yeah its mm, made sure the one i used had slight pressure on it and it was close enough that the next size up wouldn't fit so it should be pretty spot on.

 

ran it to a local shop this morning, had it fixed up in a half hour since i still had the plastics off.

Readjusted the valves, said i probably made the common mistake of setting them in the area he referred to as "tdc overlap" instead of true dead on tdc.

 

That is what I meant by "he may just have set the valves on the wrong stroke," I thought you would know to check at TDC on the compression stroke.

 

from what i was told if i understood him correct 1 valve closes a little sooner than the other and i came up just short. 1 was good but the other was just a hair loose which is why after i adjusted them i cut the noise down by 75% but still had a lingering tick.

Either way i'll call it $60 well spent for the couple of things i had done plus the peace of mind getting an old school mechanics stamp of approval on my used purchase. Took it to an old mom and pop shop about 45 minutes away in my home town that has been around since I was a kid. I was told the valves/cam show almost 0 signs of wear and the motor internals are in beautiful shape so i call the day a win and well worth the drive to get it there vs a few dealerships that are a lot closer.

 

No, what TDC overlap means is the top dead centre where the valves are overlapping (both slightly open). You have to set the valves on the next TDC, at the end of the compression stroke, where both valves are closed and well "off the cam."

 

Maybe just me but people get to concerned over engine strokes in setting valves. Remove the spark plug.Remove the valve cover or valve caps and slowly turn the flywheel over while looking at the intake rocker arm only. When the rocker arm goes down and starts to come slowly back up,look for the tdc mark on the flywheel. Stop there.Both valves will be closed and valve check/adjustment can then be done.

 

I thought i had done that, 1st time to mess with valves on an ATV and i was a bit off, i'll know different next time. The process at least on the Kawasaki was alot simpler than i expected and went smoothly other than me setting it up in the wrong spot.