1979 UK Spec Z400B2

Found this cowering in the corner of my garage, so thought it was time to get it going after 21 years. I'm thinking of restyling it, maybe a flat tracker? I know some folk will see how original it looks and say keep it standard but I fancy "something different"

It looks like someone already made quite a few changes to it (paint, exhaust, forks, turn signals, shocks, etc.) so it's not really original any more. Given that, I would restyle it into something I liked better. Step 1 might be to make sure the engine runs ok. Ed

I'm working on step 1, The inlet rubbers and diaphragms were toast so have new ones, I will try and get it running tonight.

Well I got running, so that's a start!
Only had to charge the battery, fit new inlet rubbers, carb diaphragms, spark plugs and fresh fuel. Started straight away.

650ed wrote: It looks like someone already made quite a few changes to it (paint, exhaust, forks, turn signals, shocks, etc.) so it's not really original any more.

To me those look like stock forks with aftermarket rubber gaiters fitted.

And the purple ground wire under the seat is definitely not original.

I've just dropped the wheel off to be rebuilt with stainless steel spokes, vapour-blasted hubs and rims power-coated in black. Should get them back in about three weeks.

I am not familiar enough with the 400/440 to tell if has many changes from stock. But it certainly appears to my eyes to be a great starting point for a project/build. I will be following from afar so to speak.

New bars arrived today, think they will be fine.

I want to do away with the air-box and battery mount, so looked for the smallest battery I could find. As the bike has a kick-start thought I don't need the battery to be able to turn the engine over, so I bought the smallest lithium-iron that Shorai do. It is tiny and weighs nothing!
I installed it on the bike and started it using the kick-starter to check it charged okay using a volt meter, all was good, then I tried the starter motor thinking the tiny battery would struggle to turn the engine over but cranked it over faster than the lead-acid battery did! [attachment=125796]

Still waiting on the wheels so I thought I would do a few little jobs on the bike. Wanted to make the switches look more "retro" so took them apart, cleaned the contacts, polished the housings and fitted braid instead of the plain black sleeve.

I removed the forks yesterday to paint them satin black, I noticed the rubbers for the handlebar mounts were perished and cracked. As I did not know if I could get new ones I decided to print them one my 3D printer using a flexible filament, a quick bit of work on the PC had them designed and a hour or so on the printer and ready to fit.

I have got the wheels back after having them refurbished, I think they look great.