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Hey all.

Changing this beauty into a cafe/brat style bike in the upcoming months. Never owned a KZ440 before but the price was right $400 and only required head bearings and a battery for safety!
I think my plans are simple but definitely need some input.

New LED headlight, tail light and turn indicators
Clip-on handle bars
Exhaust-may just remove the baffles
Pod filters
New seat design

I have been receiving conflicting information on changing to LED from the stock 84's. Too hard, can't be done, easy as pie. Also where you source them from, a lot are garbage who do you trust for quality?

Pod filters...I'm certain that I have keihin cv36 and have been told both sides...can't do them properly and they will run great if you use k&n and not emgo. Or do I swap out the carbs entirely and go with mikuni's???

I'm going to attach a pic of the bike in its state now and one I found on the www. who's design I thought would look good.

I look forward to any information you can provide!

Cheers!

Sorry. Pics didn't load

Pic

If the bike is running well with the stock carbs and stock airbox then I recommend you leave it like it is. A pair of K&N pod filters are not really going to give you much performance gain and if it might actually run worse. You'll most likely have to do a lot of fiddling around to get the CV carbs to run decent with pods. A pair of VM30s with K&N filters work fine once dialed in but it will take a lot of time and swapping jets and testing to get it there. You'll get worse fuel mileage with the VM30s and you'll spend $300-500 for carbs, filters, jets, parts, etc. to get a good running bike. If you've already got a good running bike then I recommend leaving it as it is.

It depends on what you're looking for. If you want a bike to ride then leave it as it is and spend a little time tuning it up and doing regular maintenance type stuff. If you want a project you can do whatever you want with and learn on then have at it - do whatever you want.

I have not done a LED headlight swap but I did convert from the sealed beam to an H4. Been considering replacing that with an LED sometime in the future. I do run LED turn signals and tail/brake light. Works fine, you'll need to update your flasher relay to an electronic one. They sell them at any auto parts store.

The LTD models are not the best bikes to start with if you're planning on cafe/brat. A lot of people spend a lot of time coming up with unique workarounds (or cutting out and replacing) the rear seat subframe. They do make nice looking bobbers. I don't know that clipons will work well in the riding position the bike is in now. But you'll never know until you try. Try mocking it up with some pipe or dowel rods or something similar to see what the riding position would be. I prefer something like superbike bars or euro bars that are a little wider and shorter than the stock bars.

Keep us posted. Definitely interested in seeing the direction you choose to go.

And welcome!

Thanks for your insight diggerdanh. I'm planning on tearing it apart shortly as I noticed an oil leak just ahead of the drive pulley at the seal. I took of the cover to inspect a rattling noise after a ride and a good 1/2 an ounce of fresh oil was sitting in the cover.
Noise was strange though, sounded like a small tin can bouncing around in a bigger tin can?!? When I got home I put the bike up on its centre stand and ran it through some gears and no noise.

So here is the finished product.
I made a pan for the starter solenoid, flasher and fuses under the seat.
16 gauge galvanized seat pan for plywood and vinyl seat.
Lowered the tree by an inch and a half.
Added clip-on bars and reused existing controls with new grips. Added bar-end mirror on left side (not shown)
Shorten both the clutch cable and throttle cable.
Bought new front brake line.
Shortened inner fender on the back.
Added LED light bar on the back with built in turn signals. Added cluster LED turn signal lights on the front.
Removed exhaust baffle caps on the mufflers.
Pod filters and jet kit.
Whew!!
Honestly fired it up, adjusted idle screw and balanced the carbs. Out the garage I went!
Cost of bike $400.00
Safety which included head steering bearing, battery and labour $436.00
Parts:
Pod filters $35.00
Jet kit $49.50
LED bar strip $45.00
LED turn signals $28.00
Mirrors $13.50
Clip-on bars $29.50
Flasher $6.50
Inline fuses $12.50
CDI Unit (used) $31.50
Ignition coil w/ wires $49.00
Solder/Shrink Tube $20.00
Gasket kit (not used) $45.00
Oil seal kit (2 out of the kit used) $35.00
Total $1,236.00.
Labour- Blood, sweat and tears
Luck
Pure enjoyment and feeling of accomplishment
All priceless!!!!!
Almost 1,000 kms since I finished it and not one issue!!!

Looks great. Nice job!