how to get running

ok well i have a 1980 kz 440ltd. the person i got it from was riding it when the harness started a fire and burnt all the wire. well i mainly bought it as a parts bike and now i have it disassymbled to just the frame and motor. i wanted to get it running. where do i start?

repair what wires you can tell were damaged by the fire, then start running a diagnostics on each electrical device. it helps to use the same colours for wires so the factory diagrams still match up. if you run all one colour you wont know where the wires go if more than 1 is disconnected
Scott

ok well wll the wires are cut off the bike. i just want to make sure the bike will still run befor i put any time or money into it

There is a wiring diagram for your bike at www.kz400.com .

Just off the top of my head:

one wire from the ignition pick up to the igniter.
one wire from the igniter to ground, one wire from the igniter to a battery, one wire from the igniter to the coil, one wire from the battery to the coil. That's assuming it has electronic ignition, if it has points it easier.

With points it's simply 12 volts to the coil and a wire from the coil to the points.

Then you can try kick starting it, just don't run it very long or you may fry the stator on the alternator.

Wish my 440LTD had a kick starter

mine does have kick start so i am going to just try to fire it. how would the stator fry if i left it run too long?

ttlord wrote:

mine does have kick start so i am going to just try to fire it. how would the stator fry if i left it run too long?

It's a permanent magnet alternator and it puts out max power all the time. If the power has no where to go, then it's going to get "real" warm. The function of the regulator on these bikes is to dump excess power as heat.
It's not like an excited field car alternator.

Welcome to KZr ttlord.

The first thing I would suggest doing is finding out why the wire harness caught fire (pinched wire<s>, faulty reg/rec or stator, etc.) in the first place.
There's no sense in installing/fabbing a new harness if it will potentially fry again. :pinch:

Once you've located the core problem and have fixed/replaced it, then you can always check on eBay to see if someone has an OEM wire harness listed for sale.
It sure beats fabbing up your own harness and trying to figure out what gauge of wire goes to what component, plus a manual will show you which colored OEM wire goes where.

so even if i have a battery hooked to it it will still fry? and as far as the manual, i have one but cannot seem to find it, well it is for the 78kz i have but i think it had the schematics and stuff for this bike.

also i do not plan to keep this bike original i plan to cafe it for my son which will be his first bike. so really minimal accessories will be needed. so i guess light taillight and blinkers i am going to buy an afteramrket switch and starter button. i will use the factory tach and speedo.

another thing i was wrong, it is a 79 i believe. the serial number is z400h008861 and another set of numbers is 5-79. if i am correct this is a ltd 400h??

ttlord...I think You're right with the 79 LTD,if You have an "H" in the v.i.n.
Here's what came up with the Kawasaki Cross-reference,as far as models in the KZ400...

ttlord wrote:

so even if i have a battery hooked to it it will still fry?

Probably about the same time it boils the battery

If you are going to run it for more than a few minutes you really ought to have a reg/rec wired in.

Actually I don't know what will happen if you wire the alternator direct to a battery, I have never seen anyone hook 50-70 volts AC to a battery before

I wonder if it would blow up?

well this is basically just a test to see if the engine will run. i checked compression and it was around 55 i think. and i can kick it with no problems. so how should i hook it up? i can use the kick start. anyone have the wiring diagram for this bike? also this bike does have electric start but for a test i would like to find the quickest and easiest way to start it.

Post edited by: ttlord, at: 2007/01/11 03:17