KZ 440 G1

It was interesting to listen how many members here jump on the little 400/440 twins to mod them.

It is a nice little platform. Here is the full view of the yellow 400 in my avatar pic:




I recently passed it along to my brother for his kids, and picked up a 1981 440 as a project bike. I will start a build thread when there is something to report. :laugh:

Well I have some progress to report this week. I decided while on phase 1 - get the motor running I'll save a few bucks where I can. So I repaired the diaphragms. I have a sweet technique for this that works very well. I also did the 3-1 isopropyl alcohol - Wintergreen oil on the carb boots, it really works. They are still soaking but are soft as already - great success! So the carbs are all cleaned and back together.
I put a battery into see if I could get it to turn over but I got nothing. The brake light works 3/4 indicators work properly & the horn. I got nothing from the relay. I checked it touching it directly to my battery and got it to click a few times then it stopped, so either I fried it or it was dodgy. It was non-stock so I have a NOS one on the way from Canada.
I watched mrmaxstorey on Youtube going through the start system, it just happens to be on a KZ440 too so that's handy. If you haven't seen his channel he's brilliant, very low key and really talks our language. It came in Handy for my 305 too that was having trouble starting. I charged the battery up some more, then whipped out the plugs which had some how got fouled, cleaned those and away she went.
Today I cleaned the tank and petcock. The PO a prize dick IMO has removed / lost the petcock filter!!! so now it has no filter and no way to run a reserve system!. I got the tank nice & clean though with 25 bolts and some hydrochloric acid it's pretty extreme but it gets it done quickly. I flush em out with sodium carbonate after to neutralise it then I sloshed some oil in there to stop it flash rusting. I'll just rinse that out with some gas before I go for my first start. Too easy!

Thanks for the comments etc, nice to know there's a few out there following.

I put the carbs back on today and had a look at the electrics. I subbed in the starter solenoid from my 305 temporarily and after a couple of tries got the starter motor spinning. I had the plugs out so it was turning the motor over nice and easy. So I carried on, put some gas in the tank, taped a cloth over the air box holes as a temporary filter and put the plugs in. I flattened the battery but got a couple of coughs. The I put the charger on it for 10 minutes and tried again and she fired up! I kept it going for about 10 minutes and managed to get it to sit at a nice steady idle. It did have the odd minor back fire and a couple of times the revs went up by themselves. But wound out the idle and got to stay down. So at least now I know it goes and doesn't need any other parts replaced. Next job, front brake system...

Well 3 weeks have passed and I've made pretty solid progress. I have the new solenoid in and wired up properly. I started on the front brakes, the caliper was was fine but the master cylinder was filthy with old brown crud. I tried cleaning it out but it wasn't enough so I pulled it fully apart. I damaged the rubber boot in the process so I ordered a K&L rebuild kit. When it arrived the piston was too big! but the rubber part was the right size so I cleaned up the old one and got it all back together.
Then I took the forks apart for the now seals. That all went pretty well, the hardest part is removing the allen bolts. then it took a bit of head scratching to figure out the assembly order but got that sorted too. So the front end is all back together. I added brake fluid and got reasonable pressure in the brakes but not 100% yet. I also checked & re greased the wheel bearings too. I also did the same to the back wheel, got that back together & tensioned the belt etc. For the electrics, I ordered an el-cheapo headlight just to get it going and I got a replacement lens for the broken one. So the headlight wiring was pretty straight forward. I checked in a new 'LED' flasher relay and all the electrics work perfectly. I drained out the oil, fitted the new filter & filled her up again with my favourite oil.

I had been thinking for a while how I was going to create a new air filter. I bought some UNI filter sheet and cut 4 pieces to fit. Then I folded some 25x1 Aluminium flat to make some holders for the filter element which I held together with duct tape. It turned out pretty tidy, see photo below. I got a new battery on Saturday and chucked that in too. So by Saturday evening I had her ready for the resurrection maiden voyage...

The idle hangs a bit but not too bad so I took her down to a large empty carpark to do a few laps and see how she runs. The answer is well pretty shit! It was going ok, all the gears shift nice and smooth and the clutch is good. Front brakes were a bit mushy and may the pads have fluid on them... back brake was good for a drum. Eventually she died & I couldn't get her going again so I pushed her home. First one that hasn't made it home! Turns out that a lot of flaky rust had clogged the petcock and the in-line filter (glad I added that!) so I cleaned those out sloshed around the tank a bit & poured some fuel out of the tank so most of the crud should be outta there by now. Remember my petcock hat no filter tubes!!! Some dick took them off??? I ordered a new petcock today, a fairly generic aftermarket one with no vacuum set up. Guess I have to plug that hole too... So I got fuel back in the bowl and got it running again last night. I checked the fuel levels they are both at around 10mm so look too low, I'll check the manual and set that correctly. I also checked for vacuum leaks but didn't get any obvious rise in RPM from spraying carb cleaner on the holders.
So my challenge now is to get rid of the hanging idle. when I rev it, it does drop down but too slowly. The problem with my air filter is I don't know how much air is getting through compared to the stock set up. Any ideas on that one?
I can also check the valve clearances but I'm pretty sure carbs are my issue. Annoyingly I think my carbs are 'US model' that has the welch plugs over the air screws. I know how to get them out but still a PITA and the are in an awkward position for adjusting.
So first I'll set the fuel level and see what that does, then welch plugs out so I can adjust the mixture etc and then try what ever anyone else suggests...
Cheers, Hama

My tank had got nasty rusty so I cleaned it again with hydrochloric acid then rinsed it out with sodium carbonate, that turned into a disgusting green foamy goop! Then rinsed it out with a lot of water, dried it then drove to the gas station and filled it so that has sorted my fuel flow problem.
I adjusted the fuel service levels to spec and drilled out the welch plugs. The idle still is a bit slow to drop and sometimes it will randomly rise up to 4k rpm and not come down. From what I've read this seems to indicate a lean condition or vacuum leak. The carb cleaner test got no rise in revs. The plugs do look a bit lean. I wound out the pilot screw 1 turn from stock to add more fuel at idle but still runs as above.
Now I'm thinking I'll pull the carb again and have a real good go at the pilot circuit.
A question, can you / do you need to adjust the timing with the electronic ignition? And could the timing advancer cause my issues?
Thanks

You have to do a full carb clean, rebuild and sync, do not only play with the pilot screw on a carb with blocked air/fuel passages and jets.
IT is a wastage of time. the electronic ignition do not need to adjust but the PO can de-adjust it, who knows.
Ignition timing is not like rocket science and a free moving and a fresh lubed timing advancer is a must have for a good running engine.

I've made some more progress. I gave the carb another once over, they actually looked fine but I did double check the pilot hole and they seemed clear and good. I also bench synced 'em cos I'd messed that up when they were on the bike. I also found out that there was no packing in my exhausts hence the offensively loud noise. They were rusted and I didn't like the so I forked out for a pair of reverse cone shorties. I managed to cut the old mufflers og at the weld exposing about 30mm of the original pipe that my new mufflers could clamp on to. They worked out very well, they look good and it's quieter. The best thing of all, I think now that there is some back pressure the idle no longer hangs and the engine is running near perfectly!

That bike looks like a cross between my 81 B2 and an LTD? And I thought my B2 was rare.

Since posting I found out my bike is an even rarer duck, a KZ440C. When looking on Kawasaki parts breakdown lists, I haven't found one for the "C", only the B1.

There's a Z440-C2 listed on the model identification page at KZ400.com. Since it isn't in the Kawasaki.com diagrams, that means it wasn't sold in the US, so it's probably a European model & diagrams are going to be hard to find. Most places that have diagrams get them off the Kaw site which only lists US & Canadian models.  There was a 70s KZ400C sold in the US, but I have no idea how similar it would be to the 440C. I checked the Cmsnl.com (UK based) diagrams but didn't see the 440C.  The site lists a few Euro KZ/Z models that weren't sold here.

KZ400.com has a 1980 Z440C in its models listed.Mine is the same bike but is a 1981 KZ440C. The only difference appears to be the pin stripping on the paint job. The 1980 is gold stripes on red. My 1981 is black and silver stripes on red..It appears my bike has always been a Canadian bike since new.This brochure shows the 1980 Z440C. The next photo shows my 1981 KZ440C.