Steve its your bike do what you want but my two cents is that its the wrong bike to chop. Those older bikes cost way more to build and parts are not as easy to get or retro fit to make it what you want. I have built over 50 Xs650 choppers and I only buy bikes that are 1977 to 1983 because of the fact that all those years are interchangeable and parts are easy to get and not high dollar. I know LIL BILL and GOOD guy and all of his shit runs good because he is one of those anal guys like me got to get the best out of a bike. So if you are looking for a trade he's the dude and he has so much knowledge on these bikes he would be a great friend to help. Now cut it up trade it do what ever you want and if you ever need HELP you can always contact me at
DADDYGCYCLES@YAHOO.COM and I am just a phone call away for answers . If you came to me and wanted that bike built I would most likely say $6500.00 and one year build because its going to take you 8 months to get that hard tail. I would sit down and make a punch list of what parts you want and what parts you could change and put dollar sign next to each. Remember if you can't do it all on your own add 40% on outside help cost. Hope you post pictures of what you build and good guys on here for help. DO YOUR THING not someone else.
Have a great day Talking to me is free its a email away . Here is just a few of my builds
Rich