Restoration is relatively new to me as well. You will see the results of my Coleby restoration below.
There a a couple of bits of advice I can give. Take plenty of photos is one of the most important things you can do before, during and after disassembly. I’ll be doing quite a bit of that tonight on my new project. The other thing is, when you take something apart, make sure you understand how it works and try and work out why it was designed a particular way. If you do this, when you reassemble you will understand how it works and have more chance of getting it together first time.
Keep your working area reasonably tidy. I’m not sure what your set up is, but I started off with a make shift bench with a very cheap and chearful drill vice, a dark badly lit garage, a bench pillar drill on the floor and so forth, none of which is conducive to a good restoration project. I have now a decent bench, good lighting, a small bench vice and quite a bit of other equipment, lathe, mill and so forth, much more comfortable and easier to work.
You will work out your own methods for releasing seized nuts and bots, but plenty of WD40, PlusGas normally suffices, with a good heat gun for the more difficult to remove fixings.
The other thing you have got to consider is why you are doing this restoration in the first place. I had and have an number of goals, most are family oriented. My intention is to show three working Colebys at some shows next year, I currently have two. You may be able to do quite a bit of research into the UniHorse on the internet, but make sure you print everything that you find and put it in a file. This will help with the interest over the winter months when it is particularly cold, should help the the restoration and will probably be of interest to a potential buyer if and when it is time to sell.
Painting. I’m not sure what finish you are after, but if you are thinking of hand painting, use a good quality enamel paint (try Paragon Paints). Normal metal paint is not good if it comes into contact with petrol (I can say this from bitter experience). If you intend to powder coat, try to get everything done at the same time.
Most importantly of all, enjoy.
Not sure that any of this is any good to you but hopefully there will be a few bits and pieces in there to help you on your way.
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