1979 KZ400 (And KZ440, now powered by Mikuni)

BLSully

Been Around the Block
Hey all, I've been a member a while, and been looking for another KZ even longer for a play/project bike. Recently ran across a KZ400 in good-not-great cosmetic condition, not running, but with LOTS of new parts on it. I bought it for a $500, which is maybe a bit more than it's worth, but I felt it was a solid base that wouldn't require major work (I don't have the advantage of having a blasting cabinet, welder, drill press, and lathe in my garage ;) )


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Priority #1 is get it running. The carbs are kinda nasty...not horrible, but very oxidized and pitted from sitting dry. Also someone apparently decided it'd be a great idea to yank the starter jet out with pliers. Thankfully I don't think it will effect the performance of the carb at all...it's just ugly and sad :( The nice part, is there are brand new pilot and main jets, and new pilot needles in the carbs already, so it looks like someone had started going down this path....but didn't do a good job cleaning out the carbs themselves.

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Since I am lacking the bits needed to clean the carbs though, I started "digging" to figure out what else might need attention before making the little twin run. Started by stealing the Vulcan's battery and hooking it up to make sure the electrical system worked. Starter seems strong, lights all work except for what seems to be a burnt out 'running light' on the left. Turn signal works though so I'm guessing it's just the bulb. Brake switches front and rear work, and the turn signal relay is one of the new parts on the bike.

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This is pretty much how it's sitting right now. I work too much to have much time in the evening to work on the bike...but I've tinkered with it....the huge ugly crash bars are gone, and I've tried to bring back some of the chrome with NeverDull, but a lot of it is too pitted to come back properly. Powdercoating time it is!

I've honestly been spending most of my time thinking about how things are going to work. I'm a long ways from clip ons and rearsets, but if I think about it now, the execution later should be less trial and error ::)

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Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

Hey man! Very glad you finally found another KZ after such a long time. I look forward to riding together again... Next year maybe? Fingers crossed. :)
 
Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

For what it's worth, this is roughly the direction I would like to go with this build... It's more 'racer-ish' than cafe I suppose...but I don't want to pigeon-hole the genre of the bike.... I like this bike, and I would like to generally emulate the look. He went a bit further in simplifying the electrical....it is only kick-start. I'm too lazy for that...the electric start will be staying :)

Otherwise, this is a clean bike, a nice simple build, and not overtly flashy. Most of all I appreciate the use of the stock body pieces....tank and tail. It still /looks/ like a KZ400. I believe the only frame modifications he did was to slightly chop the rear, bringing the tail forward a few inches so the solo seat would look proportionate.

http://www.armbell.com/kz400/viewtopic.php?t=3429&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=36&mforum=kz400

This is not my bike....just inspiration
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Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

So yeah, I work a lot. Not much happened to the bike yet so far, but I've been tinkering for an hour or so each evening when I get home. I read http://www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=20130.0 a few nights ago, and got the itch to try my hand at polishing. My budget at the moment is extremely limited, so I'm trying to satisfy my desire to work on the bike with labor intensive things that don't cost much 8)

Most of the metal on this bike is in really good shape (underneath the dirt). Aluminum has the usual dings and marks from bearing extractor tools, but no really deep gouges. The chrome is definitely in poorer shape....it's pitted enough I'm not sure it'll ever really come back to a decent shine....but that's what powdercoat is for right? ;)

Anyhow, I've never taken anything abrasive to metal like this before, so I spent about an hour with 180 grit on the sprocket carrier for the KZ. After a good degreasing, I slowly went around the outer edge, taking down the metal. The entire piece originally looked like the bearing "housing" at the top of the photo. I do think I need to get some 120/150 grit to get some of the more stubborn pits out. They're not really visible in the photo, but you can see them if you're looking at the part up close, and that bothers me.... so I'm gonna work a bit harder on getting it as perfect as possible.

I'm not going for a mirror finish....just a nice "shiny brushed" look. We'll see how it turns out. Like I said, this is my first attempt at polishing, so I'll probably stop when my eye says "ooo I like that" ;) I've tried to follow the advice from the thread and keep all my motions in the same direction ("around" the piece). I will add that I didn't believe that such coarse grits would be necessary at first, and started with 320.... that didn't last long. I changed to 220, and then when I realized I needed to get even more aggressive, I cut up some 180 sanding pads i had. starting with 120 really wouldn't have been a bad idea :p Oh well. I didn't ruin anything yet :D

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Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

No work on the bike, but I did manage to get something fun for it!

A "new to me" set of VM30s to replace the stock CV carbs. Paid a little more than I wanted to, but saved a bunch vs buying new ones, even if I end up having to buy some jets. Just need to order plunger chokes and new cables from DCC. I'd like to get these on the bike and try to get it running before i really tear it apart and make sure I don't need to do any major mechanical work to the motor to make it rideable.

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Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

BLSully said:
No work on the bike, but I did manage to get something fun for it!

A "new to me" set of VM30s to replace the stock CV carbs. Paid a little more than I wanted to, but saved a bunch vs buying new ones, even if I end up having to buy some jets. Just need to order plunger chokes and new cables from DCC. I'd like to get these on the bike and try to get it running before i really tear it apart and make sure I don't need to do any major mechanical work to the motor to make it rideable.

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Are they 2 stroke or 4 stroke carbs?
 
Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

Ooo...have to be honest I didn't know there were 2 stoke and 4 stroke versions of the VM30s... how would I go about finding that out?

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Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

The big vent hole that goes back to your jet needle and needle jet,if it is restricted with a piece of brass with a small hole =4 stroke, just a hole drilled the casting about 1/8 in.,2 stroke.
 
Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

Roger that. Appreciate the heads up. I had googled a bit and didn't see much other than "they can be used on 2 or 4 stroke"

Thanks much.
 
Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

Rearsets are a long way off.... I sorta question whether they'll be even possible while preserving the usefulness of the kick start (which I do not want to lose... I like kickstarting bikes :eek:) But it doesn't hurt to think about these things so there are fewer surprises when I do get around to doing them.

Anyhow, I saw a modifed Norton the other day with a cable linkage I thought would not be too hard to replicate when the time comes to rig up rearsets on the KZ which would:

1) lose some weight
2) make the positioning of the rearsets a bit more flexible
3) should be able to minimize leverage losses with the shorter brake lever.


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Re: 1979 KZ400 Resto-caff-something-or-other

Ahhh, time to post again. This project is coming along, slowly but surely. I'm not blessed with artistic abilities, so a good portion of my "progress" has been just sitting in the garage staring at her deciding in my head what would look good. Colors, accessories, etc. I'd like the bike to be unique and instantly identifiable to anyone who knows her. Some ideas are floating around in my head, and I've narrowed it down to a couple of possibilities, which is good, as I'm hoping to get the frame and tank off to powdercoat before January.

So..sorta in chronological order:


The "creative" way for getting the front end off by myself with no jack
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High tech stand....
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These confused me for a minute.... never seen snap rings with plugs as fork toppers
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But I figured out how to deal with them. Wood clamps to the rescue ;)
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Deciding how polished I want to go... this is after 320 + Flitz applied with a 3M "Green" pad
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Clamps come in handy again....pressing out the rubber bushings from the stock shocks
Intended to go into my new 12.75" I-think-they-are-off-a-Dyna shocks. I realize a Dyna is a MUCH heavier bike, but I'm a big-ish guy and from all I've heard, the stock KZ400 shocks were barely worth the metal they were made out of. So I set the new shocks to the softest setting and "we'll see." I got em for $30 at the swap meet, so if they are still too stiff, oh well, just hafta try something else​
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Carb disassembly 2.0
Bought a set of thought-to-be-VM30's on eBay. Turned out to be VM32's :-\ Guys on KZTwins forum seem to be of the consensus the 32's will be OK though. So I'm going to go ahead with them. Worst case I go buy some real VM30's and keep these 32's for the 750 Twin I'm going to find next 8)​
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Further disassembly..and new shocks test fitted
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Rear Hub
....Biggest mistake so far. Thought "oh I've got my Clymer manual by the bed, I don't need to measure the rim offset." Well....Clymer manual doesn't give offset for re-spoking wheels....just truing tolerance. DOH ::) :-[

So, any of you lovely folks happen to know that offhand? There are only two kinds of spokes I'm pretty sure, so I'm thinking it's possible (likely?) the rim gets centered. Still, *tsk tsk* Shoulda known better. Will measure the front wheel before I disassemble that one ;)
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What now?
So obviously at this point there's not much left to take apart. I'm going to resist the urge to rip the motor apart too I think. Side covers are coming off for polishing...maybe powdercoat, but I don't want to deal with cracking the valve cover/head/jugs if I can help it. Will just check valve clearances and cam chain tension before I get it running.

What is really next is getting 220 in my garage so I can weld again, and cleaning up the mess of parts, and likely putting the Vulcan at my parent's house for the winter and bringing my brother's GS750 over so I can help him with his build.

As far as the bike goes.... Detab frame, chop up a few little things (gonna shorten the tail a hair), and then it's time to find rearsets so I can weld up brackets and get the frame off to JRK5892 for powder!​
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Re: 1979 KZ400

Progress on the 400 has been sorta slow. My excuses in no particular order are: baby due in 5 weeks, wanted to get the Vulcan's bodywork done so it's ready to rock and roll this spring, collecting parts for the 400, working on Kendrick's GS750, and lastly (and most recently)... this:

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A local "VinMoto" member was selling this bike and kindly gave me a decent deal on it. I mostly wanted the 440 top end for the '79, but as I got it running and started going through it, I realized it's a reasonably solid bike, with little needed to make it a decent runner. So the "plan" for now is to leave it a whole bike, fix the minor stuff like bent/missing turn signals, find a seat latch and maybe a factory airbox to avoid needing to re-tune the SUPER lean OEM jetting. For now I'm running red shop rags in the intake to give it some "suction" and richen up the mixture...works a treat :D

After it's running nicely on the OEM carbs, I'm going to use it as a tuning platform for my Mikuni's for the KZ400 so I can pretty much just ride it once it's built. The 400 will likely need slightly different jetting than the 440, but I should be able to get them close I figure.

Today's progress:

http://youtu.be/82rWG7cGq1I
 
Re: 1979 KZ400

Great idea on the use of the clamp to compress the forks.
I think I'll barrow that idea on the next tear down.
Those 400/440 forks can be a s.o.b..
 
Re: 1979 KZ400

Great find! Visually it looks like a lot of work, so I'm surprised how quickly you got it running. Kudos! More horses in the stable is always a good thing... well to us, maybe not the wives. hehe :)
 
Re: 1979 KZ400

Nice, I'll be watching. I have a 1975 KZ400 third in line to my current projects.
 
Re: 1979 KZ400

Swan, you have some great bikes, can't wait to see what you do with the kz400. Gotta finish that Gold Star first though!
 
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