Motorcycle mechanical advice please?!?

Good question.

I had an '03, big change from prior models.

Guess your question is whether to fix, or part it out. Might be a research project, what the individual parts are worth (and if you have time and inclination to do so).

Next price out the fairing parts, preferably used. I'd start with Kawiforums for that. New will be absurdly expensive, possibly blowing your repair budget.

At the same time, determine wholesale for a solid, clean, version of the same bike with comparable (high) mileage. What you could get for it on Craigslist, that is to say. I would guess three grand, tops, but who knows. I personally would never plow two grand into a bike worth three grand, if that's how it turns out...but you can figure that out.

The fueling issue might be a lot of things. Wild guess...and don't hold me to it...is fuel flow. Blockage in the tank, something in the delivery system. Reminds me of the time I put a California compliant gas cap on a non-California bike: vacuum-sealed (more or less), causing vapor lock, and loss of fuel flow. Alleviated the minute I ventilated the cap (smack head). Had to have it towed, figured all that out later. Expensive (for me, at the time) lesson, that, and I was as broke as you. Many life-lessons are, unfortunately.

I believe the '02s were last of carbureted bikes in that series: my '03 had FI. May wish to ask yourself if something is amiss there, too. If it has a pipe, hopefully someone with a few brains went in and installed jet kit, air filter (or mods to existing air box) and tuned it on a dyno. That can be a bit tricky if not done correctly, so I'm curious what the jets and needles look like, too. Easy enough to find out, if you're a bit handy.

Once that's ironed out, whatever it is, take other steps. 28K miles on a 600 does sound like a lot, but bike engines can be surprisingly durable. Depends on how it was (is) maintained. 600s do get ripped up a lot by punks and idiots.

Clutch replacement on most bikes is not terribly difficult. I've done a few on JPN bikes. Shop manual helps, though (chuckle) I've muddled through more than a few bikes without it.

Wild card option is to add race bodywork with a cheap coat of paint and sell it as a track bike. Might be worth a couple grand to somebody, assuming you get it running right. My '03 was track-only, bought w/roughly 600 miles on it (by me, near-new), and I sold it to some dunce years later with all the stock bodywork and electrics back in-place. Hope that guy is still riding it to this day: they are workhorses, and mine ran great (albeit mostly at close to redline) for several dozen track days during my tenure.

In the end, be aware those things are mostly disposable and what you'll call "a write-off" later in life. BMWs, Harley-Davidson (cough), and a few other makes hold value better, albeit at hugely greater cost-of-entry. All in good time, I suppose: I've been where you are (rode an 1984 Yamaha FJ1100 last couple years of college, and several years afterward).

If you have 2K to invest in this bike, and you like it, do yourself a favor, and have it inspected at a good local shop. Have them give it a look over like they were going to buy it, and let you know the laundry list of things that need to be done. You'll pay them for the amount of time that takes, and if you want them to get into the fix, they can give you an estimate of what that would run so you aren't blind to the true cost. Then you can make a good informed decision whether or not it can be rescued, and still have some cash left over for another bike if you can't.

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