Rode to Ottawa

My buddy Ron invited Lou and I to ride with him and his dog,  Mia on what turned out to be a rainy day.  We stayed dry until the ride home, but it could have been much worse.

Mia seemed to enjoy the ride, in Ron's side car rig.  They camped overnight a couple of nights and we had a nice day trip.

New chain and sprockets

The previous owner had installed a 17 tooth front sprocket which was still in good shape, but the chain had two master links and was badly stretched.  I purchased JT sprockets from Dennis Kirk and a 100 link JT x-ring chain from an eBay seller.  I had to get a clip master link because the chain came with a rivet master.  Gearing is still 17/40.

I trimmed the extra tabs off of the swingarm, remnants from the chain guard which has gone missing.

New seat cover!

I found a guy on ebay who make motorcycle seat covers in Southern Illinois.  He was willing to make a new cover based on my old seat cover, and I had had him make two (I have two seat pans).

Swapped the gas tank

I found a matching gas tank on ebay that was pulled from a Canadian KZ400J.  I was growing tired of the 'patina' (dents) on my bike's tank so I purchased this one which looks much nicer.

Stopped at the Shell station to top her up

This picture nicely shows the only dent.

New rear suspension

I have always heard that new shocks and springs are one of the best upgrades you can make to a motorcycle.  Now I must agree.

Tachometer drive block-off

Today at work, Lou and I cleaned prepped and filled the tach drive fitting with Alumalloy.

Jetting Analysis w/ O2 Sensor and A.F.R. meter

When we rebuilt the carbs, we had installed drilled main jets and larger pilots because we were removing the airbox and installing a 4 into 1 exhaust.

The engine was obviously running very rich, which was proven by the O2 sensor and A.F.R. meter.  We replaced both coils after trying to clean a corroded connection on one of them, and the mixture was still very rich.

After a bunch of test runs with various jets and needle positions, Lou figured out that the needles from the rebuild kit were shaped wrong.  He had me swap the stock needles back in, which improved the mixture significantly.  Now on the lean side, we shimmed the needles with .56mm which helped, but not enough.  Re-jetting to stock mains and pilots with .63mm shim washers did the trick.  It's like a different motorcycle now!

Fitted with Lou's O2 sensor and A.F.R. meter

Lou's guitar string method for needle shimming

The guitar string keeps the needle loose under the slide clamp

Installed new intake boots and synchronized carbs

Today the bike got new intake boots from Z1 Enterprises and a carb sync performed by Lou.  I did not think there was enough time to sync the carbs, but Lou pulled out off quickly and we both made it to work on time.

This 33-year-old motorcycle deserves new rubber boots.

Available at Z1 Enterprises

Lou, calibrating the electronic sync tool that he designed and built

Compression check, etc...

Today Lou and I did a compression check and then I re-checked the fuel levels in the carburetor bowls.  We also re-checked the intakes for leaks and confirmed that they are still leaking.  I have a new set of intake boots from Z1 Enterprises which I will install very soon.

The engine passed the compression test with 177-195 psi in all four cylinders.  Number 1 had 195 psi and the rest were between 177 and 187, if my memory serves correctly.  Lou took his notes with when he left, probably because he was afraid they would get lost in my garage.

Carb 1

Carb 2

Carb 3

Carb 4

I used a lawnmower gas tank to run the engine for warming up prior to the compression check.

Cylinders 3 and 4 had a better intake seal and are badly carbon-fouled because our jetting is too rich.

Top clamp modification

This should have been done shortly after installing the clip-on bars.  My friend Lou has done four of these over the years; make that five!  He filled in the holes by MIG welding them but a welder recommended JB Weld to me and that is what I used.  Time will tell if that was good or bad advice...

Lou in action with the hack saw

Hacked

Just prior to soda-blasting

After soda-blasting

Curing in the shed after painting

Lowered ignition switch

I misplaced my keys and searched everywhere without any luck, so I removed the ignition switch.  That night while I was at work, my wife called and told me that she had found the keys!  This morning, I reinstalled the switch with longer bolts and stand-offs in order to make it more flush with the top clamp.  My buddy pointed out that the fork lock will not work with the switch lowered, but it wasn't working anyway.  When we installed the fork brace we had shortened the steering travel, so the steering locking point is never reached.  He told me too grind a slot for the lock but I never had.

(Before)

(After)

First Spring ride

I cleaned out my storage unit and took the KZ for a Spring ride today.  The bike started right up and ran well.