First thing that needs done is to remove the things that will be in the way like the seat, exhaust, clutch cover, clutch and carburetor. With those items removed it's time to pressure test the engine, In the picture below you will see my home made pressure tester, It consist of a few fittings, gauge, blank off for the exhaust and a plug for the intake. Total cost to make the tester was about 10 bucks, Before I always used my compression tester in the spark plug hole and a bunch of adapters that was too much of a pain so I made this simple and compact model, I will keep the old setup for engines without a vacuum port. MORE ON PRESSURE TESTING HEREThe blank off plate is just a piece of 3/16" aluminium plate with a rubber gasket, The old manifold gasket was used as a template to drill the holes. A 1" PVC cap fit's real nice in the intake boot. Your probably wondering what that aluminium fined looking thing is. Last summer I was having a over heating problem so rather than buying one of those from Pro Design I decided to make my own, The over heating problem turned out to be a leaking head gasket.
PVC plug installed, Look at how much dirt and grime is still on the engine and transmission, Before the engine is disassembled any further the Pilot will be cleaned up some more. I don't want to risk getting 1 grain of sand in the engine.
Above you will see the exhaust blanked off and the pressure tester installed in the vacuum line that goes to the fuel pump. With everything blocked off and tester installed it's now time to pressure test the engine. I start by putting 10 pounds of air in my portable air tank, That way there is no chance of putting too much pressure in the engine, After it is under pressure I will spray down the engine with soap and water and watch the gauge. Ok the engine held 10 pounds for 30 minutes and no bubbles appeared in the coolant or around the engine so now it's time to drain the coolant and clean up the engine and start taking it apart.
With the cylinder, head and pistion removed I put rubber bands through the rod and attach them to the cylinder studs, This keeps the rod from being damaged, You can even pull the pull starter and watch it go up and down.
After the rod is secured I cover it with paper towels and put another rubber band around the studs to keep the dirt out.