KZ440 Tracker

Hey guys I'm new to the KZR world and I'm just starting up my first build and thought I'd start up a thread. I picked up a 1980 KZ440 LTD with 38758 miles. It was was pretty rusted up when I got it, so I've been going at it with some rust remover and some sand paper. I also picked up a new Shinko 712 front tire, some satin black DCC super moto bars, and a new brake line as the previous owner apparently lost the stock one. I have a few pictures right now, but I'll snap a few more when I get the bike back from the shop. Also, all work is being done out of the back of my friends pick-up as I am currently living in the dorms at University.




This was after the first coat of the rust remover. I put on two more coats and sanded it with 400 grit and got it down to nice clean metal. Probably going to throw a matte clear coat on it this weekend and go rat style.

Hands full but even 1 hours work and this baby lives another day..

Way to resurrect the dead.. Zombielove

How does it run?

A bike that doesn't go, turn or stop isn't much fun.


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She runs great as far as I can tell. Rode her around the parking lot at the shop where I got the tire mounted and didn't find anything wrong. I got the brakeline today and will be mounting and bleeding the line on Thursday. I do need to jet the carbs but that's not happening until I get some mufflers on there.

Well I already posted this once, buuuut I accidentally posted in the wrong topic, so here I am in the projects thread. I got myself a 1980 KZ440 LTD with 38,000ish miles on it. Bike runs like a dream but needs to be jetted and have some mufflers added as it currently does not have any (too loud for my taste). I am currently just waiting on a brake line to get it street worthy again, so hopefully everything goes smoothly on the first ride. In case you couldn't tell I want to make this into a trackerish build, something I know will be hard given the LTD step frame and my limited fabrication skills, so it's going to be baby steps. Here are a few pictures of how she sits now.

TheWHall wrote: Well I already posted this once, buuuut I accidentally posted in the wrong topic, so here I am in the projects thread. I got myself a 1980 KZ440 LTD with 38,000ish miles on it. Bike runs like a dream but needs to be jetted and have some mufflers added as it currently does not have any (too loud for my taste). I am currently just waiting on a brake line to get it street worthy again, so hopefully everything goes smoothly on the first ride. In case you couldn't tell I want to make this into a trackerish build, something I know will be hard given the LTD step frame and my limited fabrication skills, so it's going to be baby steps. Here are a few pictures of how she sits no

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Nice Project!!
Please post pics as you progress!!
Regards
TennesseeZ

Well I got the bars and brakeline on tonight (pics tomorrow), but am having trouble keeping her running now. Upon further inspection the tank isn't in as good of shape as the previous owner led me to believe and there is quite a bit of loose rust on the bottom of the tank. I'm going to take it off and flush it with more gas to see if that solves the problem (there is strong spark and compression in both cylinders and he supposedly had just finished rebuilding the carbs before selling to me). Any other suggestions are welcome.

are you running an inline fuel filter? Regardless of whether or not the carbs were recently cleaned if rust got in there it could easily plug one of the jets which would cause the bike to run poorly. Flushing with gas isnt likely going to help you out at all. I would use oxalic acid to clean the remaing rust out of the tank and use an inline fuel filter.
here is a link on cleaning a tank with oxalic acid.
www.kawasakimotorcycle.org/forum/vintage...fe-rusted-tanks.html

Yeah I've got a filter on there. There's not any rust inside the tank itself, it appears to be falling from around the gas cap and the screw for the gas cap. I haven't run it that much I started it a few days ago and took it around the parking lot and parked it. Then yesterday only one cylinder would fire unless I gave it a little throttle, but as soon as I let it go back to idle it died. I'm going to take the carbs off tomorrow and clean the bowls and get the sediment out of the tank and go from there.

Here's how she sits today. Cleaned out the tank and all the rust was coming from the holes for the screws holding the gas cap on. Also cleaned the petcock, put more gas in and she started right up. Took her for a ride and has no high end throttle response. So once I get some new mufflers on there (straight pipes are too loud for me) I'll order some jets. After spring break I'm thinking about stripping the tank and clear coating over the raw metal, but I haven't decided yet. I'm also going to be making a solo cowl for it so I'll post pics as I get through those. It'll be pretty quite for the next few weeks as I have finals and will be home in Washington for a week as well.

It's been a quite a while since I updated the thread, but money has been hard to come by lately. I ordered new jets from 6 Sigma racing and was in the process of installing them when I ran into an issue. The needle set screw on the left side carburetor it stuck and stripped beyond all hope. It seems that when the previous owner rebuilt the carbs thought it would be a great idea to torque everything to the point where you can get it out. Any suggestions on how to get it out would be greatly appreciated. And I have already ordered a new one so destroying it is not a worry.