1979 Kawasaki KZ400h LTD, or in over my head.

Found this bike lying against a tree five years ago with a "free"sign on it. As I had been yelling at the TV during that time-period from too much OCC/American Chopper I believed that if those dolts could build a bike then certainly I could. I stripped it down,  cleaned up the frame and tank,  covered in etching primer, and let it sit. And get in the way. 

No more. So this happened this week. It spins over on the starter and with some cleaning of the points we were able to get spark. With a coffee can standing in as a tank we fed it fuel and it popped a little but wouldn't actually start. Proof of concept reached we set our goals on some parts and seeing if we could get it running. Parts on order. 

Looks like a bike which has done some serious sitting. Cleaned out the carbs at all? Or are carbs the "parts on order"? 

Carbs were pulled and getting rebuilt. Thankfully not too many parts on them and in pretty good shape. 

This may be totally useless or redundant info, but it dawns on me to mention that I've had trouble with carb kits with utterly incorrect needle shapes... Don't forget to compare bits with originals.

Anyhow, have fun! Hope it fires up soon!

I took my initial motorcycle test on my buddy's 400 LTD.

Seeing it in this state, I'm thinking a kick ass bobber!

If the carbs are Keihins,  they are fairly easy to rebuild and tune.  Make sure the gas tan is clean.  Good luck on the build.

Mikunis iirc. 

Considering board-track/cafe racer or maybe scrambler. That decision is a bit off however.

I do like this look however. 

SaltyDog said:

I took my initial motorcycle test on my buddy's 400 LTD.

Seeing it in this state, I'm thinking a kick ass bobber!

Exactly my first thought.  

In reply to vwcorvette :

You might be right on the Mikunis.  Not bad either.  I like the cafe look.  Light and quick.

Do the cafe look. I love watching those get built

Points ordered and arrived. Waiting for carb kit to arrive. Oh yeah, and finding time to get back to it!

In reply to vwcorvette :

Glad to hear you're making progress.  One cool thing about bike builds, they don't take up near as much room as a car/truck.  And they're not a necessary evil for transportation.  Here's to hoping it fires up, first try.

Got it running but the right carb was passing fuel out the overflow drain.  Pulled the float bowl to check and discovered a split in the overflow tube. That line you see is a split not a pen mark. 

Congrats on getting it up and running!   If you can’t find a replacement tube or bowl, I’d think some Jb weld would work well. They make a few for use submerged in gas. 

jfryjfry said:

Congrats on getting it up and running!   If you can’t find a replacement tube or bowl, I’d think some Jb weld would work well. They make a few for use submerged in gas. 

Thought of JB weld,  but a few clicks later I ordered one off of eBay. 

Sounds Jetsons-like with no exhaust. 

In reply to vwcorvette :

Copy the video URL and paste it in the Insert Media Embed block. Click OK.

In reply to fasted58 :

Haha,  was looking at the Pikes Peak thread and found the same suggestion. Thanks! 

Good news today. After some fumbling around with the carbs we were able to get the bike running and idling on TWO cylinders. This marks a turning point in the build as now I can go ahead and buy parts tobget things together for a proper bike. I didn't want to do anything until certain it would run. Very happy today. Sorry no pics or video. 

In honor of the first day of spring here's an artsy shot of last Autumn's hard work. WFH will give me time to update this thread.

Looks great!

I think blacking out the wheels like the one posted earlier would work well too.

In reply to Run_Away :

I like that idea. I had to add a rear fender to pass inspection so I flat blacked that. Will do the front as well.

Here it is pre paint.

This is what you get when you have two new tires installed, add a fender, and get the carbs working well enough to ride. It passed inspection. More pics to come. I'm learning a lot. Like, carbs hate starting cold. Seems to be a little lean. Have to open the choke slowly or it will stumble and die. And sometimes the left carb acts up. Should I consider Mikunis? Are they that much easier than the original Keihins?

I could technically call this build done, but there are little things I'd like to clean up or detail. Like flat black on the front fender to match the rear and possibly paint the rims. More pics to come.

First ever in my life long ride on a motorcycle today into Burlington, Vermont. Here parked in front of my wife's store.