1980 Kawasaki KZ440B "The Good Wolf"

KCCOHemingway

New Member
Picked this baby up along with a 1983 KZ550 for 700 bucks. Both had titles. The 550 I gave to my dad cause hes been wanting a bobber project, and I kept the 440 all to myself. I've always loved Cafe Racers, but for mine I decided to have no rear cowl or anything like that. Just nakedness. I'm kind of a minimalist ahaha. My deadline for the bike is the end of April, as bike week starts may 9th or something like that here in Myrtle Beach, SC and I would like to get some riding and fine tuning in before that. So anyways, I've done all the cosmetic stuff while I've waited for this carb jet kit to come in that I orderer over 2 weeks ago and still havent recieved, which is annoying but its given me time to kinda get a feel for the bike, or as much as i can without it running ahaha.
Plans: Going with a Khaki, black, and dark brown color set up. Dewire to a bare bones wiring. LED lights everywhere, but keep it looking older. Kind of the mish mash of modern tech with old style. Get it running properly, obviously. And then lose weight.

Stock, right after I wheeled it into the garage. Has 7278 miles on it actual.

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After I decided on the color and ordered the jet kit, I dedecaled the tank and the side covers, bondoed the holes and any smaller holes or bumps on the tank, primed, and painted them. I love it. I got the color from my previous toy, a 2001 Nissan Xterra I built.

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After that i dug into the wiring some, taking out what I didnt need, labeling everything.
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Then ordered some KCCO stickers for the tank sides.
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After that I cut the butt off right behind the shocks. And straight piped the bike.

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Next I used the stock seat foam to mock up my how i wanted the seat to turn out. Should be picking it up from the upholsterer end of this week. I also made the seat pan out of the stock seat pan. I'm a big fan of saving and reusing parts so yeah ahaha.

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Wheeled outside and snapped from pics. I cut the stock fender, but was unsure of how I liked it, as it was not as low as i wanted it to be.

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Put the stock headlight back on, but I flipped the mounts so now it sits lower and gave the headlight bucket a fresh paint job. Also stole the front fender off my dads 550 and painted it brown and lowered it. I love it. Exactly what I envisioned. And got my clubmans put on, but i'll definitely be switching to clip ons by the end of the summer.

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Cleaned the engine up and flat blacked it. Looks pretty good I think and it should last until I can pull the engine and give it a real paint job this winter.

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And then today I painted the wheels and the forks. Love how this thing is turning out. Can't wait to meet my deadline.

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So I've got a few questions for you guys.
1. Would leaving it straight piped be a viable option or should I put something on there for the BP?
2. What are some performance numbers you guys know of this bike? I'm not trying to win any street races or anything, but I would like to DOTHETON at least once ahaha. Anything you know of to increase is greatly appreciated. I get conflicting numbers and whatnot on the interwebs.
3. Anything else you would like to add on would be great. Information is the only true wealth in this world.
 
did you leave the back of the frame just like that or did you reinforce or at least weld the holes tight?

for the rest of the bike it looks really good, any idea on how/where to mount the taillight?
 
Re: 1980 Kawasaki KZ440B "The Good Wolf"

As of right now I'm waiting on the seat. Once the seat comes in either going to weld a plate flush across, and mount the ducati monster taillight there and make sure to fill the holes. I have to see what would be better when the guys done with the seat. But I'm definitely closing it up somehow.
 
Is there anything shorter than a "shorty" muffler? I know the name kind of gives it away but I was also thinking maybe I could extend the pipe into a a larger diameter 2 into 1 by about 6 inches or so and buy just a baffle and kind of make my own muffler. Possible? So it'd look similar to the popular 4 into 1 for the CB750s but be a 2 into 1.
 
Yeah, you can make a simple muffler and baffle pretty easily. You just need something to make some back pressure.
 
Re: 1980 Kawasaki KZ440B "The Good Wolf"

What did you use to paint your wheels? Where they chrome before? I'd like to do the same on a project I have going but wasn't sure the stock rims were easily paintable...


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Re: 1980 Kawasaki KZ440B "The Good Wolf"

I used the same paint for both my engine and my wheels. The high temp low gloss black. I figured the brakes may get hot or something along those lines and didn't wanted it to fall off or start to peel. I'm pretty happy with the outcome. It's not hard, just make sure you get every angle on the spokes if you have them.
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Also, my seat is finished. Yay!
 
Ran into some setbacks. Recently moved into the city, and still have the bike at my buds shop so i cant work on it as much as I wanted to. I'm currently stuck on something though, anyone know what the tach ratio is on this bike? I cant seem to find it anywhere, on the interwebz or on the bike. Any insight will help. Thanks a bunch!
 
Hey man, looks good so far.

But you really need to connect the end of the frame to replace the section you cut-off. Structurally, you're running into an absolute nightmare by hacking it off and maybe putting a tail light there.
 
Yeah I know green, what I meant was that after I connected the frame, I would put the tail light over that connected piece, not that I'd use the tail light as the frame connector or anything like that ahaha.
 
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