065". That should put you about where you need to be. If you don't know what I'm talking about, have no idea about machining things, and don't have a vertical mill with carbide tooling, than don't even attempt it. It will be a waste of time doing it, and a waste of time going to the dealer to get a new one...

Chalk another one up for XM from me. I have a Pioneer tuner hooked via IP Bus to my Pioneer Head Unit. The sound quality is amazing!! My wife has the Roady two, and the sound is not soo good. It echos a little, and has a slight humming sound to it. I think that's mostly from the FM modulation. You can get a PIE unit to attach any source you want to most any factory stereo. I imagine the sound would be much better that way. I have a Terk Marine antenna attached to th backrack on my truck. The reception with this antenna is unreal. No cutouts, unless I got into a tunnel. Or park under a bridge... Just driving under one doesn't bother it.... O&A I listen to quite a bit. But mostly the music I listen to. Seems XM takes the cake unless you like Stern. I have listened to Sirius, and the music stations don't seem to have it together. It is like listening to FM. It just sucks....

I don't remember what the offset was when I did mine, however, it depends on where you measure it from too. I machined alot of material out of mine.

Craigs list is comical. It hasn't made it to our area yet, but it will. And when it does, I will be there!!!

When you smoke the top end, you usually have one of two things happen. You either blow a hole in the piston, or you melt the piston, near the exhaust port, and it smears aluminum all down the cylinder wall and all over the piston. When you blow a hole in the piston, it is due to detonation. 99% of the time. This can be due to tooooo much advance, too much compression, and not enough octane to combat the problem. With the melting on the exhaust side of the piston, now that would be due to a lean condition. Sounds like you didn't have enough octane for your mods. Or, some slightly old fuel. It all depends..... Compression reading won't mean a whole lot, the squish will tell you more. You can run pump fuel through a motor with 175 PSI with the right squish, or a motor with 140 PSI and the wrong squish and you will blow that mutha sky high!!

You can get one at the dealer relatively cheap, or I can get you a brand new modded one for cheap.... Or, I would send the envelope to sandeemon. Can't beat free!!

I prefer climbing hills with the shorter arm. You get more traction, and with the lightened flywheel, you have all the throttle response you need to feather it up to the top..... Anyways, shortening it, be sure you center the new housing in the swingarm, and make sure you remove the material evenly, or if you don't, clamp it before you weld/tack it together and make sure the measurement from the swingarm pivot to the new housing is the same on both sides, or else your bike will pull to one side or the other forever...... Do it right the first time. I put my swingarm on a milling machine to remove the material. I shortened it by 2.5 inches. It really works nice.....

If you don't run loaded caps, you have to run "R" style plugs. You see, the factory caps have a resistor in them. WHich eliminates interference so the CDI doesn't get screwed up. Also, be careful about taking the wires off. The studs inside the coil are not very strong. Also, you won't be able to get very thick wires in there. There just isn't much room. I suppose you could strip the insulation back a little though. Just be careful if you aren't runing loaded caps.....

It should take you about an hour. Try to be careful with the clutch cover gasket. If you can avoid tearing it, and keep it in good shape, you won't need a new one. On another note, I also carry the modded stars, in stock. Alot of other shops do as well.

I live about 20 minutes from Niagara Falls. Wish I had checked up in here sooner. I could have showed you some more "pleasureable" spots in Canada. The falls is fun. Canada is where the party is at. The U.S. side shuts down and is riddled with crime from about 9:00 P.M. on into the night. Pitiful. Looks like you had a fun trip. Next time, be discreet about the camera....

I run Tag T2, CR-lo bend bars on a raised stem. +3" stem. I love it.

Did you pull the head to be sure? What is the compression? Try kicking it over with the radiator cap off. If you get a faceful of coolant, you know you slipped an o-ring. You could have sucked a crank seal, but it would be really smoky out of the right pipe, and smell like you were grilling month old gym socks.....

Did you use fresh gaskets? I would od a leakdown to be sure.

From the factory, it is a B8ES. Reason why, is that the Banshee has what is called "loaded" caps. The loaded cap refers to the spark plug cap being loaded with a resistor. This is the same thing that is in a BR8ES plug. If you switched your plug caps, (they are known to go bad) and you didn't replace them with loaded caps, you NEED to run an "R" style plug. Otherwise, you will damage the CDI from the back and forth run of electrical currents in the system. Running loaded caps and an "R" style plug isn't a problem either. Just a little extra insurance that nothing will happen. For the minimal extra cost, I don't htink it is worth not having an R plug. I run one set of plugs per season. I don't have any problem fouling them. I don't remember the last time I fouled a plug. But, that is the mystery behind the resistor plug, and why it is/isn't needed on a banshee. If you have stock caps, don't worry. If you don't, you better worry.