Bought the bike this summer for $1000 and took around $1200 more in parts just to get it where I can safely ride it. It is an 85 and shows it. It needs LOTS more love. First on the list is recover the seat, then paint, then suspension, then chrome, then.........
I can tell ya, you're gonna end-up with $4000-$5000 in your bike, from the way you are explaining your wishes. And that's not with goin' crazy! "Crazy" is
another $5000 on-top of that, or more, if you decide on a larger displacement engine.
My suggestion is to not spend any $$ on that stock front end, remove it, store it if you decide to return it to stone-stock. Find a late model 1993+ front end and start with that installation. You can find a good-shape one for about $250-400 & you will need the downtubes/sliders, complete, and the triple trees, of course. FZR1000/YZF1000/R1 brakes are an easy swap, don't forget the '93+ 298 mm VMax rotors for the front. Progressive Suspension springs or Race Tech springs, cartridge emulators or RICOR's for the internals, and a set of All-Balls steering head bearings, with whatever rear shocks your wallet can stand. And, consider the move to radials, a single Kosman rear 5.5" X 17/18" wheel will get you started, and the re-use of the stock rim in-front. That, and a pair of correctly-sized tires, I suggest 110 front and 170 rear, instead of a 180 or 190, which will slow the steering and make it not as-responsive in side to side transitions, but looks bitchen' at a traffic light, which is really-important to posers, and will probably require a swingarm notch to fit w/o having some weird front to rear wheel offset. Oh I think that may raise some aggressive behavior in some people, forget I said that. Tires are like adding salt on food, some is good but more usually isn't going to make it 'better.'
Work on the mechanicals first, maybe with something not too-expensive for appearance-sake, to keep you interested.
Chrome don't get ya home, ya know:biglaugh: