P+P, thanks for pointers man, i will start the mini tear down thursday night after work since my pismo plans got cancelled ( no baby sitter

) . ill be searching the tech for how to's on this stuff and im sure ill have a bunch of questions.
TJC510 good catch man, ill get a flap on the box asap, are those things pretty universal or do i need a specific flap for the 500? about the choke.. i started it without the choke this morning.. who knows why the hell it started but i completly spaced on the fact that it has a choke, my ninja was injected without a choke so i guess ive become spoiled ( carbs.. what the hell are those??) man do i feel like a total newb

, it warmed up and still woudlnt idle so who knows, hopefully ill find something when i do the tear down
Bob, you and TJC510 have eagle eyes, should that lower pipe mount just bend back in place or am i going to need to do some welding? i wonder if the pipe sitting like that is partially to blame for the exhaust leak ( i cant hear it but, smoke come up from there)
this is the best 500 site hands down. i skated on the rules with the other site because i technically had a 500 ( in a million pieces) but now that i have one i see no need to frequent that board, its s tight knit group of guys here and i respect the willingness to help me out like has been shown, thanks again guys
Jay