It's Alive!!! '81 Kawa KZ440A LTD

[RedRider]

Last fall I picked up a Kawasaki KZ440A LTD off Craigslist for $200. The previous owner was tired of paying someone to keep fixing it and was frustrated at his inability to get it running. The clutch wasn’t working and it wouldn’t idle. The airbox was missing but all the electrical items worked (except the horn). He had just put new tires on it and had the brakes done – including having the fluid changed. I put it on a trailer and dragged it home to join my other project bikes in the workshop.

While my Dad was here over Easter, we took apart the clutch and found the adjustment mechanism had been adjusted beyond its limit and a nut had fallen off. We put it back together and the clutch works great. I looked at the horn and one of the connectors had fallen off. Put it back on and it now works. Found an airbox (the LTD airbox is rare to find in one piece) at a boneyard in Oklahoma. It had the mounting tab broken off but still costs $70. A complete airbox was going for $140 minimum on Ebay, so I bought this one and repaired it.

Got it to start, but it wouldn’t run worth a darn. Tore off the carbs and took them apart. They were fairly clean, but the diaphragms were ripped. Found a company that made and sold new diaphragms and purchased a set for $29 each (plus shipping - $67 total). Installed them, put the carbs back together and put them on the bike. Ran better, but not well.

Downloaded a shop manual for the bike from a KZ forum and went to work tuning the carbs. Checked the float height (they were spot on), drilled out the covers over the mixture screws and set them to the proper setting. Set the valve gaps in the engine (they weren’t too far off). BTW, this is the easiest bike to set valve gaps I have ever seen – nice design. Set up an auxiliary fuel supply in a water bottle, hooked up the Morgan Carbtune, and sync’d the carbs (has to be done with the tank off). Not too far off, but enough to cause problems.

When I went to put it all back together, I noticed the previous owner had not hooked up the vacuum hoses to the right locations and didn’t have one of the vacuum ports capped as it should be. Just happen to have a selection of rubber caps in the shop and found one that fit. Bought a new battery since the old one was 11 years old and didn’t like holding a charge.

Took the fairing off an old Vulcan and put it on this bike. Fits great. Turned the rear shocks up to the maximum spring rate setting to handle my fat butt on it. Tightened the chain and lubed it.

Once I got all this done, I put the tank back on, hit the starter and it fired right up. It now idles smoothly at 1200 RPM and runs beautifully up to at least 60 MPH. No plates on it so I was only running around the immediate area.

This is going to be a fun bike for the boys to ride. A little small for me to travel any distance on, but just fine for pounding around town.

Attached are some pictures. Notice the tires. They both still have the color stripe around the tread. Can’t be 100 miles on them. They’re worth what I paid for the bike.

Total cost - $200 purchase, $70 airbox, $67 diaphragms, $5 sparkplugs, $50 battery, $4 sheet of lawn mower air cleaner material (cut to shape to fit the airbox), $4 oil filter, various hardware (replaced all removed Phillips head screws with cap head equivalents) about $10 = $410.00

1 down, 2 to go. Suzuki 750 is next.

[Thom]

:clap2:

[marinakorp]

Loved the LTD line... had a kz 750 LTD ... was a BLAST to ride. Wuld ride from Tuscon to San Diego one a month or so.

 

Fun bike. Pretty fast too.

[midnightventure]

That was the first new bike I ever had. And yes the valves are easy to adjust.

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

I have an '82 kz 440 not a LTD in my back yard if you want another project.... come and get it!

:mo money:

[Evan]

Great story Jeff.

[RedRider]

I have an '82 kz 440 not a LTD in my back yard if you want another project.... come and get it!

:mo money:

 

 

$800 in gas for a $200 bike. Um, don't think so. Thanks for the offer though.

 

RR

[StarFan]

That was nice work Jeff.

 

Couldn´t help but notice your Red 2000 Venture in the back. That is one nice bike. The fastest color and by far the nicest one they made for the Venture

 

Ride safely,

Jonas

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Back in 1997 a past g/f bought one of those locally for somewhere around $500...we had to replace the turn signals which were gone, adjust lots of things like the belt tension and the clutch play, things like that...give it a good cleaning...but otherwise it turned out to be a fine little bike.

 

 

Its easy does-it manners and light weight makes it a great beginners bike.

 

 

The OEM turnsignals were too expensive so we put some older used HD turn signals on it...they worked fine. So we had this 'hybrid' of sorts...

 

Hers was the belt drive, but I cant tell from your picture if this one is a belt or chain...I think they made both, but I sure dont recall which years had belts and which had the chain.

 

Anyway, we drilled out the rear baffle on the mufflers and the thing actually had a bit of a bark...not too loud...just enough to be heard at 20 paces.

 

 

I think she finally sold it for what she had in it after riding it for a year or so...BTW...she even took that bike on a couple of 500 - 1000 mile road trips...I think it got around 60 mpg? Not sure...anyway...fun little bike....so enjoy!

 

[etcswjoe]

Nice job, makes me want to find an 82 Maxim and rebuild it.

[RedRider]

 

Hers was the belt drive, but I cant tell from your picture if this one is a belt or chain...I think they made both, but I sure dont recall which years had belts and which had the chain.

 

 

This one is chain drive. They made both in '81. The belt was (IIRC) the KZ440B LTD.

 

RR

[Kregerdoodle]

Nice job and a great find!!