yup to TDC, and the service manual says .08 - .13mm for valve clearence

I didnt figure it would cause the smoke but thought i'd throw it out there...

Darren

Thanks for the tip Boofer, I have a West Marine store just down the road so i stoped in and picked up a can of Quicksilver Engine Power Tune. According to the can it disolves all gum varnish and carbon out of the combustion chamber. sprayed it in the plug hole while at TDC and it foams up to coat the cylinder. Fingers crossed it might work....
if not at least i should have a clean cylinder..lol

Darren

Having the same problem myself. My bike only has a few miles over 4k on it. It is a 98 however so perhaps it sat and the seals got brittle. I put some sea foam in the crankcase to see if it would help free up the rings which I believe it did. Before it smoked constantly now only at start up so the rings are set but I believe the seals are shot. Better the seals than valve guides though. I am a mechanic so wrenching on it is no problem for me. I plan on doing a re-ring and valve seal job soon along with a verslagy cam chain tensioner. While the head is off I plan on getting the valves to seat perfectly if they aren't already and porting and polishing them a bit too. Nothing too radical just cleaning up the bowls and chamber of any casting marks and smoothing out the exhaust port.