Was thinking of picking it up as a second bike/project bike but not totally sure what I am getting into.
A bike that old should probably get a complete going over by you to check the condition of electrical connectors, throttle body parts and balance. plugs, wiring, fuel tank condition, fuel pump performance, valve clearances, compression and so on. In the Technical Library card catalog, there are many links that will give you an idea of what to expect. If the bike has low mileage, you'll most likely need to clean or replace many of the previously listed components.
Another strategy is just to fill it with fuel, ride it hard and hope for the best.
Hopefully someone who has done it before will post here.
There's a whole lot of posts in the Workshop for reading while you're waiting to be served, Skrimps, about Hall sensors and everything else that riders have dealt with before with varying degrees of success.
For example,
here's a posting where a bike starts out with a bunch of symptoms but ends up with a symptom like yours that's finally relieved after a lot of hand wringing and moaning
here, so maybe you can start with these.
