Where ya get that from

Hey Gents,

I'm sorry for the lack of reply, for some reason i was not able to connect to this site yesterday...kept trying almost on the hour - figured it was hosted in southern California and was being affected by the fires?

For sure my compression guage is good. I use it all the time on other air cooled engines - the kind with four wheels, four seats and shaped like VWs :lol:

I did check the valves heheh - just like Vdubs fortunately, so I was right at home. Unfortunately, I opened the timing advance cover to see TDC and discovered a ton of water that had rusted-out the entire advance unit (electronic version) and weights were trashed but the valve gaps were all at .008 which according to the kz400 site is right between .007 and .009 that they spec for the 440 so I was happy 'bout that at least. Not that the valves may not have other issues or even just contamination of their seats etc...

Unfortunately, this bike had NO forward controls (someone just cut them all off with a knife/scissors/axe/whoknowswhat?) so I have not been able to test compression with throttle wide-opened because damn it I was born handicapped and missing my 3rd arm/hand!
I SHOULD done the test when I had the carbs off for cleaning last week - Doh! :whistle:

I didn't think about the rings being stuck and honestly, after seeing all that rusty water pour out onto the shop floor on Sunday when I checked for TDC, I'm thinking this poor bike floated through a flood at some point so it's very likely the rings are stuck. I have since shot some PB oil into the two spark plug bores and I do rotate the engine almost daily with my crossed fingers.
It's sitting in my paint booth where I've also been working on the gas tank (the knee squish is now gone and it's ready for some new black gloss again!).

Basically, I thought I'd be riding this puppy already but I should have known better when the guy told me it had sat for over 10 years. It was the low mile odo and mostly complete and good looking over-all condition that made me say "what the hell, here's some cash, help me load it into my truck..."

I didn't mean to sound so negative about it previously. I understand restoration; I was just disappointed that new parts were going to be such an issue. I should have known better I s'pose.

I also noticed FAR more support for the big displacement bikes like the KZ1000 etc and (wink wink) i've been looking on eBay again for such but don't tell the wife that... yet anyway :lol: