Progress... sorta!
Not sure how long people follow subjects here, but here's my update:
B & S responded to my recent on-line inquiry... very helpful. Ultimately found exploded parts diagram, etc. Also found, and ordered (don't tell my wife) valve spring compressor, piston ring compressor, and complete gasket kit.
Y'all heard of Lisle Tools? They seem to have a lot of tools for this sort of project.
Soon, son and I will be back out in the barn finalizing the disassembly. We need to clean everything real good. Meanwhile, son has been checking out How Stuff Works, etc... acting like he is cramming for a final exam or something!
I have not been able to find specs... like ring end-gap limits, bearing tolerences, compression value, etc. These things might not be critical to what we are doing, but this is a great opportunity to teach son how to measure things, how their tolerences/specs interact, etc. If anyone can steer me to specs, PLEASE DO !!!
This is very cool... reminds me of when my Dad used to teach me things out in his garage. Of course, no "How Stuff Works", nor any other website/internet stuff back then!