1974 CL360 & KZ400

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400

4.00 tyre is way too wide for stock WM1 (1.60") rim, and, without a fork brace the handling is going to be real strange
At least you used something decent, those Continentals are good tyres
16mm float height is also way too low, I'm surprised it isn't flooding (although if you had carbs completely inverted it's probably close to stock)

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400

Yeah I understand the wheel issue, and tbh was never going to attempt 'the ton' on this thign though I understand the concern, and I will stress this to whomever buys the bike. Also I had the floats at stock height and whatever I did, now the bike is running a million times better so, maybe they are upside down, not sure. Trying to find a fork brace that fits is tough, might buy this old yamaha dirt bike brace that attatches to the forks, might have to just make something.

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400

It will be much easier to find a fork brace for a CB400f, wheel and forks are the same as 360

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400

Nice, she's got a bid...$ in the bank! It will be great to see what she goes for in the end.

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400 (working on kz400 now)

Things fell through with the ebay bidder with the cl360. Might just keep the bike so I have a bike come spring and then sell the kz400. It's hard to let something go you put so many hours into.

Just actually started to work on the kz400. Picked this up near Newburgh. Bike has compression and seems to be all there.. but probably going to have to replace forks, headlight ears, suspension.. a lot of misc. parts including these with unsightly heavy rust pitting. Gonna get the bike running before I really tear into it.
I have the side panels for this bike for sale. Also have the tank for this bike that's in real good condition that I'm considering selling, no dents whatsoever, pretty clean on the inside, original paint though faded.

Also ordered flat tracker bars for the kz400 however they are too short horizontally, willing to sell them for $20 including shipping. They're on the bike pics below.



stripped tank and seat n shii





First real issue, the carb boots were cracked and needed to be removed, the screws basically turned into dust when I put a screw driver to them. The inner screws of the boots are too close with the frame where I can't really drill them out. I have new manifolds that cost a pretty penny and may just go with one screw and some epoxy of some sort to seal the boots to the engine.

3



really want to budget this build

this is pretty interesting...
http://11thhourindustries.com/store/#!/~/product/category=5025838&id=20924335

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400 (working on kz400 now)

Don't be a dork. If one screw was enough, Kawasaki would have done it
pull the motor drill, helicoil.
With new boots you may as well do it right, it really isn't worth bodging it

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400 (working on kz400 now)

crazypj said:

Don't be a dork. If one screw was enough, Kawasaki would have done it
pull the motor drill, helicoil.
With new boots you may as well do it right, it really isn't worth bodging it

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Haha very true pj** I'll see what I can do

Re: 1974 honda cl360 brat & kz400 (working on kz400 now)

sorry bout the ebay deal.

and the screws

Well it has been a long winter, ended up building a shed right before the heavy snow came in ny, but my family ended up throwing a bunch of other things in there for the winter so had no room to work on the bikes. . But I have been working on them since march, and I have gotten in a good amount of work. I painted each wheel, created a new seat, installed a new stator and R/R that came with it, cleaned up the electrical under the seat, painted vader mask on the tank too help blend into the seat area... some other things I'm sure I can't think of. Ordered a mini front break light switch, new carb rebuild kits, new carb diaphragms, new fuel lines, new fuel valve and couple other things. STILL NEED A FORK BRACE. Well sorta second guessing the 4.0 on the front, still think it looks cool even though most of you have yelled at me about it. A fender won't really work this that larger of wheel in the front theres not enough clearance, so now I'm looking into fork braces that go from tube too tube, the only thing is the ones i see online range from 150-200 which is a little absurd.. any suggestions besides put a smaller tire on

Glad i ended up keeping the bike, now I will have one to ride all season..











I might be willing to upholster some seats for people, I'll get some in depth pics of how it looks once finished. Have a ton of marine pleated vinyl left over too.






KZ400:
Biggest pain in the ass but ended up getting a smaller power drill and special drills to drill through the screws whose heads deteriorated off while attempting to remove the old manifolds. Took a day to accomplish but these boots are on! Ended up not rethreading the holes but used slightly larger screws and they seem to be in their pretty firmly. Hopefully these manifolds will last





Soon, I'm going to throw on a battery on the KZ400 after I get perch's on the handlebars for the brake and clutch and see if this thing will fire up. I had the Kz400 carbs in pieces since summer in a bucket after I cleaned them, finally put them together.

Learned a shit ton from the CL, hopefully won't make the same mistakes that put me in circles with the CL. Really want to budget the KZ400, keep it too around a $800 build including buying price. I originally only wanted to spend around $1250 on the CL, I think I'm around $~1750, though pretty sure I included a lot of other things in that like tools and paint, soo.. well don't rly wanna even think about it at this point, just get the damn thing done for good.

The Z400s are a great little bike. The biggest issue with them was the way they designed the frame from 74 to 78 as the back bone setup is really odd. The 79 is when they made the frame better and is easier to work.

If the snow in my area would let up I'd be out getting mine ready.

I love the idle on my bike when its running.

firebane said:

The Z400s are a great little bike. The biggest issue with them was the way they designed the frame from 74 to 78 as the back bone setup is really odd. The 79 is when they made the frame better and is easier to work.

If the snow in my area would let up I'd be out getting mine ready.

I love the idle on my bike when its running.

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I agree, not too sure how i am going to customize it yet. I did today however get all the electrical functioning, probably first time in 15+ years.

Currently undergoing tank electrolysis as there was heavy rust inside, hopefully tomorrow it will be finished and I can throw on the carbs and tank and try too fire it up.

well repainted the tank, hopefully for the last time... still have to do the timing and a rejet to the carbs as theres some bogging down in late 3rd. I have 100 secondarys in was gonna jump to 110, was running extremely rich according to the spark plugs too. Adjusted floats and it seemed to help a little.. anyone have any ideas for a fork brace configuration they have seen with larger wheels on cb350s /360s, thanks

I plan on sticking the key switch out of one of the holes on the bottom of the tank towards the seat.



Biggest pain this summer was caused by the idle screw being tightened with its spring near the part where you can turn it with ur finger, it was tightened so the spring was maxed out and screw seat it sat on, so you couldn't turn the idle anymore, for quite a long time I was adjusting the bike thinking it couldn't idle properly while in reality i removed the screw seat and spring on the idle screw and was able to put it in a proper position. Funny how such a simple thing created so many set backs for me this past summer, and how I actually managed to get it to idle previously funking around with so many other things where the idle butterflies must have been only a sliver open. Now it idles without even a choke, rpm goes up accordingly when choke is put on.
still need to do timing though, doesn't sound perfect.

Bike cleaned up pretty good. I am having to deal with replacing the coil on my bike Hope you have fun with yours.

Cant seem to really find a paint job I love, I think this may be the one though, still gotta finish a decal mini strip on the top part of the large stripe. Its a see glass green color, I think it goes well with the clear brown grips.





I had a 1800 cafe help post regarding my airscrew tips breaking and getting stuck inside my carbs, ended up having to order some off line. I got lucky and found some for $63 off ebay that were in better condition than the ones I had, just had too transfer over the diaphragms. Then hopefully Im good to go and will go 100% on the KZ400.

Also picking up another 1974 CL360 for $250 soon

firebane said:

Bike cleaned up pretty good. I am having to deal with replacing the coil on my bike Hope you have fun with yours.

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thanks! yeah electrical is always the biggest pain. Right now trying to figure out why my kz400 isn't getting spark, may be the coil as well! :/

Well can finally say she's fully tuned and theres nothing left too do besides go 100% on the kz400 now. Took her out for a long ride today and feels like I'm supermanning during any type of acceleration

LOL the only superman'ing you'll be doing is over the handlebars without the use of a front brace for those forks

firebane said:

LOL the only superman'ing you'll be doing is over the handlebars without the use of a front brace for those forks

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lol trust me I'm looking for one. There is actually part of the original fender brace on there right now, otherwise looking something with enough clearance that isn't too expensive.

WOOO the KZ400 is alive.

Was about to buy new coils and condensers / points, the problem ended up just being that the gap was too large, adjusted it properly and she fired right up! So pumped. Took her up and down the street, idling great and everything seems to be good.

Time to tear her apart

Plans for this build:

-ww2 blue color scheme with a lot of matte black
-new bearings
-new tires
-new chain /sprockets
-new grips / handlebars
-new turn signals (stock were ripped off)
-going to most likely keep stock air box and side panels (pods are such a pain in the ass too tune) I learned the hard way
-new gauges and headlight, can't really replace one and not the other, the headlight bucket had large indents on the top to accommodate the large gauges, really ugly stuff
-thinking about keeping stock seat pan, if not I plan on making a plastic back / fender, I have a ton of fiber glass kits and styrofoam to shape up something
-going to grind off and shorten the frame, don't really have a plan on detabbing things yet, a lot of weird tabs on this bike.

This bike is unusually tall in comparison to my CL360 as well as extremely wide in the seat area, I feel like I'm riding a horse haha

Going to post some in depth pictures of the tear down soon

Yeah the older KZs had a REALLy wide seat base. I'm 5'10 and even just sitting on the bars I feel like there is a horse under me.