My 1965 Allstate Restoration: Step 2 - Dismantle, remove engine, drop forks

So I did most of the sanding about a week ago initially thinking I was going to just paint without dropping the engine, and fork. Then later I felt like that was a bad idea, and half ass, so I decided to strip it down.

So over the last couple days, with lots of the Smiths playing and a few beers, I got to work and dismantled most of the bike, most everything was pretty straight forward. Used my Haynes manual, which is completely necessary and helpful... only problem is that its accurate for my engine but not the body, so I had to google a few issues.

Learned that my fuel tap doesn't seem to really be closed when it was in the closed position.. gas was leaking everywhere, not sure why this happened, I replaced this part not to long ago.. but this would explain my flooding issues I had from time to time.

I left all the wiring harnesses and a few cables in place and plan to just mask then and tuck them away, inside the frame, I don't want to deal with running the harness through the frame, etc. The scary task of removing the headset and fork, wasn't so bad, I did have to get my girlfriend to help me raise the frame up and onto a crate, so the fork could drop. Had a little curse fest trying to undo the cables but I got familiarized again with all that nonsense, and eventually got stuff disconnected. The electrical part looked intimidating so I just left it.. was worried that I wouldn't be able to run the wiring back through... so I left that connected for now.

I ran into a problem trying to get the fender off, apparently the dust cover that sits under the bearing race has to be heated up with a small torch, then it can be lifted away, then the fender can be removed. Another issue was the rear brake lever, that was a mystery, until I learned there is a small pin that has to be pushed out from underneath the lever, sounds fun...left those bits for next time.