Yes, certainly someone has put some effort in to it beforehand, so lets hope that keeps the cost down a little as you say!
I have actually been doing the project for about a month now, bit by bit, but only just really had time to start posting it.
Attached are a few more photos of the strip down and what I found as I went.
Mostly it came apart with no issues - the only bit that was a little difficult were the reel height adjuster screws - it appears they had been spray painted at some stage, so it was difficult to get them moving again. Still, with a little perseverance they came loose eventually.
I read somewhere on this forum about a gear puller from Supercheap, so I invested $40 in one - that made life a lot easier for getting gears and old bearings off. Thanks to whoever posted that tip!
One thing I did as I was overwhelmed with all the gears / chains etc when I opened it up was number the chains so i knew where they went back - nerdy I know, but still I hope it saves a bit of time when putting all back together again.
As you can see, I didn't strip it back to bare metal, but went over it with 240 grit sandpaper instead.
