In terms of gauges, about the only downside to Street Fighting a Katana is the fact the speedo on pre 98's is cable driven. This limits the amount you can move the speedo around and how neatly you can package them.
Upside is since they are standard self contained units you can remount them easily. All in ones like late model GSX-Rs not only can't easily be separated they incorporate slick trim pieces that have to be reproduced.
You can try and fit a GSX-R package. "We" have been waiting for years for someone to give it a try. You could also try and pick up old Bandit gauges or gauge mounts. They were too spendy for me. Another idea I looked at was old (80's) gauge packages and install the Kat parts. This will most likely work. Then you have a nice package and if they are fork mounted an easy way to do it.

I have AutoCAD. Lucky me. First I reproduced the faces and arranged them in a pleasing way.

Since I was working in full scale in AutoCAD I was them able to print out the drawing, transfer it to my material and get to work. This version I made in just a few hours. (I don't have any photos) I hated it. But I rode with it for a few months. One of the suggestions I strongly make is to not rush with a SF mod. The time you spend thinking on it or just sitting, looking at the bike pay off in only doing the mod once.
So the second version fixed all the things I hated about the first one but caused more problems. One of the things I was trying to keep was the way the gauges and headlight were mounted to the frame, not the forks. I thought it was cool the way the bars moved but the dash didn't. I just couldn't resolve the two styles..


This last version cad drawing show what I was able to do; After settling on the style and arrangement (I blocked out the areas where cables etc were, sorry that isn't shown) based on available space. I used a GSX-R dash as influence. I liked how the GSX-R dash made the Speedo look like an after thought.

I then sectioned out the different parts. I also knew where the mounting points were and laid out the mounting rods. I could then move these parts out of the assembly and lay them out.





I found the easiest way to layout is to cut out the full sized paper pattern and tape it to the plastic. Then trace it with a sharpie marker. I cut out the parts using a regular wood coping saw. The material is Polypropylene but Lexan would cut just as easily and actually sand, file better. Polypro is soft and "hairs" (think about cheese VS wood). Lexan is readily available at Home Depot, I used Polypro because I got it free.. To bend the mounting rods, I printed the the drawing full scale and just bent the rods until they matched the drawing. Everything fit first try. The only difference to this photo and the current one is that once I wired in the LEDs I was able to get rid of the "light box" and push the dash up to the top tree. I think I'm most happy with this version. I think the only change I may make is swapping the gas gauge for a temp gauge or clock. (either one 10X more useful than the gas gauge.)

Not shown is the back. What a pain. I finally molded a cover, it came out terrible but the theory is sound, I just needed to learn a few lessons. I printed out a pattern of the whole dash then transfered it to a thick block of Styrofoam (mistake 1) I cut the foam to the outline and made it just as thick as the Speedo/Tach. I wrapped it in plastic shopping bags (mistake 2) and hand laid fiberglas over it. Bagged it again (so the fiberglas was "tight" and let it set up. Well mistake 1&2 meant that the epoxy leeched through the bag and shrunk the foam. This made the resulting part odd shaped and slightly too small. After sanding and trimming it, I punched holes in it to line up with the screw studs on the rear of the speedo /tach. This mounted the rear cover with a few nuts. A little RTV to seal it to the gauges plate and while it looks OK it's not as nice as it could have been had I not made the mistakes with the foam. All the wires and gauges are as protected from debris and water as they were in the OEM set up. Plus all the wires are covered up. Here are some notations to explain it all.


I hope this gives you some tips on makeing your own gauges. Feel free to copy mine but remember I was first!