75' KZ400 Tracker/Enduro: Near Completion

DannyMotor

Blood, sweat and beers.
A couple months ago I picked up 2 75' KZ400's... $300!

The blue on has a disc brake and electric start, the red one is the S model with JUST a kick start... which I promptly broke after getting the engine to fire on 1 cylinder.

Blue one, 8200 miles, Red one, 5500 miles...

So, I decided I'd tear into the red one because I heard it "run"... and convert it to an electric start but keep the drum brakes... because NO ONE keeps them, and they're more reliable than a 70's disc any day of the week.


Here it is as of NOV 2016.

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Here it is as of MAY 2017.

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Here it is when I got it home in Aug of 2016:
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

The first thing I did was pop the carbs off and give them a rebuild... all I will say is THANK GOD I got 2 bikes in this deal, one carb's idle jet was goosed... had to rob the left carb body from the other bike to even move forward.

Boiled the bodies in lemon juice for about 25 minutes, gave everything a good scrub, and polished the caps, bowls, and all the brass bits.
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

After the frame was stripped I started hacking off all the tabs.

I also hacked the right-side exhaust/passenger peg mount and trimmed it down. No passengers on this ride!

Then I widened the left-side swing-arm mount for the shock... had to space the wider shocks away from the chain a bit.
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

I picked up an ammo box from a local army surplus. Took to hacking it up, and making a couple brackets for it to fit as a new battery box. Didn't come out too bad as a first attempt. Also worked out re-locating the rear fender. I really like this line.

As you can see, trying to keep as many stock parts as possible on this bike.
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

Took a weekend and painted everything up! You can see inside the battery box how I hacked the mount for the regulator off the original box and welded it to the bottom. Also welded in a place to mount the battery to and the starter solenoid.

Everything painted up nice! The battery box is just in flat primer to prevent rust. It will still need some fixes. You can also see the new shocks... $59 on ebay... can't complain.
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

Got the engine back in and started POLISHING! Timing covers, valve adjustment covers, and the letters on the cases are the ONLY parts being polished... thank God. Nearly killed myself doing all the polishing on the GS750 a few years back... will NOT do that again.

This time around... WRINKLE finish everywhere!

Also, new tires came in. Kenda K270's... 3.50 x 18. Should do the trick.
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

DannyMotor said:
also got in some cheap shocks, need to space them away from the chain... so I added about 3/16 of material into the lower mount on the swing arm.

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You need a bolt with a longer shoulder so it goes through the eye of the shock. Using that bolt with the thread will eat away at the shock rubber.
 
Re: 75' KZ400

hillsy said:
BTW - nice work on the engine cover wrinkle paint 8)

Thanks! It's a pain in the butt... haha.

As for the lower shock bolt, the shocks have a steel bushing that goes between the rubber bushing and the bolt... so no worries about shredded rubber! I may need to get a LONGER bolt, however, as only 3 or 4 threads will bite now that I've extended it.
 
Re: 75' KZ400

Some more parts arrived...

Headlight, grips, handlebars, mufflers, tubes, directionals, mirrors, lights and some other odds and ends.

I was able to get the rear fender chopped and fit better with the tail light installed. I'm a little iffy on the tail light placement, we'll see once I start piecing things together for the plate mount. I may end up going with a funky little integrated LED setup I found.
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

The wrinkle looks nice - what brand paint did you use for that?

Is that a Kz400 seat? I picked one up that looks almost exactly the same from a salvage yard not too long ago, but I have no idea what its from, except that its a Kawasaki.
 
Re: 75' KZ400

Yup, that's the stock KZ400D seat, I think the S had a strap across it.

I used VHT Super Wrinkle or Wrinkle Plus (can't remember)... but you have to do three medium coats and wait 5 minutes between coats... if you put it on too thin or let it dry too fast it won't wrinkle up.
 
Re: 75' KZ400

Quick little, picture-less update.

I got all of the electrics run, built-up the upper triple, gauges, bars, switch gear, grips, bar end mirrors... the whole kit.

I then started to push through on the electrics. The only things I had to fabricate were a ground-strap, starter lead to the solenoid, and shorten up the hot wire to the battery. Other than that the entire harness is stock, with the exception of swapping connector ends for the tail light and directional...

The directionals were another fun project... I bought an LED flasher relay, which is controllable for blink speed... it works really great, but unfortunately when I plugged everything in and ran it as it was, all 4 blinkers were blinking regardless of left/right switch placement. I also found that I had a bad ground on my horn button.

A little bit of tinkering and I realized the blinkers were grounding out through the incandescent indicator light. Quick fix with a couple of resistors. As for the horn, it just needed the tab adjusted to touch the housing... now I get a full 12v to the horn harness when pushing the button.

We're close!

I'm actually hoping to get the bike outside, get it into a rolling chassis, and possibly get it started this weekend.

I also got around to wrapping the down-tubes for the exhaust. Just have to polish up the clamp rings, which should be done tonight. More pictures tomorrow!

My list is slowly going down.

Left to do:
- Check the valve clearance
- Check the timing
- Gap the points
- Gap the plugs
- Petcock
- Gas cap seal
- Check/torque all engine and mounting bolts to the frame
- Install exhaust, and drill new mounts for the mufflers.
- Get longer bolts for the clutch cover
- Install the front forks
- Get bolts for the front fender
- Install the wheels
- Install all the cables
- Install top tree with bars
- Install seat-pins
- Fabricate a license plate bracket
- Finish wiring the tail section


About 2 days worth of work if I take my time. :)
 
Re: 75' KZ400

Quick little update:
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

Coming together nicely, great project and liking the overall style you're going for. Rear light reminds me of a 'trout pout' haha.

I've read those cheap Chinese shocks need rebuilding to work correctly....only read it mind, not had direct experience. Look great though....like the gold accents.
 
Re: 75' KZ400

Those shocks are hit-and-miss. These ones seem to be in good working order. A friend of mine is running them on an XJ750 and they work really well on his application.

Here's a little video of the frame work and battery box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnh6HkieEIE
 
Re: 75' KZ400

As of right now I can fully assemble the bike! I cleaned up all the over-spray from my rims and gave them a good scrub with some mother's and 00 steel wool. Finalized the exhaust, just need to clean it really well before first fire-up. Lubed all the cables, polished up the last bits like the shifter and exhaust clamps. Then installed my new petcock and got the whole kit-and-caboodle outside for assembly.

Forks are on, all the electrics are done, and I got the switch-gear all mounted. I may have to re-work my rear turn signal mounts, not sure if I like them mounted to the upper shock mounts. I think just painting the brackets will help a lot.

But EVERYTHING works! All the lights, and the starter! Hopefully one more weekend and I can try to start it!
 
Re: 75' KZ400

I encountered a small hiccup...

The front drum brake refuses to be adjusted correctly, I either run out of cable, or can only get the front or rear pad to grab, and the lever will pull all the way back to the bars.

On closer inspection, it looks as though I installed the levers on the cam's a couple of teeth off... the pitch of the connecting rod is a tell-tale.

Should be a quick fix... but after that, I can finally fill the thing with oil and do a proper inspection of the valves and timing.

GETTING CLOSE!
 

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