77 WR250 back from the dead

I spoke with the customer rep from DID and he recommended the 520VX2 chain.
The width of the chain is .736"/18.7mm.
I measured my chain guide and it's .831"/21.1mm.
That doesn't give much side clearance.

side clearance is only an issue when you go backwards and the guide flicks your chain clip off!

I ordered the new chain
I also got a new set of Pirelli MT16 Garacross tires.
I was going to just mount them but I'd like to clean up the rims and hubs.
Other than labor intensive cleaning and polishing is there another way to get these looking better?

find some that some one else has put the hours into labour intensive cleaning and polishing and buy them

I thought as much.

Basic supplies and about an hour each of work

320 sand paper backed with packing tape worked the best. this was a quick job, and i could have really polished them much more. The rope with a little polish worked really well on the nipples. Sounds crazy, but i never care about this level of detail but it really was easy and kind of relaxing in kind of a brainless way.
Probably didn't need the wire brush at all. Just use sand paper like a shoe shine motion.

The baking soda blasting is messy (outside) but works well to get rid of rust and aluminum tarnish. I use chrome polish after that-works well on aluminum. The rope idea is excellent- lots less wear and tear on your fingers

I bought some Mothers mag/aluminum polish and will start the process.
I know it's best to disassemble everything but I'll try it like this first.
I really dig the rope idea.
I think I have about 200' of manila twine.

200' of "hemp rope" eh??

did you mean 200 "Feet" of hemp "rope"?

Crack a beer, put on some tunes and get crackin'

No beer but Costco spiced rum.
I got a lot of it done plus the edges of rim but put the tire on anyway.
I need to get another spoke liner.
I'll finish up later this week.

spoke liner? whats a spoke liner??

The strip of rubber that goes between the tube and rim. I don't know the real name of it.

its called duct tape my man, piss off that holey rubber band and run two or three turns of duct tape round the rim. It should sit nicely in the groove leaving the flat bits for the bead to sit in. then punch holes thru for the rim lock and valve and clean the tape out of the holes and forget it exists. while your there, elongate the valve hole with a rat tail round file so the valve can creep a fair bit without being torn out of the tube. duct tape allows you to run a flat tyre without the rubber band coming out and getting hung up on everything

Duct Tape, Gorilla Tape (thicker)

that's exactly what I did!

Since there's multiple jobs going at once on the WR here's the tank masking. I decided to have a go at it myself and save some cash. I used what little there was left of the white stripe as a template and freehanded the rest with 6mm and 3mm tape. I taped over that and used a small razor to cut the outline. Now I'll do a perpendicular set of tape for strength and peel it off for when I'm ready to paint.

Looks like a great start