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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 5, 2018 9:20:42 GMT -5
The "Triple Bug" must be contagious because late last year my girlfriend picked up her first bike; a 1978 KH400. I'm still not sure if she actually likes triples or this is the only way she can get me to spend more time with her.....Either way I'm not complaining. The last few months it remained in storage (thanks Zambia!) with the exception of a trip to Mitch's for a tune up. This past weekend we finally brought the bike home and began working on the game plan. Since everything is in working order the bike will basically get an extreme make over. Clean everything up, New paint (goes out this week ), get rid of those nasty turn signals and bring back the original “70’s look” with a few upgrades. Hopefully try to keep on on a budget and get it done by May.... I said the same about my H2 2 years ago
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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 12, 2018 7:23:15 GMT -5
Spent a little bit of time working on the KH over the weekend. Just took my time removing front end components and labeling all the wires for an easier assembly. Similar to the RD350 I did I'll be focusing on one area at a time so that way there won't be a million things scattered in an already cluttered garage.
Without going TOO crazy the front end will have a good makeover with new: Paint, bearings, hardware, signals, fender, bars and master cylinder from an H1 for a more "retro" look.
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Post by Curtis on Mar 12, 2018 13:48:16 GMT -5
16 inch rear wheel or is it an 18? Looks great so far
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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 12, 2018 14:28:05 GMT -5
16 inch rear wheel or is it an 18? Looks great so far If I recall correctly it's a 16" back rim.
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Post by rpa101 on Mar 14, 2018 14:39:19 GMT -5
I think her bike would look better with spoke wheels 😁
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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 16, 2018 12:57:01 GMT -5
I think her bike would look better with spoke wheels 😁 Can't say that I disagree with you but at the end of the day it's not my bike and she's fallen in love with the gold mags
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Post by rpa101 on Mar 17, 2018 19:19:19 GMT -5
Lol I like the mags better , not to big on the spokes
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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 18, 2018 11:43:08 GMT -5
Picked away on the front end this week...new paint, bearings, hardware etc. It's been pretty cool working on this bike for Rachel. Despite not knowing much about bikes she's put in a lot of research and has designed the whole thing. With the help of my guidance I've even got her turning wrenches to reassemble everything.
After looking at my H2 she's decided she loved the wrinkle gauge pods so reluctantly I stripped her perfectly good set off the KH and sprayed it this morning with the VHT Wrinkle finish.
The body also went out to paint yesterday so I'm hoping that within 3-4 weeks we will have that back too. I don't want to give too much away but we're leaving the old KH paint behind and doing something a little more "Classic Kawasaki"
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Post by motocon on Mar 22, 2018 19:25:54 GMT -5
Looking good so far......enjoying the progress pics!
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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 26, 2018 9:07:14 GMT -5
And the assembled Gauge Pod Next up were the controls.... I swear i wasn't going to dig this deep into the bike All things considered the inside wasn't too bad. Everything worked and only needing a good cleaning with EvapoRust. The outer housings were a different story. I've seen worse but there was no way these were going back on the bike in this state. My 1st attempt was a total bust... Once the housings were repainted I tried to paint the lettering with both spray paint and model car paint (both applied with a brush). As you can see it just stuck to the black base and would not wipe clean. When I tried to clean it off with methanol it started removing the black and just made a mess of things. After consulting one of the members on the Triple Facebook Group I was given some new instructions and began Attempt #2. INSTRUCTIONS1) Strip the original paint off. 2) Apply 2 THIN coats of paint. (This will ensure an even coating but will not fill in the lettering) 3) VERY IMPORTANT: Apply 1 thin coat of clear to the base coat. 4) Using Acrylic Paint apply the paint to the lettering. -I used fine tipped Q-Tips to apply Paint. 5) While lettering is still wet wipe off excess paint. - I used as combination of DAMP Q-Tips and paper towel. *Repeat steps 4 & 5 until you have the desired results. 6) VERY CAREFULLY clean up the letters with a fine pin. (I did this under a microscope..but any magnifier would help) 7) Apply 2 final coats of clear. ***ALLOW AMPLE TIME FOR ALL PAINT/CLEAR TO DRY BETWEEN STEPS....DO NOT RUSH STEP 1) STEP 2/3) STEP 4) STEP 5) ASSEMBLY FINAL PRODUCT A FEW OTHER UPDATES: We also spent all day yesterday rebuilding the forks (tubes, seals, dust covers), cleaning what rust there was on the exhaust/front fender and continuing to re-assemble the front end. ALSO...Rachel and I ended up going to a paint shop to pick out the exact colour..which looks BEAUTIFUL! When we brought it to the paint guy on Thursday he said we should have the finished product back this week!! Talk about a quick turn around. The front caliper and master cylinder are also getting a good once over so they won't be the ugly duckling on the otherwise new front end. ...AND YES that is an H1 MC. The stock KH MC is pretty ugly (in my opinion) so we're going retro to match the rest of the bike.
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Post by sf on Mar 26, 2018 15:37:54 GMT -5
controls look new, nice job
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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 27, 2018 6:41:19 GMT -5
Like the RD350 I recently refinished I've decided to make another video series documenting the build. I'll still keep updating the thread with more detailed info. The video's just meant as another way to share the build and maybe some light entertainment value
Here's part 1:
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Post by shiloh on Mar 27, 2018 14:48:56 GMT -5
The club music ambiance was nice. Nice work so far, clean up and ride, I wish all vintage bikes came that way. Looking forward to your next episode.
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Post by crazycunuc on Mar 27, 2018 15:07:44 GMT -5
Haha Thanks, I wasn't sure if the music would fit but it's one of her favorite songs do I wanted to add something. That Master cylinder you see in there was actually yours from Paris last year. It's going to remain the same sort of carbon colour when it's done
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Post by shiloh on Mar 27, 2018 17:02:27 GMT -5
Cool, glad to see its found a good home.
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