Sorry, that should read "2004"....same engine as the '96...
Anyway, as I was looking at the design, I could only imagine that the spring preload on the detent ball was there to hold the valve shut, or add some resistance to the mechanism activation as RPM's began to rise and the balls in the actuator began to be thrown outwards.
The posts that refered to this mod were a bit vague as to the actual impact on the powerband. On my '96 (Jetted, FMF "woods" pipe, TCII silencer, RAD valve) I would experience a slight but annoying flattening of the power at upper mid rpm, just before the killer top end hit came into play. My gut feeling was that this was related to the valve opening just a bit late, and I was wondering if anybody had experienced this and attempted to remedy it with this ball/spring removal.
My '04 has a long way to go as it still has the stock exhaust system and reed cage in place.