New Member 1974 KZ400

All I can say is welcome. Sounds like you know what you're doing, it's your bike and you can do what you want with it.
Steve

Welcome Aboard, Candi, & don't get 650ed wrong, It's just that we've seen TOOOOO many newbies get on here & start their café builds, hack up the frames, put removed parts in boxes only to see the hacked up frame & boxes of parts trying to be sold on e-bay for peanuts, because they never finished what they started, thus, another KZ gone to the graveyard, ...You on the other hand look like you know what you're doing & have a vision you're going to complete in a well thought out & tasteful plan, GOOD LUCK on your build, I'll be watching & maybe throwing in my 2 cents
P.S. sorry you & Ed got off on the wrong foot,, & I'm sure you will really get to like him , 650ed is one of the most knowledgeable & helpful people on this forum, as long as you finish your vision we're all behind you, .....& I'm not saying that because I'm Greek, :laugh: :laugh:
once again, GOOD LUCK, & I'm looking forward to following the progress on your build
Pete

swest wrote: All I can say is welcome. Sounds like you know what you're doing, it's your bike and you can do what you want with it.
Steve

Thank you, Steve. I appreciate that.

pete greek1 wrote: Welcome Aboard, Candi, & don't get 650ed wrong, It's just that we've seen TOOOOO many newbies get on here & start their café builds, hack up the frames, put removed parts in boxes only to see the hacked up frame & boxes of parts trying to be sold on e-bay for peanuts, because they never finished what they started, thus, another KZ gone to the graveyard, ...You on the other hand look like you know what you're doing & have a vision you're going to complete in a well thought out & tasteful plan, GOOD LUCK on your build, I'll be watching & maybe throwing in my 2 cents
P.S. sorry you & Ed got off on the wrong foot,, & I'm sure you will really get to like him , 650ed is one of the most knowledgeable & helpful people on this forum, as long as you finish your vision we're all behind you, .....& I'm not saying that because I'm Greek, :laugh: :laugh:
once again, GOOD LUCK, & I'm looking forward to following the progress on your build
Pete

Thanks, Pete! Yeah, Ed and I just got off on the wrong foot. No biggie. We seem to be fine now. I can totally understand and relate to the frustration of seeing too many overly excited new folks with little to no bike experience, no service manual and no mechanical ability just tearing into a machine willy nilly. We have a small, but well equipped home-based shop and buy a lot of dirt bikes (and sell off the parts as a side biz) from folks who tore them apart and don't feel like or don't know how to put them back together. We make a half decent living just off of that, plus his real world job.

I'm totally enthused about this build, but I know how to cool off, slow down and not jump ahead. Instead of getting all nutty on the big stuff, I'll stop and do a TINY little job, like for instance, I just finned and polished the freakin' rectifier for better cooling, and that's going to be mounted on the custom tray under the hump (won't even be seen until the seat is off, but there will be ducting to get air flow to the rectifier). And yesterday I spent (too many) hours just cutting and metal working the front fender to the size & shape I wanted as well as lowering it a whole 3/8". lol It's all in the details. I can only guestimate at this point, but I'll probably be 500 or more hours into the bike by the time it's done. I've been keeping track of my hours and labor on my project sheet and I'm already 27 hours into it, counting all the endless research and planning.

I'm always happy to have a Greek man behind me! (I can't believe I just said that) lol

I'm always happy to have a Greek man behind me! (I can't believe I just said that) lol
LMAO, :laugh: :laugh:
the more I hear you talk about your ability & knowledge , the more I know It's going to be a Beautiful build
Pete

pete greek1 wrote: I'm always happy to have a Greek man behind me! (I can't believe I just said that) lol
LMAO, :laugh: :laugh:
the more I hear you talk about your ability & knowledge , the more I know It's going to be a Beautiful build
Pete

Thanks Pete. I'm certainly going to give it my all and give it the love it deserves.

It's funny how a seemingly nice, original bike can have so many little issues and gremlins. All 4 wires leading to the ignition switch had been monkeyed with and all 4 were exposed. :ohmy: How this thing even started is beyond me. Even though I'll be using a new switch, I'll still rewire and solder this one before we put it on ebay.

Also, the choke mechanism on both carbs was completely pulled out of the plungers and the ferule and rod were completely out of adjustment. I've since repaired that and adjusted it properly before it goes on "the bay".. Really nice carbs, the bike ran well, idled semi-smoothly, but had a little stumble off idle. Probably just a few microns of debris in the pilot circuit...

Welcome aboard! It is always nice to see a new member who is actively engaged with the hobby, and it is extra nice to have a new female member as there have been too few here.

I've been a member here for a number of years and lurked for a while before that. I'm sure that I have been mistaken about more than my share of things and I've no doubt tweaked some noses along the way, but some of 650Ed's interactions of late leave me bewildered and concerned. He has been here a good long time as well, and until recently, he has been a congenial font of knowledge. Responses like the ones above seem out of character and leave me wondering if something unusually stressful is going on in his life.

At any rate, we look forward to your build. Please be aware that there are some serious picture addicts around here :whistle:

Wow, what was the P O thinking when he rigged up the ignition like that, :sick:

Hot wired. Tho I'm not a fan of "cafe/Bobbers" some do get done tastefully and have some improvements albeit rare. Some of the builds here are just FANTASTIC, others not. I shudder when someone says they want to "Bob" a Z1. I grimace when they do it to a KZ or a KZP. All too often they are sold that way and sometimes for what a pristine bike will fetch. :sick: I'd like to find a 75 Z1b in bad shape, transfer all my goodies to it, then build a canyon carver out of this one. (salvage title). Maybe one day. :whistle:
Keep us up to date with pics, PLS.
Steve

TexasKZ wrote: Welcome aboard! It is always nice to see a new member who is actively engaged with the hobby, and it is extra nice to have a new female member as there have been too few here.

I've been a member here for a number of years and lurked for a while before that. I'm sure that I have been mistaken about more than my share of things and I've no doubt tweaked some noses along the way, but some of 650Ed's interactions of late leave me bewildered and concerned. He has been here a good long time as well, and until recently, he has been a congenial font of knowledge. Responses like the ones above seem out of character and leave me wondering if something unusually stressful is going on in his life.

At any rate, we look forward to your build. Please be aware that there are some serious picture addicts around here :whistle:

Thank you for the warm welcome! I know about the whole female thing.. Not many of us are into this sort of hobby, that's for sure. I get it a lot at cruise nights, etc. but I've been told more than once that I remind people of Marissa Tomei's character in "My Cousin Vinny" but without the annoying accent "Only two caaaws came wit dat model tiya.. A 68 Pawniac Tempest anna Cawvette, an nobawdy's gonna mistake a Tempest for a Cawvette..." ) My apologies to anyone who hasn't seen that classic movie and doesn't know the courtroom scene lol)

As far as Ed goes, I'm a big girl with thick skin and, in all fairness, I got a little nasty as well. All seems to have been forgotten now. Perhaps he's just tired of seeing halfwits tear up and ruin perfectly good bikes, which is understandable.

Photos won't be a problem, though I almost didn't post the switch and carb pics because I don't want to bore anyone. It's going to be a slow, methodical build, so don't expect mind-blowing pics every day. Just every few days <j/k>

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

swest wrote: Hot wired. Tho I'm not a fan of "cafe/Bobbers" some do get done tastefully and have some improvements albeit rare. Some of the builds here are just FANTASTIC, others not. I shudder when someone says they want to "Bob" a Z1. I grimace when they do it to a KZ or a KZP. All too often they are sold that way and sometimes for what a pristine bike will fetch. :sick: I'd like to find a 75 Z1b in bad shape, transfer all my goodies to it, then build a canyon carver out of this one. (salvage title). Maybe one day. :whistle:
Keep us up to date with pics, PLS.
Steve

I most definitely wouldn't mess with a Z1 if it was in the kind of shape my 400 was in. There were a bunch of 400s for sale nearby when I bought mine, but none were in such good shape, and all were actually more expensive. So I basically bought the most bike for the money.

A nicely modded KZ400 went for $5200 on eBay last night:

Amazing what some people will spend money on. Lets see if it gets paid for or not. Been there.
This is what I started with.
Steve