My Father and I used to ride bikes together on the weekends when I was growing up. He recently gave me the bike he used to ride: A Univega Nuovo Sport. It has obvious sentimental value and I've been aching to build up a classic roadie for a while. The frame has no dings but has many scratches, and scuffs most of which are a little rusted. The rust doesn't seem to have spread beyond the scratches, but I can't be sure if there's any damage. Also, the complete bike weighs about 30 pounds.

Altogether the braking surface on the rear wheel is worn off, the brakes barely work, the brake levers are a little messed up and are very uncomfortable, the seat and seatpost need to be replaced, and the shifters are a rather pedestrian Suntour with rubber levers that mount to the too-short stem. So it seems as though I'll need to replace: Wheels, tires, tubes, seat, seatpost, stem, brakes, brake levers, cables, cassette, chain, and the frame will need to be sanded? and repainted.

My questions for the forum are: Do you think its worth it to restore this bike? I understand that the Nuovo Sport isn't a particularly nice frame, and even if I replace most of the components it'll still probably be rather heavy. If I should take this on, can you offer any advice on how/where to start picking up replacement components on the cheap? And are there any unforseen challenges you can help me look out for? French threading, odd-size parts, etc. Any advice on stripping and painting a steel frame myself?

Thanks!