KZ400 with loads of class... (FINAL STAGES!!!)

looks awesome man! just great!

I knew CycleMetrics would take care of you, they do great work!

That's sweet!

Well here's the latest project. I took my inspiration from a fellow KZ400 builder. A good buddy had the exhaust ready to be scrapped so I figured I couldn't justify not trying this out considering the cost.

Materials used:
-worn out stock exhaust from an '81 KZ440D

-cocktail shakers (x2, purchased at ROSS for $6/ea)

-1200 deg header paint
-heat wrap (grabbed from last exhaust)
-Duplicolor 500 deg Ceramic low gloss black (same as frame and engine)

Now the 440 system uses plate baffles rather then stuffing/fiberglass to muffle the sound. It gives the bike a throatier sound then the early bikes, but it's still very quiet.

crappy MSPaint pic to show basic idea:


Basically we cut down below both of the upper plates leaving only the lowest in the pipe. There is now only a plate with an off-center hole baffling the sounds and it's loud...but good loud..."f-ing angry gonna eat your babies" loud, but not quite "open pipe, gonna rupture your ear drum" loud

First cut (quickly moved to power tools...)


Then cut the strainers off of the cock tail shaker caps and slip them into position:


Painted the head pipes with header paint (had some decent surface rust and pitting), wrapped em up, shot the "mufflers" in ceramic black, tossed the caps and chrome shields on and.......




As soon as the new gaskets arrive I'll post installed pics with a real camera and maybe shoot a quick video. For about $42 I'm super happy with the results. The ride I took after a simple test fit felt much more open, sounds great, and and really got the neighbors lookin 

SausageMahoney said:

we need to do a photo shoot with ryan's lights when i finish mine

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BITCHIN. That looks fantastic man!

well how about a video? i want to hear those suckers!

Soon, very soon. Unfortunately the bloody exhaust gaskets will be a few more days (excellent communication from the local dealer...) I got the stator cover repainted, touch up the frame from the exhaust mock-up (oops ;D) and now she's just screamin to have the exhaust back on...it's killin me!

First video was wrong, here is the correct one (or two):
http://www.youtube.com/v/ZU5YL4ETqCI&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/LJ5Zdq3mHAw&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1

And the build thread where I got the idea:
http://www.armbell.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6313&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0&mforum=kz400

He's building one badass looking KZ...seriously pissed off...

That's gonna be nice!

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...the gaskets arrived!!!! I'm still battling a leak at the H pipe and I have a feeling it will simply never go away without some form of permanent seal...as in welds...thus making it extremely difficult to remove/install it...ugh...

well it's good enough for the chicks we dig so I'm not messing with it anymore for now. Let me tell you it's quite a bit more full and chest pounding then what the above video can capture...I fking love it...

Install pics...



...will come tomorrow if Matt can swing by with a decent camera. I wasn't about to spend 20 minutes digging through the abyss that is my wifes car just to give you dick bags a few pictures ;D

One of my favorite bikes on the forum! I really like the color scheme on this thing and it sounds great too! I've decided to go with the exact bars that you have. I was going to go with the regular clubmans, but your bars are like drag bars and clubmans put together and it looks like it gives a more comfortable ride too.

Great work!

Sounds Great! Looks kick ass too. But I'm confused, or did I miss something??. Is that the same bike (white)in the above photos? What ever it is I love it. Bike kicks ass! Troy

permatex makes a muffler seal... you can also find them at any local auto store for when people get holes in their mufflers... look into something like that

Thanks Joe I'll go dig around the local auto parts shops for that today.

To clarify the bike in the videos is not mine, that is the bike that I got the idea from, his build is listed just below the videos. I'll get some photos tonoight hopefully, and possibly some video as soon as it warms up.

This exhaust sounds REALLY good. Nice and throaty.

I went over to take some photos and Jordan's wife made some awesome chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and bread. After stuffing my face, got some photos of the new exhaust setup:

Thanks buddy those look great. I forget just how damn good it sounds until I kick it back to life. Just wait till you get to here it screaming by you at wide open throttle ;D

looks good man! i like how you twisted the cat eye tail light side ways! i never thought of that! looks good man!

That's nice!

Great bike, love it!!

-matt

goodfornothing said:

One of my favorite bikes on the forum! I really like the color scheme on this thing and it sounds great too! I've decided to go with the exact bars that you have. I was going to go with the regular clubmans, but your bars are like drag bars and clubmans put together and it looks like it gives a more comfortable ride too.

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Yeah, where do you find those bars? I'm going to give myself a week or so to get used to the clubmans, and if they still feel a little low I'm going to maybe swap em for drag bars, or something like these...