'83 KZ440D Cafe/Brat Build

I started riding last summer. Bought an old KZ440 to learn on and once it got cold and it was time to put it up for the winter I decided to try my hand at motorcycle modification. Since this is my first build I would appreciate any feedback and suggestions.

So far I have...
Made a seat pan out of fiberglass
Made a mock up of my electrical tray
Panted my tank, frame, swing arm, forks, and belt guard
Started polishing my engine (which I may end up painting black along with my hearders)

I'm hoping by the end of this weekend I will have a roller. The parts have already started trickling in (clip-ons, grips, taillight, speedo, etc.)

Still to come:
Putting in Mikuni carbs and pod filters which means re-jetting.
Installing a 2-into-1 collector and getting a new slip-on.
Construct a new wiring harness.
Cover the seat pan (may end up paying someone to do this. I'm not very useful with a needle).
I am also installing an RFID reader so I can go keyless. Here is the planned wiring harness with RFID included.

Thanks for reading everyone. Let me know what you think.

Welcome. Seems you are on your way. Red frames are bold statements. I dig it. Aint doing it but yours looks good.

I agree, looks like it'll go really well with the white tank. Good on you for actually riding the damned thing first, lots of guys forget to do that and never have a real baseline for how a motorcycle should perform. Looking forward to seeing this come back together...

Good stuff. Keep the stock airbox. You'll hate yourself if you get rid of it on this bike I dig the red frame too and agree the tank with frame will look awesome. Thinking white upholstery for the seat or?

always love seeing another kz440, too many people dizz them because of being a poor candidate for the cafe look.
yours is looking great!, here what i got done with mine

danker16 said:

always love seeing another kz440, too many people dizz them because of being a poor candidate for the cafe look.
yours is looking great!, here what i got done with mine

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I think it's not that they are a bad candidate, it's that many have a TON of problems getting them to run well without the stock airbox. When the craze really took off, the open area in the triangle was the look everyone was going for. So move the battery, pod filters installed and so forth. But this bike is one that had several revisions on the carburetors so you need to know what you are working with to make them run well. For example there was even a recall that put different carburetor parts in I've always had a soft spot for KZ's and these 440's are fantastic bikes when running well. SO much more fun to ride than a honda of that time in my honest opinion (I've had 3 440's 3 KZ550's and 5+ cb500/550's)

So keep at it, I always love to see a KZ transform and you've got a lot of good going on. Just wanted to clue you in on the carbs, do your research and you'll be fine

Thanks everyone. I was definitely nervous about the red frame but decided to give it a shot. Worst case scenario I ride it for a season and then paint it again next winter. But so far I am really happy with it. Haven't decided what I am doing about my front fender yet, but if I have one it will be white to go with the tank.

MotorbikeBruno said:

Good stuff. Keep the stock airbox. You'll hate yourself if you get rid of it on this bike I dig the red frame too and agree the tank with frame will look awesome. Thinking white upholstery for the seat or?

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Definitely read some rough stories about trying to use pod filters. Found a set of used Mikunis for $100 so I am going to try them. I am keeping all of my stock parts so that if any thing comes up I have a back up plan. As a last resort I think I have enough space under the seat to hide the original air box. Just run some extra hose. I really want that open look.

I'm leaning toward a brown seat with the classic diamond stitching and doing my grips the same color. Haven't decided yet though. Still need to find someone that can do it for me.

danker16 said:

always love seeing another kz440, too many people dizz them because of being a poor candidate for the cafe look.
yours is looking great!, here what i got done with mine

Click to expand...

That's a good looking bike! How long have you had it? If I am totally honest this wouldn't have been my top pick for my first build. Seems like there are some easier bikes that you don't have to customize quite so much. Everyone seems to complain about the bend in the frame though, which I ended up liking. I wanted to try making a seat pan anyway and I think the bend makes it way cooler than a typical flat brat seat.

Sitting on the internet looking at brake pads. Anyone have opinions on organic vs. sintered vs. semi-sintered?

i used to hate my bike, but im content with what i have done with it!, i took the stock seat pan and narrowed it down (cut and weld) so it sits flush with the hoop, reshaped the seat with the angle grinder and got a new cover made. the tank really changed the look, i put a 440B tank on it. I tried pods and regret ever doing it! lots of money down the drain

trolltoll14 said:

Sitting on the internet looking at brake pads. Anyone have opinions on organic vs. sintered vs. semi-sintered?

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The big guys like Denniskirk.com make a point to say NOT to put sintered or semi-sintered on your bike if it didn't originally come with it.

Here's a good read: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/brake-pad-information-2009.html

Now, from what I've read in the past, it has to do with thermal properties of each. The sintered or semi sintered have metallic compounds. Organic are just a resin. So, the metal on metal pads will possibly distort the rotor much faster (and wear into it faster). Typically I would say this isn't that big of a deal....but I've had a few bikes that they didn't make NEW rotors for. So if you knackered up the original ones...you were off to ebay to find another set of "old" ones, hoping they were better.

Interested to see what it takes to make those Mikunis work Like I said, I loved the KZ440's when they ran well! With a new set of lungs, maybe she will be even better! Keep up the good work!

danker16

Why did you hate it? I like what you did with the seat a lot. I could tell it was different but couldn't put my finger on how other than the cover looking new. Really wish I had welding capabilities. Mostly because I want to learn how but also because there is a lot of custom stuff you can't do with out it.

MotorbikeBruno

Thanks for the link. I am putting on a new rotor from EBC so I should be fine with whatever I decide.

The carbs are definitely a little scary to me. Really hoping a to get a few extra HP to drag me up the endless hills of upstate New York. That is why I am hoping to get the actual build done in the next few weeks so I have a month or so to get them fine tuned without missing out on too much riding time.


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Nice! Well hopefully they get sorted quickly. As for hills, you could always adjust the sprockets a little...Need top speed to be higher with lower engine RPM? Add a tooth to the front or go down 2 teeth in the rear. I liked it that way because I hated shifting SO much. Felt like you were up and down and up and down so much. I don't think you'll have any troubles the 440 is a quick little bike.

Thanks for the tip. I will have to look into that. Does it work the same way with belt drives? Seems like the "teeth" are a lot smaller. Maybe do two on the front or four in the back? Sounds like the problem you have is what I am trying to fix.

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Yeah, Mikuni's are the way to go. What size did you get?

I will have to double check but I think they are 32mm.

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They should work great once you get them jetted. I would clean them really good, put them on and see what they do then go from there.

trolltoll14 said:

Thanks for the tip. I will have to look into that. Does it work the same way with belt drives? Seems like the "teeth" are a lot smaller. Maybe do two on the front or four in the back? Sounds like the problem you have is what I am trying to fix.

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SHT. Forgot you had belt drive. I'm not so sure there's different "teeth" available for that beast. Dang. Either way, I wouldn't worry about it. Get her running solid and hills are no problem

Powderfinger:

That is pretty much my plan. They guy I bought them from said they are the stock jetting so I figured that would be a good place to start. I have read a little bit about reading spark plugs and found a good article about how the different jets effect different ranges in the throttle. Any suggestion you can make on how to get them dialed in would be appreciated. Everything I read either makes it sound really easy or like it will take me 100 hours.

MotorbikeBruno:

That is what I was afraid of. But I am going to keep looking just in case. This summer she got me up them but it was just a lot of up and down shifting. I'm 6'2 240lbs so I tend to bog her down pretty quickly in the lower RPM range.

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When you take them apart to clean them write down the sizes of all your jets so you know where you are starting. Make sure your floats are set to the proper height and exactly the same. You will need to bench synch them with the idle screws, after that is done always make certain you adjust each idle screw exactly the same. Then once they are on the bike adjust on the tops of the carbs so the cables lift each slide at the same time. Then set it up with about 1/8 inch play in the throttle cable so the slides are sitting on the idle screws. Then start it up and get it to idle, start with both air screws about 2 turns out. Listen to the bike, let it idle for a few minutes, adjust both air screws in 1 turn, then out one turn and make a note of what sounds better, then you can check your plugs. All this will tell you if your pilot jets are okay or if not which direction and an educated guess of how much they need changed by.

Get it that far and then we'll worry about the needles and mains.

Powderfinger said:

When you take them apart to clean them write down the sizes of all your jets so you know where you are starting. Make sure your floats are set to the proper height and exactly the same. You will need to bench synch them with the idle screws, after that is done always make certain you adjust each idle screw exactly the same. Then once they are on the bike adjust on the tops of the carbs so the cables lift each slide at the same time. Then set it up with about 1/8 inch play in the throttle cable so the slides are sitting on the idle screws. Then start it up and get it to idle, start with both air screws about 2 turns out. Listen to the bike, let it idle for a few minutes, adjust both air screws in 1 turn, then out one turn and make a note of what sounds better, then you can check your plugs. All this will tell you if your pilot jets are okay or if not which direction and an educated guess of how much they need changed by.

Get it that far and then we'll worry about the needles and mains.

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Thanks! I am still a few weeks away from getting that far (planning on starting my wiring harness next weekend. Not sure how long that will take) but that will be a huge help when I get started.

Only had a few hours to work today but wanted to give a quick update. Got the bike up as a roller. Forgot that the headlight bracket had to be put in while installing the forks in the triple tree. So that is missing for now but. Also, I really like white grips but considering how dirty they got while I was putting them on I think I am going to use a different color. That is why I haven't put on the bar end mirrors I have yet. At some point I will get some short levers for my hand controls but that can happen any time so it is at the bottom of my list.

Coming up next I need to put on the headlight and make a bracket for my new speedo. But the next big project will be the wiring harness with the RFID ignition switch. Let me know what you think.

32mm carbs are too big.

Very nice work so far. My first street bike was a kz440.