Really appreciate all the help!! I'm sure the problem is on my side. I will dive into it this weekend again to see whats up. This is all part of the hobby/fun of tinkering. Just want to get it right so I don't do harm.

 

I did mine over the weekend. I used the china gasket provided just to answer the question of whether or not it would work.

Personally I don't think the two slightly misaligned holes are really going to be a problem... coolant is not flowing that fast, and it's coming up from the bottom anyway. I guess the gasket could get corroded there from constant water flow over it, not sure.. time will tell.

I did not need to make any jetting changes. Mike bike was already slightly rich because previous owner had jetted it for new exhaust and a paper filter, and no snorkel. I replaced the filter with oiled uni filter (I do not use paper filters on dirt bikes). After the swap it seems almost perfect.