TOPIC:

1/32 of an inch is close enough. How much slack are you leaving in the chain, and how are you measuring the slack? Ed

Measuring with a ruler taped onto the chain guard. Eyeballing the slack from the side as the total movement up and down. Spec is 20-30mm and I'm in that range.

swest wrote: I use the notches on the swing arm and the adjuster.
Steve

Yeah that's where I started... but its not like those are crazy accurate...

if it pulls with my hands off the bars, I readjust it.
Steve

Got the chain thing straightened out - though now I keep thinking that it's noisy....
And also haven't had good luck lately - broke a rear turn signal lens and right side mirror... bike is sort of running like crap again... thinking about naval jelly-ing the tank, rinsing with acetone and getting an inline fuel filter... maybe running some seafoam through the gas tank too? Spark plugs are also black again... and only a year old with maybe 800 miles on them... might do a complete tear down over winter...

Anyone have any advice on any of that? Also what diameter fuel filter would I need and on what line does one install it?

Use a bore scope to look inside the tank for rust. Unless it is real bad like big flakes, i wouldn't do anything about it. Bikes this age will almost always have some rust in the bottom of the tank. Fuel line will be something like 7.6mm. Good luck finding it. I use 5/16 low pressure fuel line from Pep Boys, Works just fine. I also use an inline 5/16 automotive fuel filter for maximum flow. Sounds like your carbs need serviced. From your questions I wonder if you can do that? If not, find a good indy wrench that specializes in KZ's or at least inline four jap bikes to do the job.

I use these.
Steve

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationRunning some Seafoam today to clean things out.

On an unrelated note, does anyone know if mirrors from a 1981 kz440 will fit the bike? I can't imagine they'd be that different, and the ones I'm looking at look identical from what I can tell, but the mirror part numbers listed on kawasaki.com/parts are different for the two bikes... had the right hand one crack into about 10 pieces a couple weeks ago, need to replace it for NYS inspection and don't want the new replacement ones, so I found some on ebay. Anyone know if they're the same?

Every KZ mirror I've ever seen is 10mm. At Z1Enterprises you can double-check the 440 mirror size, but I bet they are the same.

Bumping this thread back from the dead with some exciting news - yesterday afternoon this bike started with minimal effort after sitting for 4 whole years! 

Checked the bowls, and they were empty, drain screws weren't tacky with varnish, tank was as clean as I left it. Emptied the old half gallon of gas out, put in fresh. Battery is on its way out after sitting that long so I did have to jump it, and after about 10 collective seconds on the starter it jumped to life! Ran and idled for 10 minutes even with the choke open. Can't tell you how excited I was! Compared with the 440 I've been working on, this thing is in amazing shape and I can't wait to get back on it!

WOOOOP!

Getting a fresh battery, oil and filter today. Cleaning up the plugs and getting the dust off and then hopefully taking it in for inspection!