Valve covers on the cylinder? On a two stroke? What am I missing? The only valve covers we had on our two strokes were VALVE STEM covers on the tubes! And the only time I mess with reeds on my thumper is after a dip in the pond, too...HA!

It's been quite a while, but I know we didn't disassemble anything intricate. Seems like we pulled the pipe off, and removed the cover off of the resonator chamber. That gave us access to the upper portion of the power valve. My son said he believes the lower portion is driven somehow off the water pump gears? Anyway, we sprayed the hell out of it with B-12, wiped down everything we could reach, and started over with it back together.

I'm no mechanic for sure, but that little fix worked out. The manual is always a good idea to have around, if you spin your own wrenches.

Good luck, whichever way you go with it.