Sorry for the lack of pics of the head after tigging and planing, but there's some eye candy to go with the winging.
Does it look like this? Anyway, I don't like the lower surface of the head. This is how mine looked like after more than 8k miles:
Fortunately, I am only missing 1/3rd of one side of the slot. So it is still working. As for the head, I should have clarified that the picture is teh "before" picture. After TIGing and planing it looks like yours does (well a bit shinier).
Note that whatever is going on with the head it appears that there has been localised heating and coolant boiling at many points on the exhaust side. You can see a tiny bit of it on the shot with the piston and cylinder. It is a bit of a mystery. As a side note, the place that fixed my cylinder head voluntarily opened up the coolant port on the exhaust side to increase flow. The coolant port was quite small.
Mine worked with an only side of the slot; I fixed it (making the missing piece being welded) only for prudence sake: So, remember to align the pump shaft with the crankshaft every time you install the right crankcase cover. Anyway, I'm really sorry for you, because although you tried hard to find out what's wrong, the bike doesn't start; it must be frustrating.
Great news! Put the flywheel back on, after verifying the woodruff key was intact in and in good condition, oil back in, buttoned up. Took it outside and tried to fire it up several times and no go. So down to a steep hill and after a couple of bump attempts it fired up! Rough running, but hey, running none the less! Wooohooo. However the valves sound really clattery. Not sure if this is normal, but I will be re-checking the clearances again to make sure that nothing has changed. I will likely double check the torque on the head buts as well. Also, it doesn't idle at all and runs a bit rough. Small steps, small steps.
More of the same... top end noise and the bike won't start without full throttle. I definitely need to reset the TPS and get it back to some semblance of working. So taking it to the shop for real this time, sick of taking it apart and finding nothing up. Maybe I will summarize everything that has gone on in one of these posts as there is such a long winding history and at this point I have touched most everything on the bike (suspenders and brakes excepting).
So glory of glories, now that KTM corporate has come in the local dealer is no longer a dealer. Here I am stuck wiht a lump of crap that doesn't run right. Bike only starts by bumping or by holding the throttle wide open. Is there something that I could have changed in taking the throttle cables off (I tried from the throttle body side first) that would cause these symptoms?
