thanks.
i struggled for a long time working up the guts to jump into each new section as it was all so new to me. I know how daunting these big projects can seem. it helped me to only take single parts off at a time and focus on them individually. that way you only have a bunch of finished loose parts laying around. i took several days just cleaning out and lubing the cables (again, trying to save a buck wherever possible, i got the old ones free with penetrating oil and then worked 3in1 through each tube to further grease them up. This was time consuming but saved a bill. once these were done, i put them in the done pile and moved on to sanding and painting the kick starter etc... one at a time, small projects and goals.
My budget goal was to invest under 1k total and depending on how you spin the numbers
(don't add tools and cleaning product/supplies or the donor bike i started with). i came pretty close. my goal was to reuse ANYTHING i could. i even saved most the old screw and steel i cut off the frame in case i might be able to use it later. when i clean up the stock parts that were discarded and sell them, i will be pretty close to the budget goal.
the trade off is TIME. i spent lots of time puttering cleaning old stuff that probably wasn't worth saving just to save a buck.
regarding tools, i got a few specialized tools like tire irons, tappet wrench, etc but i really only bought a metric wrench set, allen wrench set, and gap guages. its shocking how much you can do with a 10mm and 12mm wrench and a screwdriver. i borrowed the saws-all, grinder, welder, and socket set. less than 100 in enough tools that i can now work on the bike myself. Oh yeah, a back out bit is seriously a necessity for those crappy soft stock screw heads holding the casings together. i probably used this on 1/3 of all the screws while taking things apart. seems like every screw was fused to the block and the heads would strip.
antiseize was used on the new stainless screws when i put things back together.
