1977 KZ400 pretty standard

Akastus

Been Around the Block
Hey everyone!

I was contacted recently to diagnose a non starting problem on a gentlemans KZ400. After a little bit of tinkering in the guys garage i had it narrowed down to needing new points. So, we get to talking and next thing you know, not only am i going to replace his points, but im going to be "building" his bike!

His father bought the bike brand new in 1977 off the showroom floor. For the most part, everything is bone stock on it (even the tires!)

Check it out:

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He wants me to make it look sleeker, and perform better. His only issues are that he wants to keep it the same color (original paint from 77!), he want sthe seat to stay the same, and he wants drag bars. He also says cutting it up is okay in his book as he isnt too attached to it. However, i hate the idea of cutting up something that doesnt need it. so ill be replacing, more than cutting. I drew up a quick and dirty sketch of where i was going with it and sent it off to him.

Heres where we are going to go with it:

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Im just waiting on parts!
 
Parts! Looks like ill be doing some work on it on thursday between the CT90, GS1000, and the GL1100... So many projects

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Got it back on its own wheels last night.

I replaced the fork seals and now running 15wt fork oil (the forks were really mushy before). I installed fork gaiters from DCC, and they really look nice. For the fender, i removed the brace from the stock fender and installed it into a chopped up CX500 front fender i had lying around. That was a total pain in the butt! The rivets on the CX fender had to be drilled out, and the brace still gave me a hard time. Thankfully it finally went, and the KZ now has a new chrome front fender.

At the top of the front end, i swapped fork ears and flipped them upside down. This dropped the headlight about 3-4 inches. Thatll allow me to drop the gauges down as well, keeping everything low and sleek looking. The headlight was also replaced with a new chrome unit, doing away with the sealed bulb that doesnt put out anything for light. The owner wanted drag bars, so those were installed, and even though im not a fan of drag bars, they look pretty good.

At the back, a new chrome fender was installed. New holes had to be drilled, and the corners were folded up for aesthetics. A new taillight from bikemaster was installed, and new turnsignals went were the grab bar bolted up to the subframe.

The exhaust now has a new muffler, and the pipes have been wrapped. I still need to clean/sync the carbs, wire up the lights, and make new gauge brackets, but its coming together nicely.

So what do you guys think?

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Out of curiosity, can you show photo or two of the gauge area? You mentioned flipping the headlight mounting brackets which allowed for the gauge to drop. The drop looks considerable when comparing the before and after. I've done the same to my '77 kz400 d4 but my gauges still sit up way too high for my preference. I've even flipped the gauge bracket to lower the gauge even more. However, they're still too high. It looks like the gauge setup is not stock, a single gauge (centered) with the dummy lights offset. Can to share more?
 
I still haven't made the gauge bracket yet, but the stock one was just the single gauge and dummy lights offset. If i remember tomorrow, ill take a picture of the stock bracket before work. Ill also take a shot of the new bracket i make
 
Heres the stock bracket for ya!

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and another shot

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and heres the template for the bracket. Itll be folded on the dotted lines, with holes drilled at the +'s. There will then be an extra long bolt with a tube spacer that'll run down and connect with the bracket at the bottom. Ive done this type of thing before and ive found it works wonderfully. If youd like, ill snap some pictures of that too.

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The "arms" that run to the triple tree and the bracket will be all one piece. Theres some extra lines in there that wont be cut (they were hold overs from tracing the bracket)
 
Thanks for that. That doesn't look like mine. But my memory can't recall exactly when mine looked like either. I'm betting the one side has been chopped off yours because when I look at the various KZ models from '77 parts diagram, I can't seem to find one that looks like it. I'd also say that I'm wrong more times than not, so it's quite possible that's the case this time as well.
I'd love to see the new gauge bracket when you're done.
 
Dunno, everything looks bone stock on this bike. Ive found that it is kick start only, even though it has a starter cover (with no starter underneith) and even a spot for the start button, but no button. Weird bike all around
 
Akastus said:
At the top of the front end, i swapped fork ears and flipped them upside down. This dropped the headlight about 3-4 inches. Thatll allow me to drop the gauges down as well, keeping everything low and sleek looking.

Excellent idea. Thanks for the tip.
 
Bracket arms ended up a bit too long, needed to relocate the holes at about the fold line. No biggie, gauges all mounted up, will take pictures when i have light.
 
Here's the bracket all bolted up:

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And heres the finished product! Im sure the guy will be satisfied with how it came out. It isnt super loud, and the ergonomics are pretty nice too!

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Can you take a photo of the gauge from above? I'm trying to see if it's a 'z' bent shaped bracket. It looks very minimalist, and the gauge placement is nice and low. That's what I had envisioned for my k400. Great job.
 

As I go back and reread the topic, it appears as though you just templated the existing bracket and modified the length of the arms and bent them down lower, no? Basically folds at the dashed lines? Damn, that makes a lot of sense and makes for a clean stock look. Brilliant!
 
Thanks Diggerdanh! I was really trying hard not to cut it up too much.

Nduetime- yeah thats what i did. However, the holes that attach to the tripple tree (the ones towards the bottom of the picture) need to be at about the dashed line instead of where they are. The arms should be roughly 1/2-3/4in shorter.

Sorry it took so long to respond, work, work, work!

Heres some close up shots of the bracket:

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I see...the bracket is more of a 'C' shape. Great solution. I'll have to incorporate that into my project. Thank you very much for the photos and description.
 
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