My first 440 "cafè'ish" build.

DoctoRot wrote: If you don't want to do both sides for brakes I'm sure a single disk setup would be plenty of brake for that little 440. I had to mill material off the forks to get the calipers to not hit the spokes on a brake setup i'm currently working on for my twin. Was pretty easy actually.

I have no doubt one is more than plenty. The solid 400 disc and 10mm master worked just fine, even when an hard abrupt squeeze was needed. After work tomorrow, gonna start spinning a slug to get the hub center and rotor as close as I safely can to the inside of a fork.
Got some work to do here, should be able to get 2 spacers assuming I dont F*up or it needs to be deeper than an 1"



The only thing I don't like about having an end-mill is the mess it creates, especially when it's "milling time" (No joke, not 10secs after typing an MGD commercial started..lmao!)

Kidkawie wrote:

I_Tig_in_piece wrote:

650ed wrote: If you had a 72 mph speed wobble something is still wrong with the bike and the damper is only masking the problem. I guarantee you that the bike didn't have a speed wobble when it left the showroom floor. #1 suspect would be tires, but bad shocks; worn swing arm bushings; bad steering stem bearings; wheel bearings; untrue rim; etc. are also possibilities. I highly recommend you identify and correct the problem. My KZ650 had a wobble at 90 mph and after replacing all bearings, bushings, shocks, etc. it turned out to be a bad tire (Michelin Macadam) even though both tires looked perfect. After replacing the tires the bike is now as solid as a rock up to top speed (120 mph). Ed

Before the first wobble, all the items you mentioned had maybe 400 miles on them from new. AB bearings everywhere except the swinger which is a NOS set. I trued the wheels myself then had them OK'd by a few buddies at Trophys. Followed the directions on kz400.com to the T to rebuild and fill the forks. I pressed the new top and bottom AB races on but I didn't re-torque the stem after putting some miles on them.

My Z1B with stock forks and reproduction OEM shocks would weave above 80mph. Not headshake, but a whole bike weave. I installed a set of ZRX shocks which were plusher and a touch longer and the weave has disappeared. With these old bikes you have to pay attention to setup. You can't just slap suspension on (no matter what it is) and call it done. Some good info in this video.

That video played like an anti motorcycle propaganda piece.
I've never had any of my medium and big road bikes do any of that BS!
And I ride from 55mph to 85mph for quite a few miles nearly every time I go out .
Today included.

Dunlop. :whistle:
Steve

Nebr_Rex wrote: As for adding a kick start to a 440.
You can use the gears etc. out of a '77 and earlier 400. The tooth count is the same between the 400 and 440 first gear.
There is some machining required. If memory serves me right the wider first gear of the 400 5 speed
has to be narrowed to fit the 440s 6 speed box. The 400s count shaft first gear that you will use has the same
tooth count but is cut differently. While riding it can be barely felt if you know what you are looking for
but has yet to cause any problem on my bike. The other option , which is preferred is to use the '78/'79
400 parts. Those two years the 400 was redesigned with a 6 speed and was later bored out to a 440.
The one thing that will be needed either way is the later 400s clutch cover. The early 400s cover will bolt up to a 440
except for one bolt, the one under the ignition cover. Two other options on the cover could be to relocate the one bolt hole,
the least desirable. The other is to machine the 440 cover as all the bosses are sill cast in the cover.


.

So if I'm reading this correctly, Option B using a 78-79 400 gearset should drop right in and be usable aside from the need of the same year cover?(which I now have also) Just for experimenting purposes, I dropped my 440 gears back in, ratchets in place and placed the halves together to see (feel) the outcome. It's hard to see what's exactly going on through the oil pumps pick. When giving a slow kick (by hand of course) so far it seems like 1st and the start gear don't mesh right. I don't know why I didn't put the two gears together when it was still on the table? :dry: But it's not like the motor isn't hard to take apart 1. and 2, I figured it wasn't gonna work from the get go cause of the solid info you provided to me. :laugh:
Now my question is, can I get away with just getting a counter shaft gearset from the specified 400 or should I do both the counter and primary gears?

ed

You need the first 1 speed counter shaft gear that corresponds with the starter gear you are using.
I have an early and late 400 gear sets packed away somewhere. I'll see if I can dig them out in the next
couple of days for a comparison.


.

Made some progress with the front brakes. Had to get the hub centered and totally forgot that I shaved the inside of one leg to clearance for the speedo drive gear (and never used) After I get the rough draft of a caliper/rotor bolted down and ok'd for operation, I'll shave the other leg to match and spin up another wheel spacer to make up the difference. Enough yapping! on with ye photographs..
Centered hub with roughly where the rotor will be situated.


I like new lathe bits.


I think I'll be able to make 2 spacers/adapters out of one billet. Just took some fabrication black magic to cut the 4" tall slug in half. Pressed a tube of chrom into the center, then had to get crafty with getting it clamped square and solid in the coldsaw vise.


I had to rotate the slug a lot since I had to clamp it away from the blades ideal cutting line. Slow progress, but it was working beautifully.


About 45mins later...TaaDaa!


Back on the lathe to get the center bored out more to fit over the bearing boss on the hub.


So here's a hub, spacer/adaptor and the rotor.


Spacer on the hub..




All together now.


Back between the forks. I still need to drill out holes to bolt the spacer to the hub. Just got excited..


Hopefully I'll get something going with the caliper today. Painted stator and the 400 clutch cover that I'll hopefully get to use if I get the kicker sorted.


time for some cereal..

nice work

leon

Man I've been a busy individual! I wouldn't date forget about you guys though! Yup I still have my Kz, unfortunately a majority of it is still decorating a work bench. BUT, I have been picking at it even if it's only for 30mins out of a day. Beginning of this year started experimenting with techline cerakote and KG ceramic coatings with positive results!
Didn't happen if there's no pictures!!

Sounds like you had a roller coaster of a time building this. Hope it come back together soon! I'll be following. Currently working on an '82 440 LTD that's also "cafe'ish". Looking forward to the next update.

Tim

OMFG!! I can finally type out a bunch of stuff and not worry about my (mobile) browser crashing and losing all that I had typed. Hi forum. It's been awhile since I've been here. I've missed you guys! Just got a new phone and coming here was the second thing of importance to me that I needed to do. Life and the shop have been keeping me busy. So busy in fact that my bike sat in one spot of the shop for 4-5 months 75% finished before I was able to get my hands back on it. Biggest problem I had was that I had to pull the motor again to re-index the kickstart shaft. There was waay too much preload on the return spring that when I tried to test it, the spring said no. I knew there was no way of indexing it right while the motor was in the frame so sadness, discouraged, dammits and other things came over me and I let the bike sit.

Well I finally got into last night and took care of that problem. Aww crap! I don't have any pictures on this phone!? Ok I'll just post this one pic and get all the other progress pics onto my new phone.
Motor back in the frame..

The green looks good! Glad to see this thread again!

Super lagging yet once again on pics..! sorry guys.
Redid the merge for my headers to tuck my exhaust closer to the swing arm so the kickstart wouldn't slam into it. Also making oil filter replacement easier. I made the can rebuidable/tunable(experimenting with different innards if you will for exit sound and right amount of back pressure for the carbs)


Had to make a brake line splitter that'll tuck under my headlight nicely and between the fork. Bought a bunch of stainless -3 banjos to make new lines

Machined out an area on the cam cover to make valve adjustments hopefully ALOT easier in the future.