Hi there 'onewizard".... catchya.. Andreas
First, unless you know for sure that Kawasaki made a mistake in the number of turns, you don't increase or decrease the turns.
Next, the heavier the gauge the less resistance and less voltage drop = lost energy. You can use different temperature ratings of magnet wire, the higher the temp usually means thicker insulation. I prefer class H (180'C), and heavy , which is the coating thickness( around .0015 to .003 of a inch).
The next thing I use to do was preheat the finished stator, this removes any moisture trapped in the laminations, insulation etc., most rewind shops won't do this because it thins the dip and also cause the solvent to evaporate.
The more professional rewind shops have a vacuum dip tank, and my preference would be a epoxy dip, keep in mind you want the thinnest coat for heat transfer,and strongest coat to prevent the magnet wire from vibrating and breaking down.
A couple things happen when you increase wire size, one , with exactly the same number of turns, the outside turns are going to be further from the core. Second, you reach a point were there isn't enough room to get all the turns onto the pole piece.
You mention smaller wire size, what can be done is wind with as a example a equivalent to a single 10 gauge , would be two 14 gauge wires ( which would be harder than a 14 gauge), several problems come up with this method, say you had 20 turns of the 10 gauge, using the 14 gauge you will have 40 wires, and since you have 20 additional wires, you have added the insulation thickness of the 20, the second problem is when winding two in hand, there is a increased risk of cross overs between turns ( potential spots for shorted turns)
I said it before, if time permits I may try and find out what the output voltage is AC , compared to the actual DC current load and DC voltage output voltage.
As to how long it soaks, isn't as important as how it is wound. I use to preheat for 1 hour at 200'F, then dip it and soak for 1 hour in epoxy varnish, take it out and let it drip for 10 minutes then bake it for I think 6 hours--------been a long time about 35 years, they have some really good magnet wire available now.
$300 , are they saying once they do it , that it will never fail?
Bottom line, were you live it costs almost as much to ship as it does to rewind, so local is good.:goodidea: