67Fabrication
By Brock Lewis
KZ440A1 LTD
I bought this bike as a running and driving ready to go temporary replacement for my dr350 while I fixed its transmission; that plan lasted exactly one day before the ignition decided to eat itself. Sometime in its past, its stock points ignition was replaced with an optical unit for a honda cb550. It took me a while to diagnose what was going on and get it functioning again, long enough tat the riding season had ended and it was ready to sit for the winter. It came into my possession painted cream, with a set of clubman bars, and a reupholstered seat. I hated the cream, so I decided to do a little customization to pretty it up to my liking. I chopped the front fender, deleted the rear fender, built a swingarm license plate mount, and gave it a rattle can paint job.
On a road trip across vancouver island with a friend, it started to let out a concerning amount of blue smoke, the starter stopped working, and the license plate bracket snapped. On the last day of the trip we rode past an event that I felt the need attend, but the bike could not be trusted to last another week without some service. We limped the bike home and I tore down the top end to figure out where the smoke was coming from. It didn’t take long to find the cause.
The wrist pin retaining clip had come loose and done some significant damage to the cylinder and piston. I decided that the damage was not sever enough to stop me from throwing it back together and getting back out to the island for another week. It drank lots of oil, was upset the whole time, but survived. I put this bike away for the rest of the season and ordered some parts to get it running right again. I got the cylinders bored 0.5mm over stock and installed a set of IMP pistons, replaced the starter and starter clutch, that got it running, but it was still a couple months until the riding season began so I put the bike aside and worked on other things. When the time came and the bike was pulled out of the garage, it wouldn’t start. the aftermarket ignition system had let out the magic smoke. Ebay to the rescue, I found an oem mechanical advance, points, and a coil. With the bike now running, retaining oil, and relatively reliable, it was my daily for work and school for the rest of the season.
That winter I completed the restoration of my DR350s so the kz440 sat for the next season. Over this time I pulled the wiring harness to generally inspect it, replace broken or corroded wires, replace the fuse box which had melted a bit at some point during its life, and generally figure out what to do with it. My partner expressed interest in getting a motorcycle license, so its new purpose was clear; become a cute first bike.
And this is how it looks to this day, only real thing of note is the paint. It is a black base with green and gold flake layed heavily on top followed by a very dark green tinted clear. Depending on the lighting, it shifts between black and shimmering green. I used a modified sandblasting gun for applying the flake onto a wet intercoat until I got the flake density desired. There are many runs, and it is anything but smooth. I still think it looks pretty.