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View Full Version : Buddy smoked his Banshee today



IcutMetl
11-13-2009, 08:04 PM
My buddy and I were out riding today after the farmers cut down their cornfields. Some wild riding in that nasty stubble, but still a lot of fun cresting some of the rolling hills going warp speed. Well I was giving that 'shee all kinds of fits in long drag races. From a dead stop, I would always get the jump on him and stay out front if I stayed on it hard. If he was in front of me and on the gas, I could stay right with him, but baaaarely reel him in if at all. His only mods are an open airbox, and a DMC 916 exhaust. That thing f'in rips, and my buddy is a good rider; more aggressive than I am. I have a .060 overbore, mid-porting, bored 38 a/s, rad valve, FMF fatty, EHS airbox lid, 195-200psi compression on a 50/50 mix of 110 and 93. Both are stock gearing and run 40:1 super techniplate, engine ice in the radiators. He has razr's, I have razr2's.

I was pretty surprised...my 'R was really making that Banshee sweat. When I ride it, it's a blast...and it feels like it makes meatier power, but mine just feels so much lighter, hooks up better, and the power feels a lot more spread out- to me. I know I've got a little motor work, but for 100cc+/- less and a 12 year older 'wheeler...I'm impressed.

Well, we were on them pretty hard. I was wringing the piss out of mine, and so was he. 4-th and 5th when I could pull it, mostly pinned. I was following him, and we slowed down all of a sudden- he says "shut off your engine"...I stalled mine, and his was making a horribly bad noise; hard to tell where from. Immediately shut it down, doubled on my 'R back to get the truck. It will still kick over, but feels like it has very little to no compression and definitely has a different sound thru the pipe when kicked over. Hopefully it's just in the top end and it turns out to be a pistons/rings/gaskets/bore-hone/port job. I'm throwing out a wild guess that it was a lean condition on the main jets, but of course very hard to tell right now. I do know his pipes were so hot, spit wouldn't even sizzle.

The pisser is that when it's put back together with nice new pistons, maybe a little higher compression, and some mild porting...I have no doubt I'll be sucking dust again. Ahh well...it was fun while it lasted!!

atv fan 28
11-13-2009, 08:19 PM
i would still take the R over the banshee even though if it will be faster. you cant beat the handling of a good ole R!!

IcutMetl
11-13-2009, 08:31 PM
Yea man...this is my first 'R, and it didn't take me long at all to figure out what the hype was about. They really are that good. Power and control, in a great package.

My buddy has always been more of a Yamaha guy, and myself a Honda...no real reason, and each one has respect for the other- I've owned other brands of other machines with no complaints, but Honda's always treat me the best personally. I certainly wouldn't mind having that ZX10 back, though...

IcutMetl
11-17-2009, 07:21 PM
Took his motor out and dug into it a little bit. Worse than we thought.

The first thing I noticed was that the right spark plug was finger-loose, and had deposits burned on it...I thought, well we know what cylinder is bad! Got some deposits and small chunks that shook out of the right pipe. Took off the head; sure enough- some pitting on right dome only, but saveable if wanted. Right piston looks nasty on top, both sleeves are ok, but need bore/hone. I thought, well this isn't so bad- bore and a hone and we're there! Spoke too soon- took off the jugs, and the right piston is much looser on the pin bearing, but looser than a Korean hooker on nickle night on the rod bearing. I mean real loose; shake the rod assembly up and down loose!

So basically, it just turned from being a relatively easy top end fix & upgrade to a who knows how much deal. I'm not counting on that rod journal to be in good shape. It's a total teardown and inspection now. I told my buddy it's time to round up a service manual, sell all those extra parts, and get ready to spend some money. Time to put some fresh juice in the solvent tank...