Silly newb questions of newb'ness

The sad fact is, ive been riding for 6 years, but only recently have become interested in tinkering/repairing/reading/learning about my bike. As such, i'm an inquisitive fellow and have the following general and maintenance idiot questions i'm sure someone can answer:

- When im up to speed on the highway or something and suddenly have to engine break, the KZ makes a strange whirr-whirr-whirr-whirrrrrr-whirrrrrrr sound as it slows down. My old CBR used to do this, too, so i assume it is just a motorcycle 'thing'? Whats making the noise?

- What does the park position do that the lock does not do?

- Whats the best way to clean the key cylinder? A friend told me not to use WD-40 as it can get gunky, but i need something to help the key in and out.

- I think my KZ is in great shape physically, but there are some exposed engine and chrome pieces i'd like to scrub to get to really shine/remove some rust. What cleaners are safe that you like to use?

- My engine kill switch has a setting that says lights off and lights on, i cant seem to see a difference in either, so maybe it isnt working, but i assume the lights on will let you use the headlight even though the engine is killed?

- On the right side down by my foot, thats the transmission right? So whats on the opposite side by my left foot?

Hmm, thats all i have so far, thanks guys.

What year & model of KZ is it Lewis? Has the bike been modified? The Z1 & KZ bikes valve trains are much louder than more modern bikes (apples & oranges difference), not sure if this is the whirr, whirr, sound your talking about. Only other thing I can think of is your cam chain may need to be adjusted.

I'd use SOS pads for rust removal on your chrome ONLY. And depending on your aluminum you could just go over it all with Autosol for starters. If you want a show-shine on the alum. your going to have to wet sand it up to @ 1500 and then buff it.

The right side of your crankcase houses the clutch assembly & the left side houses the tranny.

Cheers, Doug

I’m in the same boat as you. I've been riding for about 15 years and always did what I had to do in order to keep it mostly road worthy. Now that I have the time, I tore it all down to clean/inspect/repair and have found it to be a pretty steep learning curve. I've spent four times the amount of time doing research as I have actually working on it.

So far I've found that Krud Kutter and a tooth brush (and tons of elbow grease) work ok to clean things and Mothers Mag & aluminum polish works well to make it shine. I tried the homemade soda blasting rig and found it to be effective but more trouble that its worth. A real soda blasting set up might work well but I don’t have the cash to spend on one.

A "shop manual" is a must have and is extremely useful in creating confusion and more questions. On several posts I've read that you need a "good shop manual" but I've yet to determine which one specifically is being referenced. I’m sure there's as many different manuals as there are different bikes. I have a Clymer and a Chilton's and both seem to help and will sometimes fill in what the other left out. IMO, The trick is learning the vocabulary. I have found that the manual will call a certain part by a specific name but when researching on here it’s called something different or referred to as being part of an assembly. Also, as the technology progressed changes were made between model years so one part might look different than the next but both will serve the same function and might be interchangeable. The carb's are a great example of this as well as the ignition system. (Old school points vs. DYNA electronic) So when asking really specific questions, pictures will help make sure that you’re getting your point across and that everyone is on the same page.

I’m sure I didn’t answer hardly any of your questions but I hope that I still helped some.

Best of luck -

Its a 1981 KZ440 LTD, belt drive. I live in a city and it is fantastic for what i paid for it. I used to have a 1999 CBR F4 600 and not only would i get far too many tickets, it wasnt very city friendly. The CBR had a carburetor and was not fuel injected either.

Anyways, there is always new stuff to learn, thanks.

I'm not the best help for tech answers, i still am in the learning phase, although i have found in the long process of stripping my 83' kz550 f down to bare bones and almost being done rebuilding, the guys at the part store will almost always be able to quickly hand you the right lube/oil/cleaner rather quickly. Also i have found that almost every part store has atleast one motorcycle junky that tends to get excited about bikes and will prove helpful with advice, although be careful, this will not make you very popular if you ask TOO many question ( i cant go back to advance auto parts :dry: )

best of luck

The whining sound is probably because of the straight cut gears, and running on the coast side instead of the drive. Perfectly normal.

Park should turn the lights on.

You can get dry lubricant any place that sells keys. If the lock needs actual cleaning, I'd go for some sort of plastic safe solvent, alcohol maybe.

US models have the headlight on all the time. Does it have a smaller city light below the main bulb?

the park position turns the break light on like if your parked on the side of the road for an hr or less that's straight from the owners manuel