Mid 2000's  Tippmann 98 Custom Restoration Attempt 12/20/17

I saw a 50$ offer for a 2010 Tippmann 98 custom on craigslist that had only seen usage once or twice and had been on a shelf since, I ended up following through on the purchase, the guy had a bunch of other gear lying around and for another 30$ I got another (what he told me was also a 2010) Tippmann 98 Custom, pods, a pod harness some grav hoppers, gloves and a mask as well as the two stock barrels and a 14 inch carbon fiber barrel of some kind with spyder threads and a spyder -> 98 Thread adapter. Overall 80$ for two markers, I figured given Tippmann's reputation for having markers that beat age, neglect and lack of usage that this was a good deal.

I opened up the first marker, it was indeed a 2010 model, internally other than some cleaning everything was in order, I cleaned out the gunked up grease and removed some parts that hadn't weathered time well, so I will be replacing: Detent and the two valve rear bolt o-rings as well. The front bolt o-ring and internal valve o-rings looked fine although I was unable to fully access them. This is my main issue, accessing the internals of the valve. I threw it back together and plan on ordering the replacement parts so then it was onto the second marker.

First thing I noticed is that this marker is older, I am not sure by how much but if I had to guess I'd say it is somewhere between 2008 and 2010; this one did not come with a manual and had significantly more usage. The interior had some signs of early rusting in certain spots and there was gunked grease everywhere internally.

The bolt assembly had a corroded drive spring as well as an additional spring above it with a broken plastic guide spring. The buffer o-ring was in good condition as was the guide pin for the drive spring. The linkage arm is different from the previous model I opened up. I am going to need to find a way to replace this smaller spring above and the guide pin that goes with it.

The rear bolt has some residue corrosion on the inside due to the spring with a toothbrush and some soapy water I got that off.

Trigger assembly looks fine

Feedneck has this awful pin system and I need to replace the feedneck on the other marker also has an easily replaceable corroded bolt.

It didn't seem like the marker was opened up since factory assembly until I noticed how bent and mutilated the nuts on the hose fittings were at the valve assembly. It took vice grips and a crescent wrench to get it out, metal shavings had been wedged off into it, was quite a mess definitely going to need to replace this.

The rear valve bolt o-rings were in bad shape and the detent was dried and destroyed. A very old baggie of gun oil that came in the parts kit is telling about just how old this kit may be.

This is the main problem I am having and what I have the most questions about, the valve assembly on this gun is incredibly corroded and the velocity screw was so jammed in there it ended up taking shreds out of the threads, the o-rings inside are very aged and I have looked into ways to access them. I need to get into the valve assembly and I havent seen any easy ways to do it, on the manual for the newer tippmann it shows the parts within it but the process of disassembly, YouTube videos I looked up didn't help much. Is it cheaper to find a new valve assembly or attempt to open it up and replace the parts? Would a newer model valve assembly work in this marker considering it is at least 7 or 8 years old (likely older)? This is the main issue I find myself having with the restoration project. I was going to order parts individually but I wonder if there is a cheaper place to do so? (I was going to order them through discountpaintball.com).

If anyone has any helpful insight or advice feel free to let me know, So far my main issues are:

 - Replacing the hose fitting nuts
- Where to purchase the necessary parts at a cheap price considering a newer Tippmann is around 100 - 130$ and i'd prefer to keep cost down since I am just now getting back into the sport after a long hiatus.

I will be updating this as progress goes on

Update: Took apart valve assembly according to guide posted by dirkdiggler2011 , o-rings internally melted to jelly, the brass parts inside have really bad corrosion and the spring is all but rusted to pieces going to need to find a way to replace these parts or prevent further rusting and replace the spring and internal o-rings.