I just had the KIPS apart on my 89 KX250, and it was very straight forward and easy to disassemble/reassemble. I also had lots of pictures/drawings of what went where and a service manual, and a Kawasaki Race setup manual, and my buddy Randy, who is the shop foreman of Carrolton KX. But, other than those refferance sources, it was easy .
The KIPS valves would go in about 3 diffrent ways, but only worked properly one way, so it wasn't to hard to figure out.

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.

they must have been referring to the power valve cover?

looks like my buddy will be getting a manual soon! thanks again for all the replys

Sorry Tom...

I guess I wasn't clear...one of the covers is as you say, a resonator cover, and the other is on the front of the cylinder above the pipe. I guess it is a power valve cover not a valve cover in the standard sense.


Chuck

I shoulda thrown a little smiley face on there, Chucky...it was all in gest. With all the discussions lately about 2 stroke vs. 4 stroke, I thought I'd try to spin a little humor into the mix.

Tomo,

Trust me...no offense was taken and I know none was intended!.

Ride on,
Chuck

The part that involves the tuning spring is at neither of the locations mentioned- it is in the crankcase behind the water pump (driven on the same shaft). Since the pump is in it's own "capsule" in the clutch-side case, the case can be removed without draining coolant or molesting the pump/ seals in any way.

The KIPS valve is actually quite simple in it's operation (though it involves the coordination of many parts):

It all starts at the crank (more or less)- there is a spring tensioned centrifugal governor (or a centrifugal clutch if you will) that is put into motion by the spinning shaft upon which it is mounted (in this case the water pump shaft), dependent on RPM. At low RPM, the governor is disengaged and thus so is the power valve (which means it is operationally closed).

As the RPM climb, the governor "bites" (very similar to engagement of any clutch) and this drives the shaft which extends from the crankcase to the primary pinion of the KIPS valve on the RH side of the cylinder (under the plastic cover), pulling it out as the valves open. This pin has gear teeth and as it is pulled out, it actuates the network of gears/ valves to open. Now, this is all from memory so I may SLIGHTLY wrong on a few of the finer points...

As I recall there are three main valves- one in the central exhaust port which rolls clockwise or counterclockwise to open the exhaust port to "full round" (it is semi-round when closed). The other two are in secondary exhaust ports and rotate on a vertical axis to open these ports (I believe they are fully "shut" when valves are closed).

The cover on the LH side of the cylinder in the resonating chamber (and yes, as Tominator pointed out, you can spray carb cleaner in there to loosen "sticky" KIPS gears- though this is only a "timebuyer"- you still should dissamble and clean all the gears, rods, and valves a couple of times a year.). It's not unusual for gears and rods to break under the pressure of being bound in place by gook.

The little cover on the front of the cylinder (above the pipe spigot) is actually a bushing that holds the central valve/ gear in place.

The KIPS valve is perhaps one of the most overlooked items in Kawi maintenance, especially in the KDX models. The downside to this is there are probably THOUSANDS of people out there riding with valves that don't work properly and probably don't know the difference they are missing. KIPS valve operation is KEY to performance, moreso than just about anything else on these bikes.