Mal King's 1976 Kawasaki KH 400 restoration

Not long afterwards, I happened upon an ad for another Kawasaki triple - a later (1976) KH400. Supposedly, these are a much nicer bike to ride than the S2. After seeing a couple of photos, you can guess what happened next! I jumped in and had the bike shipped up from Victoria.

The Start
Although this was my first resto, I felt reasonably confident I could see the job through. I had decided to be quite methodical, buying a stack of storage bins and a large note book. I photographed every part as it was removed and logged down every screw type, length, head type, etc., then stored the part ready for the next stage: clean up, replate, replace. Not having any trade contacts, I went purely on recommendations on which people to use for things like rechroming, painting, etc. Club membership comes in handy at this stage, especially if, like me, you are new to an area. I chose powder coating for the frame and some ancillary parts, based on cost and durability. I know a lot of folks prefer a more original paint finish, but I had decided not to be too precious on this. I didn't stray far from the original - just things like tapered head race bearings, braided lines, modern tyres, stainless steel spokes... you get the idea.

It was then time to take stock and make yet another list of parts that were missing or beyond redemption. Where possible, I tried to obtain NOS replacements. This is when you're pleased you chose a model with good spares back up. I went through a learning curve, but am pretty sure I now know most of the main players in the supply of vintage Kawasaki parts. It's amazing how much new old stock is still available from Kawasaki themselves. With all the bits either away at the finishers or cleaned, repainted and waiting in storage bins, I chose to take my list of replacement nuts, bolts and washers to the local stockist. In my case, everything was very sensibly (thanks, Kawasaki) in metric threads. I chose to use "nyloc" self locking nuts in place of spring washers and plain nuts wherever possible.

Engine & Carburettors
It was then time to have a look at the motor. I had prised out the rubber engine mounts earlier and would have replaced them, but was unable to source any new ones. So I lubricated the old ones with "just like new" rubber enhancer ready for reassembly. The motor appeared in good condition externally, so I just blocked off the important little places and gave it a degrease and hose down. Next I removed the carburettors. They were completely gummed up, but easily stripped and cleaned with the help of some proprietary carb cleaner and a good brush for the outside castings.
The engine had good compression so I limited the work to just removing the cylinder heads for a check inside. The engine internals looked to be in excellent condition and generally very clean. I masked up the heads and went to a local shop for a very light sandblast. After replacing the heads, happy that I had ordered the new gasket set, I masked and sprayed the barrel and heads with high temp aluminium finish paint. Once I had hand polished the engine casings, I was quite satisfied with the overall effect.

On the home straight
Next was the good part, when all the new and refinished parts started to arrive. I spent the best part of a day checking that I had all the parts back from the powder coaters and started to clear all the threads, earthing points and the like of unwanted powder coat. They had done an excellent job, but it was quite difficult to remove some of the baked on masking material. I also had one piece missing which they could not find, so I found a local machinist to make up a new chain adjuster block from the pattern I already had. Although only a small cost in itself, it all adds up. Rather more disappointing was the powder coat on the inside of the fork stanchions and brake master cylinder. I count myself fortunate to have found somebody skilled enough to hone the parts clear of powder coat. The same people rebuilt the forks and brake caliper.

The rebuild
I started the rebuild proper by fitting the swing arm. With new steel bushes in place and armed with digital photos for reference, I carefully inserted the freshly greased swing arm bolt from the correct side and slid on the plain washer and new nyloc nut. Same process to fit the steering stem with the new tapered bearings, followed by the fork legs themselves. The wheels were next, followed by the battery holder, air box and rear wheel guard. I decided to fit the engine back in at this stage, too. With all the lightly greased engine bolts arranged in order and some rag on the frame to look after the fresh powder coat, a mate helped me offer the engine up into the frame while my wife slipped in the engine bolts. With the light weight of the Kawasaki engine, it really was that easy. I tightened everything to the correct torque with the steering head bearings adjusted in the time-honoured fashion. It was starting to look like a bike now!

Easily done?
After fitting the headlight shell, it was time to install the wiring loom. Even with the photos as reference, I managed to get it the wrong way round on one of the frame tubes. Suffice to say, I got a bit angry at this point and it took quite a while to feed it back through without straining the cabling. Once everything was back in the right place, I fully connected the wiring loom and tensioned the securing cable ties. I connected up all the control cables and checked the cable runs and roughly adjusted the carburettors and clutch while they were still easy to get to.

Happy days
On the home straight now. Time to bolt on the newly chromed exhaust system. All I needed now was the new paintwork. I eventually got it back and what a superb job, I just could not fault it. A couple of hours later, it was on the bike. Of course, it was not really finished, as I had to check all the fixings were tightened up to the correct torque, all the circlips, etc. were fitted correctly, and a few more things. As I was lucky enough to have another triple to ride, I decided to leave this one in a dry stored state, so resisted the temptation to add fuel and oil and swing on the kick-start.

Time to contemplate
In case I've made it all sound like plain sailing, I can assure you I had the customary grazed knuckles, dummy spits and "is it all worth its?" along the way. Has it all been worthwhile? In dollar terms, probably not. But in terms of keeping a little bit of two stroke triple history going, it was most definitely worthwhile. My thanks go to Brisbane Nameplate (chrome platers) (07) 3277 3566 and Brisbane Powder Coaters (07) 3277 2075, who are both in Salisbury on Brisbane's Southside. Northside Fasteners (07) 3205 2071 is at Lawnton, and is run by Kork Ballington, a name that should be familiar to older bike racing fans.

With other projects in mind, I've decided to sell this bike - and a restored 1972 Kawasaki S2 350 - to fund the next challenge. Asking price is $8,500 firm for the freshly restored KH400 and $5,500 firm for the S2. Call me on (07) 3289 1628 for more details.

By Mal King

Source: JUST BIKES, November 2010, Issue #257