78 kz400 cafe build

What color should I paint my headlight bucket?????

  • Red

    Votes: 4 17.4%
  • White

    Votes: 4 17.4%
  • Silver

    Votes: 8 34.8%
  • Silver with red and white stripes (match tank)

    Votes: 9 39.1%

  • Total voters
    23
  • Poll closed .
I will have to look into that. did you just grind off the chrome to weld it?

valvesprung said:
The Norton seamless peashooters on my KZ just simply rip. I love the sound. Deep and throaty at idle, with that gnarly Britist type rasp at high RPM. Not for the faint of heart, but quieter and less droney than m custom baffle set up before it.

They go for $130/pair on Ebay and I think Dime City has them now too. We simply cut off the stock mufflers, welded these on, slipped the little heat sheilds back on over the seam, and I bent two extremely simple brackets from 1/8" flat bar and bolted through the passenger peg brackets...

If you like some serious bite from your exhaust you will love these...not TOOOOOO loud though :)
 
I cut my stock headers and turned them in, now I need to make a collector and figure out where I want it to come out. It looks like I will be removing the center stand...oh well It will shave a few more pounds. HAs anyone made their own collector? If so what did you use? Sorry the pictures are a little blurry, but you get the picture.
 

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As far as bars go, just buy some clubmans and throw them on there. If you love them, keep em. If you don't, keep your eye out for a great deal on some clipons. Thats what I did at least.

Honestly I liked them both. The clubmans (IMO) give the bike more a vintage look while the clipons give it more of a modernish race bike look.

In my build you can see my bike with both sets of bars on it for reference.
 
That is a good idea I can get a set of clubmans for $20 if I dont like them, its not much of a loss.

treitz said:
As far as bars go, just buy some clubmans and throw them on there. If you love them, keep em. If you don't, keep your eye out for a great deal on some clipons. Thats what I did at least.

Honestly I liked them both. The clubmans (IMO) give the bike more a vintage look while the clipons give it more of a modernish race bike look.

In my build you can see my bike with both sets of bars on it for reference.
 
good morning . your bike is realy turning out nice ! the rear sets would make your grandfather very happy. Just came in from a ride .when you wanna go?
 
That was a good first ride! No one broke down or wrecked, I hope it will be a little warmer next time. then we can go farther.


Epic retry said:
good morning . your bike is realy turning out nice ! the rear sets would make your grandfather very happy. Just came in from a ride .when you wanna go?
 
I like your rearsets, I'm going to have to drill mine out some time, yours are a good counterpoint.
Nice build btw, it's reassuring to see another one not trying to be pristine from the onset.
 
Thank you. I'm going for the vintage look, but not accurate or restored origional.

Erskine said:
I like your rearsets, I'm going to have to drill mine out some time, yours are a good counterpoint.
Nice build btw, it's reassuring to see another one not trying to be pristine from the onset.
 
I would love to have shown him. It feels good to use his tools. PS you need to get a profile picture. ::)

Epic retry said:
good morning . your bike is realy turning out nice ! the rear sets would make your grandfather very happy. Just came in from a ride .when you wanna go?
 
Exactly, clubmans are cheap. And if your lucky you can resell them for what you paid for them down the road if you want to.
 
I have decided to go with clip-ons. I am cheap so I am going to machine them myself. I got out some aluminum and started brain storming. I cant decide how I want to do this. Any Idea's?
 

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Good luck! Wish I had the tools and abilities to machine things like that.

Look forward to seeing what you come up with!
 
MILLENNIUM FALCON said:
I have decided to go with clip-ons. I am cheap so I am going to machine them myself. I got out some aluminum and started brain storming. I cant decide how I want to do this. Any Idea's?

If it were me - I would make the clamps from 40mm thick alli - the profile simply having the same diameter round cutout as your forks. Then a cross cut probably around 2-3 mm wide into one side. Drill across your cross cut and tap. This would form the bases of a clamp. Then get alli tubing and tap into the side of the 40mm clamp. This would form the bars. A bit of work, but really quite doable... Very cool - looking forward to seeing what you come up with...
 
Thanks for the input. There really aren't many DIY clips ons out there.


Dale said:
If it were me - I would make the clamps from 40mm thick alli - the profile simply having the same diameter round cutout as your forks. Then a cross cut probably around 2-3 mm wide into one side. Drill across your cross cut and tap. This would form the bases of a clamp. Then get alli tubing and tap into the side of the 40mm clamp. This would form the bars. A bit of work, but really quite doable... Very cool - looking forward to seeing what you come up with...
 
Sorry guys I know I have been slacking on this build. I wish I had more time to work on the kz. This has been a crazy week. I'll get back at her as soon as I can.
 
For the clip-ons, it might be hard to machine in a downward angle for the bars, since that is probably what will be more comfortable. Depending on your machining equipment it could be quite simple, I have machined some parts with crazy angles in them on a manual mill before with nothing other than a digital protractor. I mention this because I am also looking into building my own set of clip-ons, though I am planning on going with the steel/weldment fabrication method since thats what I find easier and more robust. Would love to see how yours come out since I am working on KZ550.
 
I have an angle vise and a indexing compound head mill so the angle shouldn't be a problem. I also thought about making a straight hole through my clamp and just putting a bend on the end of my bars like ROC CITY CAFE's adjustable clips ons are built. That would be the easy way, I just need to make up my mind on how I want to do it. I havnt really had any time to sit down and lay it out. Let me know how your 550 comes out.


DoubleL3 said:
For the clip-ons, it might be hard to machine in a downward angle for the bars, since that is probably what will be more comfortable. Depending on your machining equipment it could be quite simple, I have machined some parts with crazy angles in them on a manual mill before with nothing other than a digital protractor. I mention this because I am also looking into building my own set of clip-ons, though I am planning on going with the steel/weldment fabrication method since thats what I find easier and more robust. Would love to see how yours come out since I am working on KZ550.
 
I wish I had a mill with the cool vises and tools... I have used them before but I don't have unlimited access for my projects.

When I finish the dual front disc conversion Ill start a thread on it, I just havent had the time with a camera to take any glamour shots ;D
 
Finaly started milling things down. I got the stock roughed out. I will start boring holes tomorrow.
 

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