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Nope, not just the photo. I'm hoping that it's just the fork lower rotated inwards, would probably mean at least a bent axle, but an axle is cheaper than new forks. We'll see as I start tearing down.

Good eye, that was one of my main worries.

perhaps this is an excuse to do a front end swap

Now that is an interesting idea...

This should be an interesting build. Good Luck!

Thanks Joe

Figured I'd get into it easy, pull apart the exhaust and give it a good cleaning, easy-peasey.
Yeah, right. So here's the aftermath. Got some pretty cool blood blisters from the channel locks that I used get out the bloody screws that someone subbed for proper bolts in the brackets. Managed to only shear one off, enough of a stub for me to get a grip on it later. Everything you see here was used in the making of this little event, torch, lube, chisel, hammer, breaker bar, profanity, etc.

For those of you with especially sharp powers of perception, yes, yes that is tin foil and tape. Tin foil and tape that were used as "padding" to get the hack-sawed and consequently too large muffler fittings to stay on the pipes. Did I mention yet that one of the mufflers sounds like a really shitty maraca when you shake it? Well it does.

Not sure at this point if I want to bother cleaning these bitches up. The whole idea with this thing is to keep it on the cheap, though. Beater beater boredom eater.

How big a pain in my ass is it going to be getting those pipes out for cleaning, huh? Rhetorical question. I could swear that there's supposed to be a cross-breather pipe where those caps are, I'll check my FSM later.

Now what to do about these little beauties... Chrome's okay on the one, so do I get another? Or just strip the other one down and paint it, or maybe see what kind of a rough finish I can give it and clear coat it?

My reward for all the banging and burning and swearing.

Figured I'd throw in a couple of pics of the last shit heap I bought. For incentive, don'tcha know. So close to having the 440 done, just keep finding stuff that needs attention, tough to know which to work on. Don't want to rush the 440 and hate it. Speaking of which, got a call today about another 440. Dude's mechanic buddy busted off a carb mounting stud. Parts bike price, gonna go and check it out on Fri.

You're correct; there should be across pipe connecting the two sides (see diagram below). Ed

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationbudget option; sandblast them and paint em black. they'll look fine. maybe pick up some new mufflers to get rid of the maraca effect. money-is-no-object option:

also a mack 4 into 1 is $300 shipped. no too bad for something that really dominates a bikes character, IMHO.

Haha the engine paint cracked me up Looks like a good project. Good luck

Doc, if you can find me a link for a 4 into one for $300 shipped up here to Victoria BC, I would be extremely tempted.
Although the gf tells me she'd like to swap her left-hanging 4 into 1 for a complete 4 into 2...

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationNo eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationAh didn't realize you were in canada. 380 shipped then. Or you could have it delivered a UPS location in Port Townsend and take the ferry. not sure how much a walk on fare is but prolly cheaper than $80.



or if you want a chrome muffler

Cool, thanks Doc.

And thanks for the diagram Ed, did some browsing on Kawasaki.com and looks like I'm gonna need some stuff if I wanna put this exhaust system back together again.

Which means it's time for the new shopping list additions:
Brake pads, front & rear
Exhaust connection pipe, clamps and gaskets
Exhaust gaskets
Mufflers
Fuel line, overflow lines and hose clamps, (ordered an inline fuel filter earlier today)

So, I'm going to interject a little feel-good story here, so that when I look back at this build I'll remember what was going on at the time, and with any luck the good Karma keeps rolling. Feel free to skip ahead to the next post.

This time of year I work for H&R Block. I work my ass off for crap money. I do taxes. Sometimes I get to do some good. Today was one of those days.
A lady came in today. She's 61, worked in restaurants her whole life, owned one of her own on a nearby island for about 15 years, then the government decided in their infinite wisdom to bend us all over.
I worked in hotels, bars and restaurants for over 25 years, started when I was 14 at McDonald's. I've done every job from Dishwasher to Chef, Busboy to Food & Beverage Manager. I get it.

Things started coming to a head in about 2006 for the industry as a whole here in BC. Anti-smoking laws and new impaired driving policies that had people scared to have a beer after work. Government closures of mental health wards left us with an extremely visible and volatile homeless population, and cuts to services left the cities looking dirty. We were taken off of the recommended destination lists by U.S. convention scouts. Swine flu fears kept a lot of our usual Asian tourists from visiting for a couple of years. Pretty much the perfect storm. Then in 2008 the bottom fell out around the world.
I was still working in restaurants at the time, barely keeping a roof over my head, and had started doing bookkeeping on the side. My three main clients all went tits-up within 6 months. The big chains had deep enough pockets to ride things out, it made sense for them to keep the majority of their operations in place, for when the tide eventually turned. Which seems to be the last year or so, kinda.
A lot, as in thousands, of smaller operators tried to make it through as well. They mortgaged their homes and exhausted personal lines of credit. Hoping that the next year's 4 month tourist season would be the one to let them start earning again, to let them start to dig out of the huge money pits that their businesses had become. Restaurants are not for the lazy or the timid. Some of the smarter, or luckier ones cut their losses, closed up shop and hit the bricks.
You know who hires someone over 25 with self employment experience? Nobody. Not even as a dishwasher. Hell, as a 40 year old white guy, with no tits or ass to speak of, I may as well have leprosy myself.
So this lady had tried to stick it out. She gambled and lost. Everything. Her savings, her business and her home. After a lifetime as a Chef, (she prefers to call herself a cook) and eventual business owner, she is virtually unemployable. She's offered to work as a dishwasher for free, just to get a shot. One of her "friends" informed her that instead of hiring one person for a position now, he literally hires twenty kids. They are so desperate for a job that he can pay them minimum wage and he doesn't have to make any CPP contributions because none of them are making $3500/year. They are young and dumb enough, in other words to take this shit. What used to be a profession is now a meat-grinder for the lowest common denominator.
So she winds up working on a local farm for room and board, literally. She works to have a place to sleep and food 5 nights a week. On weekends she must take a ferry to the island here, to babysit so that she has a place to stay. Her only income is roughly $3000 in CPP, as she is only 61 and too young to draw OAS. She has declared bankruptcy, and her trustees screwed up her final return, so CRA thinks she still has a business and won't release the $75 Provincial Sales Tax credit, (which is the only refund I can get her because she has no earned income) until she is current with her GST returns for the non-existant business.

Fuck. Balls. Why the Hell hasn't someone helped this woman before now? I spent a lot of years on my knees scrubbing under ovens and deep friers with steel wool. Sweating my bag off and waiting for my back to give out. I know how hard this woman has worked, and I know how badly she's been screwed.
When I told her that there was no way in Hell I was letting her pay for her return, (for which she had proudly brought in two new crisp bills in an envelope, obviously fresh from a bank for this purpose) she lost it. Just sobbing. I also know how you can be so driven down so hard that what should just be SOP common decency seems like an act of God. It broke my fucking heart. I'd like to think it was the least I could do for a fellow professional.
After she left, I started looking into options for her. She had mentioned that she had been married, but that her husband had passed away years before, right around the time the rest of her life went to shit, if my math was right. Turns out that she may qualify for the Survivor's Allowance and Pension from CPP as he had worked and contributed earnings towards the plan. This would in effect more than double her income. Not that $7500 a year is going to solve all of her problems, but it's a start. I'll be telling her about this when I give her the package containing the application forms and instructions next week when she comes in on the ferry, to babysit for the rich folk, and stops by to pick up her tax documents.

Now if life goes as usual, I'm probably going to catch shit for using company time and paper and ink for non-tax related purposes. The Hell with that, and the Hell with all of the assholes that let this woman and everyone like her just fall through the cracks. I was fortunate enough to make different choices, but that could have been me on the other side of that desk today.

Some days I get to do some good. Those are the days I want to think about when I ride this bike. Most of us have to earn our joy this world, I'd like to look on today as a down-payment.