KZ440 LTD Build - Frame is now cut -

Tifun

Indy
Here's my latest project. I've had this bike for a few months now and until recently I haven't done much to it. I wanted to go all out and do a big build but after much thought I've decided to go a more economical route and do a modest build. Short and sweet if you will with the routine basics.

First things first, Andrew (Mothgils) found this bike on clist local to us here in Indy, shot a handful of texts with the guy and all seemed normal with nothing out of the ordinary, hard to tell how people are through text but he seemed legit. We pile up in the truck and head to the bike. When we get there we see the front door of his house is wide open, the back of his van was open and the bike was just sitting in the driveway. I knocked on the door jam and got no answer... Hmmm... text the guy... nope... Hmmm... Call him and he answers, ok, this is getting strange, I'm about to get raped. He says I'll be right OUT. So yeah ok, he's taking a bad shit or something and just dropped everything in a panic to blow ass chunks all over the porcelain. A couple minutes go by and we are just hanging out in the driveway and I see this guy that looks all methed out riding down the street on what looks to be a stolen BMX with no shirt or shoes, I jokingly said hey there he is... Then he pulled in the driveway and it was. This dude stank of elderberry and 3 week old cabbage. Missing more teeth than me I went ahead and committed and made the deal and walked away without getting raped.

The bike has some obvious cosmetic issues but mechanically and electrically everything is there and for the most part those parts are unmolested. Super clean wire harness and the bike in general was in ok shape just needing someone who knew a little about nothing to help make it breath again.

The day I got it/her/him/this thing
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Re: KZ440 LTD Build

Took the carbs apart and gave them a good cleaning. The jets were completely clogged in what appeared to be spotless carbs. Overall these were pretty simple. I made some carb boot gaskets as well since none were on the bike. I'm not sure it there are suppose to be any at all honestly so if anyone wants to chime in that would be great. I couldn't find any in gasket kits or a good blow out to see.

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I couldn't get this jerk out... hopefully it's clean enough.
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Also, I've got some terrible filters for it. Thanks for noticing if you haven't :| haha


-Keith
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

Took the terrible rape rope off the bars... then replaced the bars with a spare set of clubmans I had laying around. I had to cut the headlight ear to allow the bars to fit, the master cylinder sticks out pretty good right there. I also raised the bike back up in the front, the yahoo meth dude lowered in like 3 inches in the front and shit ton in the back. I also ditched the old seat, did a little cutting, and made a new seat pan. The seat will be flat across, no bend to match the frame but still very brat looking. Once covered I don't know how much more I am going to do to this bike other that raise the rear back up. I used the Harbor Freight shear cutter which worked really well on this aluminum. It took maybe a minute to make the pan once the template was done.

My garage help for the night.
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-Keith
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

So, for those who are interested, these frames are really weird. Take a look at the last pic in the post above, you'll think I made a really bad pan but in reality the frame has a strange bend right by the tank on one side. There doesn't seem to be any symmetry with this bike anywhere which is part of the reason I decided not to go all out on this bike.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

Not sure why the influx of KZ440 LTD's being built is rising but I like it!

Glad to see another one of these odd ball bikes being turned into something.....cool?

I hear ya on the frame. I made myself a similar seat pan but kept the contour of the frame. The electronics tray was tricky due to the weird angles. Not sure why they designed it that why ???

If you haven't take a look at my build sometime. If you have any questions let me know.

IMG_20140622_143053 by MBCo, on Flickr

IMG_20140622_143301 by MBCo, on Flickr
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

You can make a café seat for 440 ltd here is a pic of mine.
 

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Re: KZ440 LTD Build

M.B Co said:
Not sure why the influx of KZ440 LTD's being built is rising but I like it!

Glad to see another one of these odd ball bikes being turned into something.....cool?

I hear ya on the frame. I made myself a similar seat pan but kept the contour of the frame. The electronics tray was tricky due to the weird angles. Not sure why they designed it that why ???

If you haven't take a look at my build sometime. If you have any questions let me know.

IMG_20140622_143053 by MBCo, on Flickr

IMG_20140622_143301 by MBCo, on Flickr

I've posted in your build thread before :/ haha. Yeah. The frames are very weird indeed. I'm still thinking about shortening the tail a couple inches but I may leave it as is. I'll do a quick mock up for the seat and go from there.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

KZcafe said:
You can make a café seat for 440 ltd here is a pic of mine.
I tend to do more brat style seats than cafe humps. They just appeal to me a bit more.




I did a bit more metal work today. I cleaned up the frame by cutting off all the silly brackets. I also welded in a mounting plate for the seat. This amazing weather is keeping me motivated while I am normally a lazy bum.
 

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Re: KZ440 LTD Build

You do know that your rear shocks are shorter than OEM, right? It should be 13" eye-to-eye; and depending on your weight you might want heavy-duty springs (heavier than OEM) anyhow. Yes, you will have a monumental challenge constructing a cafe racer look without modifying the "dippy" frame as the tail/shock mount area will always be higher than desired for a "flat" look. But depending on your inseam measurement, you could get away with the "cling-to-the-frame-rails" pan/padding. Wouldn't work for me (33" inseam) and I like a more upright seating position than cafe anyway.

Also - if you are bound and determined to use those pod filters you will be frustrated enough to set it on fire. If the OEM air box is NLA, you could try extending the pods from the carbs with short lengths of PVC pipe (like 1 1/2" or whatever allows clean air to hit the entire carb inlet w/o obstruction); this may straighten out the air flow enough for the CV carbs.

And for all things KZ Twin - http://kz400.createforumhosting.com/
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

zap2504 said:
You do know that your rear shocks are shorter than OEM, right? It should be 13" eye-to-eye; and depending on your weight you might want heavy-duty springs (heavier than OEM) anyhow. Yes, you will have a monumental challenge constructing a cafe racer look without modifying the "dippy" frame as the tail/shock mount area will always be higher than desired for a "flat" look. But depending on your inseam measurement, you could get away with the "cling-to-the-frame-rails" pan/padding. Wouldn't work for me (33" inseam) and I like a more upright seating position than cafe anyway.

Also - if you are bound and determined to use those pod filters you will be frustrated enough to set it on fire. If the OEM air box is NLA, you could try extending the pods from the carbs with short lengths of PVC pipe (like 1 1/2" or whatever allows clean air to hit the entire carb inlet w/o obstruction); this may straighten out the air flow enough for the CV carbs.

And for all things KZ Twin - http://kz400.createforumhosting.com/


I am going to assume as politely as possible that you didn't actually read the post above but more or less looked at pics and assumed I didnt know a majority of the things you mentioned have already been previously stated. The link though. Spot on. Thanks for that :)

Keith
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

Tifun said:
I am going to assume as politely as possible that you didn't actually read the post above but more or less looked at pics and assumed I didnt know a majority of the things you mentioned have already been previously stated. The link though. Spot on. Thanks for that :)

Keith
Sorry - did see the comment about the front forks being lowered but missed the observation of the rear shocks also lowered (and didn't see any mention/action of updating the shocks). I also saw that you were planning a different, flatter seat pan but all subsequent pics showed the "cling-to-the-frame" seat pan (I'm still a big advocate of seat height = pants inseam measurement). And I still think using the pods you pictured will be very problematic.
Still subscribed and looking forward to updates.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

zap2504 said:
Sorry - did see the comment about the front forks being lowered but missed the observation of the rear shocks also lowered (and didn't see any mention/action of updating the shocks). I also saw that you were planning a different, flatter seat pan but all subsequent pics showed the "cling-to-the-frame" seat pan (I'm still a big advocate of seat height = pants inseam measurement). And I still think using the pods you pictured will be very problematic.
Still subscribed and looking forward to updates.

Shocks are still an in process setup. I'm not sold on a replacement set yet. I will be raising it for sure in just not sure if to stock or an inch higher. So the seat concept is dirt bike style. The pan matches the frame, the seat will essentially run straight across and flatten out. It will also taper a small amount at the top. I probably didn't explain it very well but the vision is there haha. The frame has too many quirks for me to rebuild the back half. I am considering shortening the hoop 3-4" though just to tighten it up a bit. Still undecided.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

The tank was neat but it wasn't going to work with the direction the bike is going so I took her down to the bones and gave it a nice new coat. This bike will have lots of black which is some ways is sad because most of the chrome is in good shape... but, chrome doesn't make an ugly bike prettier, just more gaudy.

Kz440 paint by K.Osborn, on Flickr

Kz440 paint by K.Osborn, on Flickr

Kz440 paint by K.Osborn, on Flickr

Kz440 paint by K.Osborn, on Flickr
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

M.B Co said:
Ugh! love that color

Are you putting stock style decals back on it?

I honestly haven't thought it out that far. Red maybe? I will be putting tank badges back on if I can find any forsale.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

What color is that tank? Looks like a metallic dark gray (or maybe green - can't tell with my eyes). Somewhat too bad you decided to keep the OEM tank badge holders. You could have used any number (font style, color, etc.) of decals if you were not constrained to using the OEM badges, and you had the perfect time to fill them in.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

zap2504 said:
What color is that tank? Looks like a metallic dark gray (or maybe green - can't tell with my eyes). Somewhat too bad you decided to keep the OEM tank badge holders. You could have used any number (font style, color, etc.) of decals if you were not constrained to using the OEM badges, and you had the perfect time to fill them in.

I thought about that. The oem badges aren't terrible honeslty. I've seen way worse. Only problem I'll have is finding silver/chrome verses the barf gold haha. The color is called black night metallic.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

Tifun said:
The color is called black night metallic.
Very cool! Not sure how it is on planet Kawasaki, but on planet Yamaha you can get silver/black tank badges that fit on the cycle tanks but were originally for Yamaha golf carts.
 
Re: KZ440 LTD Build

KZ tank badges are just stamped aluminum.
They can be cleaned, stripped, polished, painted, plated
just like any other piece of aluminum.


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