Introduction

Hi folks and thanks for allowing me to join.

By way of an introduction I'm a slightly grumpy ex-Yorkshireman who has been hiding out in New Zealand for the last 48 years. Originally an engineer, but some how fell into Life insurance 35 years ago. However you can never take the engineer out of the boy and I'm a very lucky boy in that I have a pretty well equipped man cave (hobby shop) with more or less a full set of engineering and sheetmetal gear. My two boys got me back into bikes about 4 years ago after a 40 year layoff and now we have a shed full of Ducatis, 2 x Kawasaki ZXR250's (one turned out to be an SP) the recent arrival of a Hyosung GT250R which the youngest is going to run in the Hyosung Cup and the sad, rusting pile of poop which I've just been given. Hence me arriving at these pages.

My sparky's dad used to run around on a 'lightly customised' we think 1981 KZ440 C. However it was taken off the road back in 1989 due to perished carb diaphragms, the carbs never put back on the bike and by the looks of it, stored in an exceptionally damp basement. My deluded sparky thought that I might give the little Kawa a decent home.

Of course it was seized solid, the plugs took an hour to get out with a blowtorch (and have pulled half the threads with them) and in attempting to rock it back and forth, turns out that both inlet valves were stuck and I've bent them, damaging one piston slightly in the process, as well as both inlet guides.

Why am I bothering doing all this? Well the bike was free (and has sentimental value to my mate - so it would be nice for him to see it run again) I'm an engineer and I was from Yorkshire. All of which means that I'm pig-headed and tight.

There is sort of a plan...

If I can get the bike running and back on the road as a 'stocker' (minus the lovely period bling!) then I'll pull it off the road again and make it into a little cafe racer - alloy tank and seat, clipons etc... I did an alloy tank for a mate's 900 trellis Ducati a couple of years back and have the urge to do another for myself. Well I've got half a sheet of 2.0mm alloy sitting in the rack...

So at this stage the parts list involves pistons, valve, guides, gaskets and carb diaphragms.

Wondering if the collective wisdom here can point me in the direction of a reliable supplier of bits please? My first call to the local Kawasaki dealer was not particularly productive as you can imagine.

Thanks in advance..

 

Welcome aboard. Probably the most popular suppliers in the U.S. are Partzilla and Z1Enterprises.

www.partzilla.com/catalog/kawasaki

www.z1enterprises.com


In Europe a good source is CMS in the Netherlands.

www.cmsnl.com/kawasaki_model11368/

JBM may have the diaphragms you need.

jbmindustries.com
 

Many thanks Texas!

I've ordered most of the bits I need today and found some very cheap OEM and Aftermarket stuff from  www.abinaslawk.com/ . Remains to be seen if it's a scam or not - supposedly had OEM inlet valves, front master cylinder, carb kits, piston rings. Got OEM valve guides from EBay US, and Athena gasket set from Amazon and carb diaphragms as you suggested. Partzilla, Z1 and cmsnl didn't seem to have much in the way of 440 bits.

I'll advise progress in due course.

Thanks again.

Welcome. The 400/440 Kawasaki twins are great bikes. 

If that Athena set has a green base gasket, throw it as far as you can, do not let it get anywhere near your engine. It will start leaking as soon as you think of adding oil.

Now that you mention it, I do not think the 440C was ever sold here, so it should be no surprise that U.S. vendors have no parts listed for it. I bet the engine is the same in all the various models, A, B, C, D and G. I am surprised that CMS does not list parts for it.
 

Cheers Jim. If I can get it back on the road I'll try and make some new clothes for it.

Welcome Richard.

Nice looking 440!
Much better without the fairing.