1974 KZ400 Cafe Racer Build

Hi all. I had been looking for a while for a small cc bike to do a cafe build on.. Mostly looking at CB350s, but they're too pricey and too common. Then, just this past Monday, I happened upon this little gem; My 1974 KZ400! The price was fair, the title is clean, tank is spotless inside, a few small dings outside, it runs good and rides well, looks decent, but is in need of a full restoration, so it became the basis for my full on cafe build. It even came with a rolling parts bike. No motor in the parts bike, but just about everything else came with it.

Big plans for this bike. I'm in the teardown and mock up phase right now and it's coming along nicely so far.
Chopped & lowered front fender (done)
Remove side stand and just use center stand (done)
"Bonneville" cafe seat (ordered)
Billet aluminum rearsets (ordered)
Billet aluminum clip ons (upside down dirt bike handlebars on it for now)
Complete top and bottom end engine rebuild (maybe have the cam welded and reground for a little more ooomph)
New chain and sprockets and all other wear items
Mikuni VM32 carbs w/velocity stacks (I have 2 sets of the stock CVs for sale if anyone is interested.)
Custom open exhaust with up-swept tail pipe
Billet Aluminum adjustable shocks w/rezzies & 2 upper mounting positions on frame (ordered)
Smoothed Frame w/up-swept tail hoop
Lithium battery, solenoid, rectifier, tool kit, signal relay, etc located inside tail housing on custom made 16 gauge steel tray
Knee indents in gas tank
Aluminum Brake Stay Rod w/Holes Drilled
Oil Pressure Gauge (w/angled fitting so it points outward) On Motor In Place Of Oil Sender
Custom urethane basecoat/clearcoat paintjob w/racing stripes and numbers
Custom aluminum dash panel
Hidden wiring in the frame
And probably about 70 other things that I'm not seeing on my project sheet right now. lol

The first 7 pics are how the bike was when it came home with me. Photo 8 is the parts bike (obviously lol) and the rest are how the project is flowin'.

More pics....

Candi

Cool! You go girl!

Btw, I like the inverted bars. Much more vintage cafe than clipons IMO. Looking forward to watching the build.

Thanks! We had the bars lying around so I just threw 'em on to approximate clubmans or clip ons and get those horrendous stock ape hangers off the bike. Funny thing was.... When I mocked up the seat height and the rearsets location, and hopped on, the upside down dirt bike bars are actually pretty dern comfy! I was hoping to keep the stock front brake master cylinder because the brake has just such a fabulous feel to it, but if I end up polishing up the dirtbike bars and using them, I'll either have to go with a remote rezzy m/c or use shorty grips. No biggy either way. It's all about customizing to my taste.

By the way, I saw the 1000ST you just picked up in the "I HATE YOU PEOPLE" thread; Very nice!

Cant wait to hear the tread why doesnt my fricken cafe bike run. OH AND BEFORE ANYONE JUMPS ON MY ASS FOR SAYING SOMITHING GO PISS UP A ROPE

You'll be waiting a long, loooong time for that thread.

Don't mind them, it's like noob hazing. You obviously have more than a clue about what you want and how to do it. They'll settle down once they see some progress. There have been a ton of grandiose visions started here that turned into scrap heaps and they would rather not watch that happen. Your project is much more ambitious than mine but I'm sure it will turn out great.

Time to lighten up on the new guys... (and gals).

Two things hope you reconcider.
1) 32s are way to big for a 398 cc engine seeing street duty.
My experience is that 28s are just right for 443cc (KZ440)
on the street.
2) Aluminum brake rod? How about using a steel tube.

Also measure twice, cut once.

And ..... www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=39120.0#lastPost

GPzMOD750 wrote: Don't mind them, it's like noob hazing. You obviously have more than a clue about what you want and how to do it. They'll settle down once they see some progress. There have been a ton of grandiose visions started here that turned into scrap heaps and they would rather not watch that happen. Your project is much more ambitious than mine but I'm sure it will turn out great.

Time to lighten up on the new guys... (and gals).

Thank you for the nice message. I understand that no one wants to see a nice 'ole bike hacked to death. I hate seeing that as well. I just wish people would have a little more faith. Just because I'm new here and a female doesn't mean I'm not an excellent designer, fabricator and mechanic. I only bought the bike 5 days ago and have made incredible progress already. I think my project outline is very tame, actually. Cafe bikes are simple; Strip off the dead weight, correct the bad engineering where possible, make it look good, and most importantly, make it SAFE. No corner cutting, no undersized gussets, nothing that's merely "good enough". If it isn't "great", I re-do it.

My timeline is to have a complete painted and powder coated roller by the holiday season, take some time away from it for the holidays, maybe a month or so, and start building the motor mid-late winter and have the bike ready for April +/-.

Nebr_Rex wrote: Two things hope you reconcider.
1) 32s are way to big for a 398 cc engine seeing street duty.
My experience is that 28s are just right for 443cc (KZ440)
on the street.
2) Aluminum brake rod? How about using a steel tube.

Also measure twice, cut once.

And ..... www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=39120.0#lastPost

Thank you, Rex. I've read a few guys post about how they bought the "ready-to-run" VM30 kit for their 74-75 KZ400 and it was too lean out of the box, despite supposedly being jetted for the bike. And the only mods they had were shorty mufflers and pods. Since I'm seriously considering a cam upgrade and a few other engine upgrades, my initial plan calls for the 32's, but I won't purchase the carbs until toward the end.

The stock steel "slat" brake rod, to me, is ugly, plain and weighs too much. I could put lightening holes in it, but I just prefer aluminum where feasible. Part of the theme for my project is to make the bike as light as possible without sacrificing safety. I can go with a slightly thicker and wider aluminum piece and still save weight while improving the look. As for measure twice, cut once, I'm one of those ocd people who measures 4-5 times, then marks, then measures twice more, then cross-measures to check for square, then cuts.

I'm checking out your thread on DoTheTon right now. Looks AWESOME from what I've read and seen so far! Nice work!

Nebr_Rex wrote: Two things hope you reconcider.
1) 32s are way to big for a 398 cc engine seeing street duty.
My experience is that 28s are just right for 443cc (KZ440)
on the street.
2) Aluminum brake rod? How about using a steel tube.

Also measure twice, cut once.

And ..... www.dotheton.com/forum/index.php?topic=39120.0#lastPost

I like the motor work you did. Actually, I like all the work you did. A few more of the things on the engine section of my project outline are lightening the crank, decking the head, cleaning up the ports, or perhaps doing a port job, (I've read that the stock 400 ports are a little on the thin side, which gives me pause.) So now you have me considering a 440 top end, or at least going with the 650 pistons. I don't want to stray from my initial outline too much, but I'm flexible, and if I find something along the way that's an upgrade over my original plan, I'll most likely go for it. But, I also want to leave some room for future upgrades. There's nothing I like more than the seat of the pants feel of an extra hp or 2, or losing a couple lbs off the bike.

By the way, this has been bugging me since I bought the bike, and I've seen it on all un-modded early 400 bikes; What's up with the "cracked" front of the crankcase just below the cylinder deck in the front? Is that simply because the cases were sand-cast and they just "snapped" them out of the molds when they were ready? Either way, that's definitely getting cleaned up before painting.

The problem with aluminum is it will break. It has a poor memory. Bend it one way, then the other and a crack will develop. Steel is more forgiving.
Steve