It's too bad I didn't take many good pictures before we pulled the engine from the bike. I used a crappy old camera that I take with me to the desert, I shoulda known it takes crappy pictures, so I took new ones with the SLR.

I was basically in denial that this was necessary, we started by draining the engine of fluids then pulling off covers to reveal clutch and water pump. After realizing that the issue may be deeper in the engine, I finally agreed that the engine needed to come out (Daryl was right...).

Here's the engine out of the bike..

Left side of engine. (stator, shift lever and main drive)











View from rear of engine (intakes)












View from front of engine (engine head, exhaust at lower of pic, balancer tube at top)











Right side of engine. Clutch in center, pressure plate and friction plates removed.











Top-from rear of engine. (Clutch cable connector)

Last trip out to the desert left my Banshee with a busted clutch, tranny, or shifter...no idea which at this point. So it's time to tear it down and rebuild *something* before the season.

I've never torn down my bike or any other bike, so I have very little clue what I am doing. But hopefully the help of my buddy Daryl will make this go smoothly.

Some useful links I will likely be referencing throughout the rebuild.

• Decent walkthrough of an engine rebuild
• PDF of Service Manual
• Exploded Views of Parts
• Yamaha Online Parts Viewer
• Yamaha Owners Manual

I'll post pictures of the pains and progress. Target date to complete is Thanksgiving weekend for the first trip to the dunes.