Uh, er, a potential lender would want to know what that story is before making that loan.

Good luck getting volunteers for this project. I'll venture to guess not too many owners/collectors would loan their bikes out to be dismantled, regardless of the make and model. And also, the bikes would typically be in nice condition anyways and would not need to be overhauled.

Component weights aren't going to differ by bike unless the components are actually different versions, and most of those weights are listed over at velobase.com already, and maybe other places as well. The only significant differences you are going to register are going to be from different size frames -- some measurements and the weight will be slightly different.

If you are building a database, you will have more success if you ask current owners for certain specifications of their bikes/parts rather than requiring to obtain and hold onto their stuff for a while.

Oh, and where can we find the first demo version you had up on the web so we can check it out?