Originally Posted by Poguemahone
I think you should have fun. If fun equals learning how to work on a bike to you, go ahead and do it. You'll likely move up as you learn more, most of us do. If you run into specific problems, come back and ask. I would start with a good maintainence book; there are many and you can often find them cheap used. Richard's bicycle Book comes to mind-- if the bike is 1984, it's likely pre-index shifting, and older editions of Richard's have a good lo-tek basic tools repair section.
Don't even have to get a book for some of it. Parktools.com has a lot of maintenance info. Some of the older stuff isn't given much coverage (like centerpull brakes), and some really old stuff isn't even mentioned (like rod brakes and derailleurs), but many of the common items are covered reasonably well.