03blkbanshee

Redline is recommending either the Noss or Matoon head. Both look very nice. I am leaning towards the Noss one mainly because it is a 2-piece and has a little more cooling capacity. Does anyone here have experience with either of these? Any advice as to which is better? Not worried about the 2-piece having more o-rings and therefore taking another 5-10 mins to put together. Also, my water pump and radiator both look horribly nasty. Water pump is being replaced and am looking into an aluminum radiator.

Not sure I want to know what that means, but he does seem very intelligent. I am one of these guys that says whatever people are into or do behind closed doors is their own business...lol.

Thats really good to hear. He does seem to really know his way around a banshee for sure. He is the one that recommended the above mentioned. A bit confused as to what this motor is going to end up being, but am trying to use his advice as much as possible. He is actually recommending the billet head, which I may go that route.

After fighting my banshee for a couple of months, I finally realized that I was dealing with a tired out engine. I am doing a full rebuild. I am not really racing it and dont really need tons of power. That being said I figured a full 4mil banshee would probably have more power than I would need. I will probably be doing a mix of trail riding and sand dunes. I decided to have Redline Racing do the machine work. After taking some of the advice given to me, I am doing the following: 4mm dune port cylinder bore Wiseco 795 pistons Either a Billet head or Pro Design head (undecided which will be better) Opinions on this would be great Timing Plate 4mm crank with extra weld and better bearing Clutch kit with pancake Shift mods Shift pin and spring The above is actually the wording that Redline Racing is using on the invoice. I think I want to do either vforce or boysen reeds (undecided on that as well to which is the better one). Will be inspecting all tranny gears etc. Will be doing entire bottom end kit so all new seals etc. Really just looking for opinions on what people think I should do. The people at Redline Racing seem to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful. They appear to do tons of work on banshees specifically. I think they were a good choice and they were somewhat local. Any opinions or advice will be much appretiated...thanks

ok...got it. I cant wait to see what this is going to cost...lol. But oh well, if it gives me a reliable, strong engine for several years then it is all worth it to me. Need to be able to at least keep up with my wife's Raptor...haha

Are you talking about port/polishing the head? I was thinking about putting a "coolhead" on it.

I was definitely thinking of doing wiseco pistons. Will get them bored. I think I can do it myself especially with the help of STB's videos. I have built engines before, just not 2 strokes. The engine is on my workbench now and am definitely going to do the bottom end. It will get new seals whether they are good or not. I want this thing reliable and fun with hopefully no probs for awhile. Now is a good time to do it because the weather here sucks anyway.

The kit that I was looking at on ebay is priced at $330.00 and comes with the entire top end with the exception of the head. It says its from A Z Quad Parts. Is this a china company?

Are the cylinder kits on eBay just cheap china imitations? Is that what you are saying? Getting new pistons and cylinders seemed like a logical and good idea. Is that the most common workflow then? Take these down to a machine shop or race shop that knows these engines and just have these bored to the next size and just buy the pistons and rings from them? Just out of curiosity, how do I know if these cylinders that I have now are genuine yamaha or china garbage? Are they stamped somewhere?

I was thinking of getting a top end kit with stock cylinders and wiesco pistons and get a "cool head"...that may change but that is just what my priginal thought was.

Thats precisely what I was thinking. Does anyone here know of a reputable company or reputable brands for these rebuild kits? I was sort of leaning towards getting a complete top end kit which basically has everything except for the head. Was thinking of going with a "cool head" for the head. I am seeing some full top end kits for around $300.00 or so, but those are off ebay. I dont have much experience with ebay to formulate an opinion...maybe that doesnt even matter. I am guessing there is another forum on here that is better suited for these type of questions.

Yep. But I am one of these people that figure I am going this far I might as well especially since I have no idea what shape they are in or how old they really are. I doubt I would be looking at too much extra money, some of course. STB has an excellent vid on that entire process as well.

Planning on rebuilding this motor. Hoping to have her back together and running in a month or so. Right cylinder comes out at 98 and left is about 108. Definetely doing the top end. I may at least do new crank seals while I have it all apart since I know they go bad and Im guessing they arent far from going (if they arent already).

I just checked my right cylinder compression. Will have to do the other one tomorrow and make sure I am actually getting the fittings screwed down all the way so the o-rings are sealing. Going to just remove the tank tomorrow. Need to remove tank anyway to install my new wiring harness. That cylinder is only at 98. So I should have 120-130 with stock motor? My elevation here is about 200 ft.

Thanks for the info. That helps. I am also talking to South Texas Banshee. The shop told me that I had "really good" compression. But he said one cylinder was at 100 and the other was at 95. The info I am getting online says that isnt very good at all. Most people are saying stock should be much closer to 140ish. Could this be my problem? Am I in for a top end rebuiild? The shop did recommend going to a 32.5 pilot. I am going down today to get a compression tester and check it myself and do it exactly the STB does it and see what it says. WHo knows, maybe they didnt kick it enough to get an accurate reading.

I didn't take anything you said as an insult. You are 100% correct. I am trying to learn the ropes so to speak on these 2 strokers. I appreciate your insight. I did the starter fluid thing earlier. Sprayed pretty much everywhere and there was no change in idle what-so-ever. I know that isn't as good as a leak down test, and plan to do that soon. I did go ride it a bit today though. I just rode up and down the street here in my neighborhood. It is actually running really good with the exception of that first 1/8 or so throttle. If you just rev it a little bit she will take off fairly good. It still isn't right and I do want to track down the problem so that it actually runs like it is supposed to. But it definitely is a ton better than it was.

I got some starting fluid and will try to get out there today and try that. I need to see how to make a leak down tester. I was watching STB vid on leak down testing and yeah the parts on his look pretty simple. I have been subscribed to his you tube channel for awhile now and am also on his facebook group. He seems to be one smart cookie when it comes to these banshees. But then again, so are a lot of the members here. Well even though I agree with you 100%, they did get it running a ton better than it was. They also tested a bunch of stuff including the compression test (assuming they arent lying). But yes, I DO need to learn how to diagnose and work on this myself. I have this forum which seems to be loaded with knowledgeable and helpful people and am subscribed to a few good YouTube channels including South Texas Banshee.

UPDATE...I just got my banshee back from the shop (they had it for almost 2-1/2 weeks and I told them I was picking it up by Friday fixed or not). It runs better now, but still has problems with low throttle. They are saying that they think the carbs have a small internal air leak (atleast one of them). They tried to even it out by bringing the floats up as much as they could. He is saying that I either need to do a new set of carbs or maybe go with a richer toomey needle and increase the pilot from 30 to 32.5. These carbs are stock and this thing did sit for about 3 years from previous owner. Is it possible that these really do have an internal air leak? Is that common on these if they sit for a long time? He also says he has the air mixture screw in alot more than normal. I am planning on taking it out somewhere to see if it is going to be rideable or not. He says it is rideable. I rode it up the street here in my neighborhood and it does ok. Once you get the rps up a bit she does very well. Just that low throttle area.

Thanks for your message. That is VERY good advice, and I am definitely taking it. Yes I ran out of patience, which is why I took it to the shop. I will call them tomorrow. I am usually pretty mechanically inclined, but am definitely on a learning curve with these...but will get there. I appreciate your offer to help, and might just take you up on it. Will keep you posted. Should have my new wire harness on the 3rd, which may or may not fix the problem but not a bad way to go either way. Thanks again.

I honestly don't know what I should do. I don't really think the shop is actually working on it. They don't know what is wrong with it. I am tempted to pull the plug and demand that they give it back to me so I can try and figure it out myself. They have had it for 2 weeks now and have accomplished nothing. My patience is completely gone. He uses the words "we will eventually figure it out" and "sometimes these things take awhile to figure out". This is sounding like it is going to sit in the corner of his shop until they just happen to have a brainstorm and figure it out. The whose thing has beyond frustrated me...

I paid $125.00 for this one. It 2002 - 2006 banshees. Everybody that has bought these have nothing but awesome things to say about STB. Yeah the mechanic keeps saying that I have a very unique problem, unfortunately. He says coil is good, he hasnt said anything about the stator. I will ask him if he has checked that though. What do these do when the stator goes bad? If it were bad would the coil still be able to provide power for the plugs? I hope it is the wiring since thats already bought and paid for...lol.

Well...shop has had banshee for almost 2 weeks now and it still isn't fixed. They went through the carbs, did an ultrasonic blast on them. They have gone up and down on both the pilot and main jets, but still does the same thing. Runs awesome until you put it into 1st gear and start letting out the clutch...then just bogs out and dies. They say if you mash the throttle upon take off she will go just fine. So it is just that very 1st part of the throttle that doesn't want to work. They are now thinking it may be an electrical problem of some sort. They did a compression test and that came out good. They put new plugs and caps on as well. They tested the coil and it seems to be working fine. They are currently going through all the wiring seeing if there is a problem there. Not sure what else it can be? These things don't have that much that make them tick! Hoping they get this figured out as I want my banshee back!! Oh yeah and I just ordered a new wiring harness from STB with NO TORS or parking brake. I am hoping that will fix it. Even if that isnt the problem it will be good to have no TORS or parking brake wiring plus all brand new wires and connectors.

Well...shop has had banshee for almost 2 weeks now and it still isn't fixed. They went through the carbs, did an ultrasonic blast on them. They have gone up and down on both the pilot and main jets, but still does the same thing. Runs awesome until you put it into 1st gear and start letting out the clutch...then just bogs out and dies. They say if you mash the throttle upon take off she will go just fine. So it is just that very 1st part of the throttle that doesn't want to work. They are now thinking it may be an electrical problem of some sort. They did a compression test and that came out good. They put new plugs and caps on as well. They tested the coil and it seems to be working fine. They are currently going through all the wiring seeing if there is a problem there. Not sure what else it can be? These things don't have that much that make them tick! Hoping they get this figured out as I want my banshee back!!

TORS was deleted by previous owner. Parking brake has been unplugged via the connector under the fuel tank. I am considering one of "South Texas Banshees" wire harnesses which has the tors and parking brake wiring eliminated. I finally gave up and took the banshee to the bike shop. They are supposed to go through it and let me know what is going on with it. Will reply to this when I hear back from them. Hoping that will be today or tomorrow...fingers crossed.

not sure if it was spitting unburnt fuel or not really...was outside with it with helmet on and wasnt paying attention really.