Getting Started - The Tear Down

So the first step of a ground up restoration is to take all the parts off of the bike so that they can be cleaned or repaired.

Tank, Seat, Exhaust removed

When parts start coming off, you really notice how rusty and dirty everything is.

I took lots of pictures as I took things apart (so I could have a reference when it comes time to put this all back together), and I was also able to find a manual for the bike here.  This makes working on the bike a lot easier.  There are tear down and assembly steps for almost everything, as well as torques specs, part service limits, and exploded assembly views.

I tried my best to keep things relatively organized when I was taking things apart.

I was able to get the bike taken down pretty quick, and I felt like I was making progress.  At this point I left a few parts still on the frame.  

My main focus now was to get into the engine and make sure it was good.  I wanted to do this first before I put too much effort anywhere else because if the engine is no good, the rest of this bike is pretty dirty, that it would not really be worth restoring.  My next posts will start going through the engine rebuild.