Stator timming

When I got my Kdx200 (also an '89), I had to put it together. The whole bottom end was torn appart and in a big box, so needless to say I had to set the timming. I set it in the middle one first, and started it and rode it around the driveway (without side cover). Then I set it to the forward one, and rode it around, it seemed to have a little more bottom end* this way. Lastly I put it in the back one, this one had a little more top end*. I liked it this way the most and left it that way.

* This is going by my seat-of-the-pants dyno.

The 'middle' is where you would find most bikes 'out-of-the-box'.

Moving the stator ring CW advances timing, CCW retards timing.

Mr. Gorr has said (a rough paraphrase)..you're more likely to damage your bike with a dose of advance timing than gain any substantial benefit. Also that many bikes (note that's not a blanket statement) can benefit from retarded timing.

You can check out some of his 'white papers' on the his website.

Using the whole mark as an increment is probably too much in any case. That's going to be on the order of 4-5º (depending on the diameter of your ring).

A 2-stroke running too much advance timing can get stuck pretty darn quick!! Correct timing can be diagnosed from the appearance of the center electrode on a spark plug.