well the engine is out of the 01 mountain kitty and seems to have slop in steering compared to my old 02 600efi cc, wich I no longer own, but the steering was much tighter on the cc, is there any difference between the two??
what else should be addressed while the motor is out?

yes the steering rack and the bottom bearing in the steering post were improved FINALLY after 5 years of sloppy steering in the Zr's aws 5 chassis and no real good way to tighen them up unless you go to the 02 steering parts

You can remove some of that play by inserting different washers. I'll dig up the info as I plan on doing it to my '01 this season.

Compare the fiche between '01 and '02 ZR's and replace everything that's different.