1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation - Almost finished

[slushie07]

I have a 1976 KZ400 D3 that I bought about a year ago. I am currently in college and so I have very minimal time to work on it during school, and some time over the summer. I have been slowly plugging away on the bike since I got it. I was stupid and didn't take any pics of the bike when I first got it, but it was in relatively good condition. Here are some pics of how it stands now:

The tank has been mostly stripped and I pounded some knee dents with a dead blow. The weird color difference is from where I initially had hand sanded off the paint and in other places used aircraft remover.

The tires are in pretty good shape, so I probably won't replace those too soon.

I recently chopped the front fender and am pretty happy with it, but I am not sure what I am going to do about painting it. I have tried sandblasting the chrome off but my sandblasting setup is not very powerful and had no effect. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a close up of the brake caliper after glass bead blasting.

I would like to drill the rotors but I am still looking for a cheap drill press on craigslist. The forks, engine sides covers and gauge housings will all be polished as well as some other minor pieces.

I had painted the crankcase with duplicolor engine enamel, but that was before I bulit my blasting cabinet, so I plan on blasting off the duplicolor and appling VHT high heat engine paint as I have heard it is a better product. I plan to blast all the engine pieces that will be painted and apply VHT silver to the crankcase, and head and valve cover and breather cap. I will apply VHT black to the block. The frame has also been sandblasted, but I am still working on grinding off some of the old tabs and welding up a new battery box that will be placed under the hump of the cafe seat I will build out of fiberglass.

As you can see I have a long way to go but any tips, tricks or comment are greatly appreciated.

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Also if anyone is interested I have some parts I am selling off my KZ400.
-battery box(has been sandblasted)
-electronics brackets(has been sandblasted)
-rear foot pegs
-side cover brackets(have been sandblasted and come with new grommets to hold side covers in place)-left one sold, only right available
-rear fender
-fork ears
-mufflers
-airbox
-chainguard(most of the old paint has been removed)
-chrome shock caps
-front turn signals(with wires and new lenses)
-front fender brace
send me a message if you would like more details and pics

 

[diesel450]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Muriatic acid will take off chrome and is readily available but I believe you could just have it powder coated without stripping it. Check locally for powder coaters and see, it should run less than $50 to have it coated.

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Can I use just straight muriatic acid or do I need to set up an electrolysis process? Also where can I find muriatic acid?

 

[GoBears0305]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Can I use just straight muriatic acid or do I need to set up an electrolysis process? Also where can I find muriatic acid?

You can get it at most any hardware store. It will usually be with pool supplies (because I guess it's used as a pH balancer yada-yada-yada). And it will likely come in gallon jugs. It's not pricey stuff.

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Could I use some plastic type container to let the parts soak in? Or will the acid eat through the plastic. Also this is a little off topic, but Titanium Nitride, TiN drill bits should work to drill through my rotor right?

 

[DoubleL3]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Could I use some plastic type container to let the parts soak in? Or will the acid eat through the plastic. Also this is a little off topic, but Titanium Nitride, TiN drill bits should work to drill through my rotor right?

Idk about the acid bit, but a TiN drill will go through steel pretty easily as long as you drill slowly and use either wd-40 or some old motor oil as a lubricant... on a side note why do you want to drill your motor?

 

[GoBears0305]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Could I use some plastic type container to let the parts soak in? Or will the acid eat through the plastic. Also this is a little off topic, but Titanium Nitride, TiN drill bits should work to drill through my rotor right?

I keep a vat of muriatic acid in a plastic storage bin and constantly have parts soaking in there. Be mindful that some metals will react differently. I forget what type of metal, but i had one (important) part eaten away by the acid; whereas other metals have been sitting in there for weeks and stay intact.

You can get muriatic acid at a hardware store, typically in the pool supplies area (since it's used as a pH balancer) and it will most likely come in gallon jugs. You will want to dilute it since it's strong stuff...VERY IMPORTANT...when diluting, ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS POUR ACID INTO WATER (never the other way around) or it could explode. And do it outside or you could do some major damage to your lungs if inhaled.

If you're using it as a rust and grime remover for small parts, a better solution might be to just boil a combination of dish detergeant, white vinegar, and lemon juice (it can smell though if you attempt this in your kitchen, unless you have good ventilation). Don't even bother scrubbing the parts beforehand; just let the boiling do the work. Let the parts boil for as long as they need to (an hour or so) and you'll be amazed how clean they come out.

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

What is the dilution ratio you use for your vat? I plan to dechrome my front fender, either the shock springs or bottom part of shock dampers, the caps on back of the gauges and the electric starter motor cover. Do you see a problem with any of these, I think they are all steel underneath the chrome.

 

[GoBears0305]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

What is the dilution ratio you use for your vat? I plan to dechrome my front fender, either the shock springs or bottom part of shock dampers, the caps on back of the gauges and the electric starter motor cover. Do you see a problem with any of these, I think they are all steel underneath the chrome.

I think I used 3 : 1 (water : acid). I'm really not sure how those parts will react, but you should be able to tell right away because it will start fizzing pretty quickly (in my experience, fizzing is not normal). You might want to research which metals react badly to muriatic acid. You'll want to rinse the parts with a solution of baking soda (active ingredient is sodium bicarbonate)...this will neutralize the acid (since the acid will want to keep reacting, leading to flash rusting when exposed to air, until you neutralize it).

 

[valvesprung]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Glad to see another KZ400 pop up on here! Looking great so far I can't wait to see the final product!

My build for reference:
http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=4430.0

Let me know if you have anyy issues/question as I've learned a lot about these bikes over the last couple of years...

 

[xci.ed6]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

muratic acid, undiluted, reacts very violently with aluminum.

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Glad to see another KZ400 pop up on here! Looking great so far I can't wait to see the final product!

My build for reference:
http://dotheton.com/index.php?topic=4430.0

Let me know if you have anyy issues/question as I've learned a lot about these bikes over the last couple of years...

I have a question for you, I am also planning on removing the chrome from my rims, those are probably steel correct?

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

As you can see from the pic, after I cut off the headlight tabs on the back of the frame, their are open holes leading into the frame. Ideally I would like to have turn signals mounted in those holes some how. I have seen another build on the forum where this was done. Any ideas on how I could make this happen. I could probably get a socket for a bulb about the size of the inner diameter of the hole and mount it inside, but I don't know where to get small circular amber lenses to cover the lights.

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Here are a few pics of what I have been working on recently

I have been sanding the engine covers down to smooth and clean them up for when I do get around to polishing. It is a lot of work with all the nooks and crannies of the part, but I have made some good progress and they look a lot shinier and cleaner.

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

I have been pondering whether to keep my center stand. I am definitely gonna keep the kick stand, but the center stand is kind of ugly and in the way, but when it comes to changing the oil and working on the bike in general it can be a real help. What have you guys done with yours?

 

[DoubleL3]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

something im looking to do is build a swingarm jack to lift and steady the rear to work on it that will probably work as a substitute to the center stand for general working/maintenance on the bike

bike looks cool so far and i think the in-frame rear turn signals would be really sweet

 

[manchestermichael]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

bikes looking nice what size compressor are you using to do your blasting.
dont no if you have been on the kz site lots of helpfull stuff there http://www.armbell.com/forum/index.php?mforum=kz400

 

[slushie07]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

Yea I am a member of the KZ site as well, and I have been using a 1hp 2 gallon tank, it was pretty cheap and works alright for me. Ideally I would have something with a 20 gallon tank and 2 or 3hp, but that can wait till I get out of college. You can actually see the tank in the 2nd pic on the first page of the post in the background.

 

[hillsy]

Re: 1976 KZ400 Cafe Transformation (First Motorcycle)

I had painted the crankcase with duplicolor engine enamel, but that was before I bulit my blasting cabinet, so I plan on blasting off the duplicolor and appling VHT high heat engine paint as I have heard it is a better product. I plan to blast all the engine pieces that will be painted and apply VHT silver to the crankcase, and head and valve cover and breather cap. I will apply VHT black to the block.

Nice work so far

I hope you're planning to strip the bottom end? I would think (judging from this pic ^^^) that some blast medium would have gotten into the cam chain tunnel and down into the crankcase

Also, I plan on ditching my centrestand on my cafe build and just run a side stand. I built a race stand for my fighter, and I plan to use it (or make another) for the cafe.

Keep up the good work ;D