New Member 1974 KZ400

swest wrote: 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

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing in regards to payment. $5200 is a tad strong for that bike, but not too bad IMHO. It all depends on the buyer's individual taste. We used to get a lot of deadbeat bidders, too, until we changed to "buy it now" listings that require immediate payment. We probably lose a few sales that way, but at least everything that gets bought gets paid for and we don't have the hassle of relisting items, putting in non-payment claims, etc

Nice bike you have there. Very clean looking. The more front fairings/windshields I see, the more I start considering a small one for my project. Maybe I'll put one on after it's done just to see how I like it.

Welcome to KZR, Nice 400. The little kz twins make great project bikes, they are inexpensive and kawasaki made an awful lot of them. The z400 can be found in almost every corner of the planet.


The early ones were styled like the Z1's to capitalize on the fame and allure of the big super bike. You don't see many of the early 400's with the original paint like that. If you're going to do a cafe racer, you would have no problem selling the tank, side covers, exhaust, seat, gauges, etc. Id even be interested in those parts...

How far do you plan to go with it, down to the frame and back?

There are some great projects to look at over on www.kz400.com as well.

If you haven't start a new thread in the Projects section of the forum and chronicle your build. There are a lot of people who can help out with parts, mechanics, and fabrication work.

Tyler wrote: Welcome to KZR, Nice 400. The little kz twins make great project bikes, they are inexpensive and kawasaki made an awful lot of them. The z400 can be found in almost every corner of the planet.

The early ones were styled like the Z1's to capitalize on the fame and allure of the big super bike. You don't see many of the early 400's with the original paint like that. If you're going to do a cafe racer, you would have no problem selling the tank, side covers, exhaust, seat, gauges, etc. Id even be interested in those parts...

How far do you plan to go with it, down to the frame and back?

There are some great projects to look at over on www.kz400.com as well.

If you haven't start a new thread in the Projects section of the forum and chronicle your build. There are a lot of people who can help out with parts, mechanics, and fabrication work.

Thanks, Tyler. Yup, I'm going all the way down to the frame and building it back up. I'm keeping the tank (it has a bunch of small dings, anyway.) and exhaust, but the seat, side covers, tank emblems, mirrors, pegs, brake pedal, mirrors, etc are already listed on eBay, with a lot more still to come.

Yes, KZ400.com is one of the first places I started looking after I bought the bike. Tons of great info there.

I already started a project thread with lots of pics. I only bought the bike on Monday, but it's coming along nicely so far.

One of my favorite movies, I saw My Cousin Vinny, when I was a YUTE . LOL , :laugh: :laugh:

pete greek1 wrote: One of my favorite movies, I saw My Cousin Vinny, when I was a YUTE . LOL , :laugh: :laugh:

"Yute"! lol :laugh: :laugh: Good stuff! That movie is almost as quotable as "A Christmas Story". lol

welcome to this great site Candi ,like the others have said you sound like you know what your doing ,i love all the old KZs ,and sounds like yours will look great ,ed is ok i know where he is coming from about not chopping up good bikes ,it happened to a lot of British bikes also
so a lot where lost forever ,now there worth a small fortune ,it is your bike so do what you like with it ,its just a pity its not reversible.i have a very very nice CSR 1000 and i think its beautiful and will never hack it up i Am also OCD it was bike of the month on here just gone

Welcome Candi.
Looking forward to your project.

rstnick wrote: Welcome Candi.
Looking forward to your project.

Thank you, guys. Here's the project thread: kzrider.com/forum/11-projects/599640-197...400-cafe-racer-build

I just picked the bike up 6 days ago (and BOY, was it heavy! rimshot!), so there isn't much to see yet. So far I've done extensive research (exhaustive, actually), formulated a ridiculously detailed project outline, labeled and removed the harness, removed all of the tabs & brackets that won't be reused, smoothed the frame, shortened, shaped and lowered the front fender, and a bunch of other little tasks. I still have to fit the "Bonneville" tail (about 20 times before I decide exactly how I want it lol, and then make the aluminum pan.) weld on the up swept rear frame hoop, fab and weld the 16 ga. battery tray in (tray will be louvered in order to cool the rectifier and all of the other electrical components that will be mounted under the hump), fab and weld the plate steel gussets for the rearsets which will double as mounting points for the exhaust hangers, then remove the 2 legs of the stock passenger peg/exhaust mounts that, to me, seem like they were "engineering afterthoughts", then mock up and weld the exhaust,and a handful of other things before I can remove the engine and complete the tear down. I'm also still considering completely re-doing the upper shock mounts to allow for 3-position adjustability for varying road/track conditions and ride heights. It's all pretty basic stuff. Nothing that's gonna set the world on fire, but I'm going to have a lot of fun doing it! My first timeline goal is to have a complete powder coated and painted roller before the winter sets in.

Candi