I figured I might as well dredge up this old thread instead of starting a new one, as it already has a useful block of information...
In my ongoing saga of pulling a 95 KDX from the grave (a $800 craigs list special that is now approaching $2000), I have the motor rebuild done and just buttoned it back up last weekend, which lead me to some questions about the KIPS valve shaft alignment.
Question 1: If the manual warned about supporting the shaft with a wrench, I totally missed it. So of course I over rotated the stupid thing. Not being a complete idiot, I was already suspicious of the whole flexy mess, and was not applying much torque. After I felt it "pop" a little, I stopped and just pulled off the right side engine cover. The post had popped out of the little springy advancer assembly, but I stopped before wrenching it against the case (the next thing it hits). The post shows some visible grooving from time, but is still 99% intact. The allen screws are still tight, the shaft does not appear bent or twisted, everything looks fine. I'm assuming that the damage comes when you don't stop and dismantle after the first "snap" when it pops out of that spring loaded collar, so I am assuming I didn't damage anything. Tell me if I am nuts.
Question 2: If there is an alignment procedure for that top gear when puttting the side cover back on, I can't find it in the manual (not the first time something has been there and I have missed it). I see a dot by one of the teeth in that little claw that engages the kips gear, and the whole overall range of play looks perfectly reasonable. I engaged that gear with the KIPS valve "closed" (blocking as much of the exhaust port as possible) and it looks like rotating the claw will cause the port to open completely about the time it gets to the other end of the teeth. So everything looks plausible, but they do have that dot on there, and I suppose it is supposed to line up with something... but what? Is it a precision deal, or just "the dot should be where the first tooth touches the gear" type deal? Any pictures?
Thanks!