1975 KZ400D - restore project

Hey Everyone,
I bought this bike when I was 15 for $650.00 (in 1992). My first bike. It was my only vehicle for a year or so in/around 98. Rain, sleet, and snow riding really took a toll on it. Rode the heck out of it until fall of 2000, when the wheel bearings wore out, and instead of fixing it, I went and I bought a crotchrocket. (booo)! It sat, most of the time, outdoors for a good 5 years, travelling around from the places I lived. One day, I decided to get my shit together and organize my life (and stuff). I had big plans for this bike, took it all the way down to the frame. Bought a parts cadaver (1977 kz400 w the faring and saddlebags). Polished the heck out of the motor, bought some parts, had the wheel bearings replaced, the front shocks rebuilt, and got bamboozled by some old timer biker who charged me 2 arms and a leg to get the frame powercoated. Then I landed a new job within my career that would have me travelling overseas most of the year, so the bike once again had to be put on the back burner. Fast forward to 2014, I was living in South Florida, had a big 2 car garage, and had some months at home, so I turned the garage into a mini-workshop for the KZ. My Swedish girl at the time was very handy, and polished a lot of the parts for me. I swear my rear shocks look like new haha. When we split up later that year, I moved back to Pittsburgh, and once again the bike just sat there in boxes and crates, collecting dust. About 2 months ago, I DJed a friends wedding, and found out he and his friends opened a custom bagger shop on the other side of town. Tim, from Unit 6 Motoring, recently offered to help me rebuild and recondition my KZ, and even offered to let me use some space, tools and his expert knowledge n help at his shop!
We are 2 weeks in to the kz rebuild, and we put the motor on the frame last night. Its starting to look like a bike again, after being in pieces for nearly 18 years. I am beyond excited, and appreciate this forum and the old forum I used to go to over at kz400.com
Im going to post here the progress on this build, with some pictures from said build, and also try to dig up some pictures of it from back in the days. Thank you to the mods and site creator for having such a place on the web, containing a ton of great information and people who share the same passions for old metric Kawi's as I do.

Looks like a good (re)start! I finally got my KZ440 just about finished after carting it around for almost 20 years. Hoping to pick up a friend's KZ400 sometime next year. It's been a project of his he hasn't had time to work on... Which part of the 'burgh are you in? I'm in the South Hills...

The bike is over in McKees Rocks at my buds shop, I live out in Jefferson Hills in the South Hills. Small world indeed!

Welcome. We like the 400s around here.
I think if I had a Swedish GF who like to polish things I would have kept her :laugh:

I agree about the gf, but her heart was back home and I couldnt be there as she wanted. Importantly, shes happy and thats really all that matters. But damn she was one hella polisher haha. Waiting on parts to come in now, should be back working on the bike Monday. Still hoping to find a right side cover plastic trim piece NOS. Most everything else has been redone or bought NOS. Thanks!

I have been having one hell of a time logging on and viewing this website, I dont know whats going on, but lets hope it gets better.

Been out of town for a bit, but got to work on the bike yesterday, and made some more progress. I do have some questions that Im hoping someone here can answer, or help me locate a few parts.

So Im putting a 1977 KZ400A1-Deluxe gastank on the 75 kz400D. The inside of the 75's tank was coated 21 years ago, and its just shot (while the 77 gastank is mint). My first question is, does anyone have a link to a petcock rebuild kit? CMSNL has a few of the parts, but not all. They are missing the strainer and the 4 holed gasket that goes on the front side (from their schematics at: www.cmsnl.com/kawasaki-kz400a1-1977-usam...t/51419.html#results ) they are missing 2 parts I need, part 16, and part 18.

My next question is quite confusing to me. So I bought the 75 in the early 90s. It never had a "fuse box". After doing further inspection, it looks like whomever owned this bike before me cut the fusebox off the bike. I did notice a few splices in the wire harness. I guess if the bike ran fine without it, then I dont need to worry about it, yes? haha

Does anyone here know anyone who could restore my turn signal switch left/engine on-off right housings? I thought about doing it myself, but my hands shake too much. I thought about putting the KZ900 switches on (theres an extra wire on each side as it utilizes all the options on the switches) and just taking that one wire out of each side. Z1 has them for 40 each (which is quite fair to be honest). Has anyone tried this or done this with success?

I really appreciate all the help you all have given to me so far on this rebuild, attached to this post is an updated picture. I have a bunch of free time next week, so Im going to work on the bike alot next week so Ill update here then. Thanks again!

So, disregard the signal switches, due to the site being hard to log on, I did not see the replies in the other thread. I am going to give it a shot and clean em up and paint them myself. Thank you all for the valuable info, much appreciated.

The common remedy for a bad/missing 4 hole petcock gasket is to source one for an early CB750. Not an exact fit but worked well enough in my 76 400D.

CMS ended up having most of the parts to rebuild the petcock, minus the Strainer Kawi part # 51038010 - I found one in Germany, my friend there is inquiring about it. Mine has a hole in the one side Seen a guy selling one on Ebay for 40$ - no thanks haha

Lots of wiring today, polishing bolts and such. Got the airbox and battery box installed, and put the forks on the triple tree. Its starting to look like a motorcycle again!

Quick note: Be careful about ordering carb rebuild kits via ebay. A company was claiming that the 75kz400D takes the CVB 36mm but in fact it does not, the proper one (thanks to the guys at Z1) is the CVB32 . Im losing a weeks worth of rebuild, sending back the wrong one and ordering the right one from Z1. Im noticing if I want the proper parts the first time, I should order from Z1 or CMSnl.

I avoid carb rebuild kits as a rule. The only parts you should need are the gaskets/O-rings. Everything else can be cleaned. If you have to re-jet you should search out genuine Mikuni or Keihin jets. For the needle valves I buy the Viton tipped ones in bulk from Z1.
Bike looks great. Keep up the good work. Mine is grounded until I can figure out a way to get the front caliper working again.