Hello all,
In 2002, my dad came home from India toting a crate containing what he identified as a 1966 Royal Enfield Bullet 500. He walked it out of the crate, put oil/fuel in it, and it started on the first kick, so he rode it around the block a couple times, pronounced it "pretty neat", and put it in the shed, where it sat for the next 3 years. We lived in Okinawa at the time, so you can imagine the toll that the extremely humid weather took on the chrome and pretty much every other metal part. Since then, we've moved to Virginia, and are just now getting around to thinking how cool it would be to restore it and getting it back on the road (mostly me, because I'm older now, and have a motorcycle license/dreams of riding a classic bike).
My dad has a good bit of mechanical experience, and doesn't think that we should break the engine down and replace seals/o-rings, but I wanted to get a second opinion while we have it off the frame, because I would hate to refurbish all the other parts just to have the engine fail. We have all the seals and O-rings, so if we DO have to break it down, it won't be an absolutely huge deal. We're also having a hell of a time taking the front fork apart, so any tips on how to do that would be appreciated!
Mostly I just want to know if there are any specific things to watch out for when completely restoring an old Enfield, and I figured I would ask the experts! Any advice at all is appreciated!
Cheers,
-James