Well from the picture it looks like your tank & body-work are in good to excellent condition & the color is still strong. I would do everything that you can to maintain the OEM body-work & paint. When I brought mine home (It's also black) it had been exposed to some weather & the top of the tank was cloudy looking. I spent some time with a T-Shirt & some McGuires "Fine Cut" polishing compound to gently remove the cloudy/faded material. It looks nice now. These Ascots may not be overly expensive, but they could be considered rare or potential collectors items. There should be some consideration on whether you want to keep it as close to original, or easily returned to original.
I found two FT Ascots that weren't very expensive. One was all stock & fairly clean, low mile bike. I'm keeping that one as close to stock as possible. The jetting, air-filter & manual petcock modifications were already performed on the bike by a P/O. I found a Cobra F1 slip on exhaust for it & installed that along with a 16 tooth countershaft sprocket. I also had new Avon tires put on the bike. I plan to install the ThumperStuff pipe on this bike & the Rick's CDI, then leave it alone after that.
The other FT had been in a low speed dump & was slightly bent up here & there. Fortunately all the body-work & the paint escaped damage. This is the FT that I hybridized with forks, wheels, brakes from a Hurricane CBR600, along with several other mods. Seeing how this bike had been crashed, I felt at ease to modify it. I have more money in this bike than it would sell for. Not a lot more, but still more.
These are just a few things to keep in mind when you are looking at your bike with a wrench in one hand & the sawz-all in the other.
Good luck
J.
