75' KZ400 Tracker/Enduro: Near Completion

Re: 75' KZ400

OK.... Been a week or so. Time for a huge update.

1. Got the brakes sorted, it was the pitch of the levers on the cam... WAY off.

2. Checked the valves... exhaust were WAY too tight... everything is perfectly gapped.

3. Checked timing... gapped the points, and then set the timing with a timing light. Mechanical advance works 100% as it should.

4. FIRED IT UP. It cranked right over, and it took minor fiddling to get the idle to level out. After that it would put-put-put-put away with zero fluctuation.

5. Balanced the carbs, and tried to adjust the idle A/F screws... unfortunately, the Pods make this near impossible without a re-jet. I started at 1.5 turns out, then went in and out a 1/4 turn at a time and waited for a change, then blipped the throttle to check for recovery. 3/4 turns out from bottomed out seems to be it's happy place. Not too bad.

6. Modified the Pods. I took it for a ride (WOOHOO) and hammed the thing down the road in 2nd gear. At about 6k-7k RPM I cut the power, shut the throttle and checked my plugs. They actually look perfectly tan around the electrode, with a bit of "chocolate brown" happening deeper in the porcelain. Not TOO bad. This is with 2 pieces of "milk jug" plastic wrapped 1/2 way around the inside of the pods (on the inside). So it looks like I can afford to remove a little bit more plastic.

7. Double checked the charging system. Made sure the Reg/Rec was in good working order... checked all 3 yellow leads against the hot and the ground and got 595-596-595 resistance on the negative, and 594-597-595 on the positive.. PERFECT.


8. ENJOYED! I've put 75 miles on it so far... rolls STRONG in every gear! It's got a lot of boogie for a 400! I almost wish it had a 40T instead of 45T sprocket on the rear, just to get a bit more out of every gear. It's also LOUD.... like, OBNOXIOUSLY loud... Sounds great at idle... but when you're on full tilt it's a cop magnet. May have to re-pack my el'cheapo Emgo Slash Cut's....

Anyway, that's it for now! I'm going to keep tinkering and enjoying it as it sits... crappy tank and all... then this winter I'll take the tank off and do some more work. Finish the body work, etc...

Here's how she sits right now: I'll post more as I'm riding!
 

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Re: 75' KZ400

Some quick updates:

New seat cover
Installed the new e-bay headlight on the original stocks, painted matte black
Installed new LED blinkers
Fab'd up a new mount for the rear blinkers to take them off the shock mounts
Fab'd up a 2-into-1 high-pipe exhaust to get some more ground clearance and quite the bike down a little
Re-cleaned the carbs

At this point the last things I need to work on are painting the tank, and extending the kick-stand... Currently it's a bit low and causes the carbs to over-flow into the cylinders... just had to do an oil change to clean out the contaminated stuff. 40 weight was flowing like 20 weight... not good.

Here are some pics!
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Re: 75' KZ400

Couple more of the pipe.

It was chopped up from the second bike's down pipes... did test-run it before wrapping, 0 leaks! The section from the coupler back was a piece of galvanized pipe I had laying around... did a sand-pack, capped the ends, and bent with a torch on the bench vise... got a couple wrinkles in it, but you can't tell under the wrap. Just hope none of the pipe or welds crack. I did a wide overlap on the wrap though... not bad for a first try. I did ceramic paint the pipes black UNDER the wrap too... so hopefully they wont rot out on me prematurely...

The pipes in total cost me $40... $12 for the wrap, $3 for the springs and hoops, and $25 for the copper guard. Everything else was lying around... and now I have a spare muffler. But I did keep the down-tubes that I had on it as-is incase I want to go back someday.

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Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Looks good man! The KZ400's are my favorite bikes. I don't know why. There's a set of two complete that look to be in good shape and all there on craigslist right now. Guy said neither has ran in at least 5 years, and only one has a title. He wants $1000. I tried to get him to bite on $500 for the pair but no go.
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Even $750 isn't bad... I paid $300 for the pair I have, but they were DOGS. I may still have to rebuild the engine on this one. It smokes a little bit. Compression is good... but who knows.
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Yea, $750 would be reasonable. I bought a '76 back in January that was in almost mint condition with the exception that the carbs needed cleaned and it needed airbox boots. I paid $750 for that, so I have a hard time spending $750 for something that needs a total rebuild.
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Some more work this weekend. Stripped the tank, re-did the badges, and got all my bodywork done. Now the tank is in a nice coat of white for a good base under the color coats.
 

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Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

DannyMotor said:
Even $750 isn't bad... I paid $300 for the pair I have, but they were DOGS. I may still have to rebuild the engine on this one. It smokes a little bit. Compression is good... but who knows.

If it smokes but good compression it is likely valve seals which is easier than a re-build. Paint work looks good so far.
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Maritime said:
If it smokes but good compression it is likely valve seals which is easier than a re-build. Paint work looks good so far.

When I bought the bikes, I spent a little money on a rebuild kit. I have the piston rings, valve seals, head gasket and a few other bits and bobs left... I also used a coupon and bought a valve-spring compressor from Harbor Freight...

After the paint is done and it's back to running, I'll see how bad it really is. My main concern is preventing more gas from getting into the crank case, which is either as simple as getting a longer kick-stand, or simply shutting the fuel off a minute before parking so the carbs are a bit more empty.
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

And then more paint happened. Gathering inspiration from my first build mixed with some 70s CB175...
 

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Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Looks good is that the duplicolor metal flake? It looks like it, I have that on my GL. I like the white with it. I might steal that, been looking for a way to break up the blue on the GL.
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Maritime said:
Looks good is that the duplicolor metal flake? It looks like it, I have that on my GL. I like the white with it. I might steal that, been looking for a way to break up the blue on the GL.

Its Metal Specks Ocean Blue... the cap looked more aqua than the spray out, but I dig it.

I just put the pin stripe on and threw on an entire can of 2k clear..

Came out alright!
 

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Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Yep that looks great I am using the same colour and 2 K when I paint mine. I already ran it last season with the colour and cheap clear but that was just to get done for a ride on the cabot trail so it was rushed and the body work was sub par, doing it right this time around Just need to finsh sand the fender and ready to paint it again.
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

Ryan Stecken said:
May I ask how you did you did that dope pinstripe?looks amazing!

It's just automotive pinstripe vinyl. There is NO WAY I would be able to free-hand or even tape it off to be so nice. I made sure to bury it under the clear really well, so hopefully it won't lift in the future.

Thanks!
 
Re: 75' KZ400: 2017 Updates!

I just ordered some DCC knee pads for the tank, they will probably cover a bit of the gold pin-stripe, but I'm cool with that.

Also started looking for W650 tank badges... I like how they resemble old Triumph badges, but have "Kawasaki" on them. If I can find a set for cheap, I'll go for it. Otherwise, I'm really OK with running my stock badges. We'll see!
 
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