Update: Been doing some tedious work, mostly cleaning and such... Also ordered some new parts here and there.
I was cleaning the rotor and found what look like some pieces missing out of it? If you read back, my starter was destroyed internally, so I found a replacement. I don't know what would've caused this damage to the rotor though, and if I this is a sign for more damage elsewhere. I'm just kinda going over everything as I come to it, looking for damage. I bought a replacement (still haven't opened the box) and just will have a go at getting this old one off. So far, the bolt isn't budging, but I haven't really spent too much time trying.
Also took the rear wheel off and decided to take it to a tire shop rather then trying to take off the rear tire myself and getting frustrated. So far that's the only work I've outsourced for this and it cost me all of $10 to have them wrestle with that old one for 15 minutes. Money well spent.
Also was able to drill out the bearing retainer "pins" and fashioned a tool to get the old retainer out. Took the wheel back to the tire shop to see if they could just pull the old bearings out since I have new ones. They didn't have a puller small enough? I might try tapping them out myself or taking it to another shop. I have since wire brushed the rim to get all of the rust off that i could from the inside and out. Actually cleaned up better then I thought it would, and I don't mind it showing some age...
I have been cleaning up the top end of this motor a LOT. They cylinder is from 1 engine and the head and cover were from another (plus the bottom end being the only original part of the engine) so I didn't want them looking like they were because they all have different levels of oxidation and age on them. The head and cover were cleared at some point (maybe original clear?) and the cylinder had none, so I wanted them all looking uniform. Worked a lot to get the old clear off or sanded and all of the parts cleaned. Also polished the tappet covers, the rotor cover, the oil dipstick, and the points cover... Just to give it a little contrast and shine. I think it's starting to look really good and is finally giving me some sense of accomplishment besides just having parts laying around...
My velocity stacks arrived as well... Couldn't resist the temptation to put things in place to see how it will look. It's all been in my head for so long that It's really nice to see it all together...
I always like before/after pictures but have forgotten to take very many of individual pieces... So here is one of the tappet's before:
And the rotor cover during wet sanding:
And after:
Engine before just for comparison:
I will note that I did clear a lot of my engine parts, but have since gone back over them with a light sanding and respray... The reason is because after oven curing at maybe 200 for 15-20 minutes, they did yellow a bit. Not much, but it was noticeable... I used the Duplicolor engine 500 degree ceramic clear crapola... So it wasn't even close to 1/2 of the paint's capacity and it looked like all of my parts had been in a smokey bar for a few years.... Just tea stained. Was very disappointed because they looked SOOO good & shiny before and I liked having the extra protection on the paint. Oh well... I was worried about that problem in the future and am glad I'm redoing it now while it's torn apart and I'm in the groove.