Old Lady..battle of the rust??

[dizzyblonde]

My beautiful fat bottomed bird- 2001 650s is in need of a treat. She has never been dismantled apart from the usual maintenance stuff, brakes, tyres m.o.t stuff blah blah. Unfortunately riding all year round has taken its toll and the suzuki emulsion paint on the subframes is now a nice shade of rust. I have decided to strip her down and rebuild her in time for my trip to france.
included in this is the shock- no bounce per ounce left in it!!
Swing arm off for a polish and forks

Question is will she come apart easy or will I encounter any bad nightmares. Any handy hints to make my life easy and keep my knucles in tact?
anything I should look out for?
She was going to have a pro job done but unfortunately my marvellous mechanic got knocked off a bike and is now nursing a baddly broken hip and now its down to my bloke to perform miracles

Use good quality tools. The fasteners are generally poor quality. Anything less than perfect tools will screw your errr......screws. May be a good time to change for some decent stainless items.

[dizzyblonde]

I have started down the stainless road with an engine bolt kit.
another question
can you really cut up sockets to match the appropriate special suzy tools(peg spanner?). Seems a bit of a bodgers way but have been told they are a cheaper alternative

[Viney]

Well, i know of at least 2 people on here that have gone that route with a socket, and i respect thier views more than most, so go for it.

As for the subframe. Take some good photos of where the loom weaves in and out. It took me about an hour to suss where it went.

Other than that, as scoobs says use the right tool for the job, and a good one at that.

[dizzyblonde]

I pray to the god of...well anyone'll do, that my bloke don't upset me bird or i'll be finding the right tool for the job firmly up.... enough of that,, me of little faith, me bloke has done up his fair share of elsie's but I can't seem to trust him with suzy. I'm glad theres some nice chaps or chappess's that can provide a second opinion. loom ? electrics? any chance of dire corrsion to have affected these in any way?

Soak it all in WD40 for a couple of days. Should help free everything up.

[dizzyblonde]

i should have shares in that stuff
i do have a tinsy winsy rusty problem with a pair of...rusty nuts!! ones that hold your downpipe onto the engine. cleaning about one day, one kind of crumbled in half although the bolt is firmly in place. how can they be extracted and replaced? as to me it looks like a delicate affair. Sorry to be a pain you all are beginning to think I need a new bike but Suzy and I have bonded!!