"Also, I think sheldon brown sells swiss bottom brackets and spindels for about $100. I would like to try to avoid this at all costs, but if I was to buy a new crank and chainring, would I need to replace the entire bottom bracket?"

Just some addition to Colin M's informative post. You're likely in no trouble here, you can just switch out the spindle and keep the Moto's cups. Most motos as late as yours used Japanese made cups. These have a thicker wall than many European made cups. You should be able to use Japanese spindles no problem (this is a problem on some Frenchies. You need to switch to the thicker walled cup when switching out cranks to Japanese cranks. But not Motos, due to their heavy use of Japanese parts). Should not be a problem to find Japanese spindles, where old French spindles (eg Stronglight, TA, Nervar) can require some patience.

My advice is is to ditch the wheels if they are steel, even if you plan to make a simple "suicide" fixed gear hub (which are fine if you don't want to skid stop, frankly, as long as you use locktite and a BB lockring and run brakes). Here's why: with a suicide hub setup, you should, for your own safety, run brakes. Steel rims are notorious for poor braking, except in the rain, when they are notorious for no braking. Any older bike I make a rider, the steel rims are amoung the first thing to go. Fortunately, cheap alloy wheels off old 27" wheel bikes ain't the hardest thing to find for a song.

Your attitude towards building it yourself is excellent, and in the process you will learn. The advice to find someone a bit more experienced than yourself in these matters is good advice. I would gladly help you, but you would have to drive to RVA and bring me some Pale Ale. I won't be in Chi. until at least fall, maybe not then.

No, scratch that, I can get Pale Ale here. I want some Point Beer. Several cases would do the trick.

I started disecting it last night and the BB is in great shape which is really good news to me. I agree with you on the wheels. They're old, rusty, and heavy so I'm considering buying a proper rear wheel w/ flip-flop hub and cog. Also, I'm now considering buying some 165mm cranks, but I'm definitely going used on those. I'm watching craigslist poised to strike. I think I'll probably just cut the handlebars and flip them (and attach front brake). The brakes look pretty shoddy, but they are functional so I'll just ditch the rear and put new brake pads on the front. I need to figure out how to get the stem shifter box thing off, I'm assuming I just remove the stem and slide it off. I also have to figure out how to take the brake levers off the handle bars with out damaging one of them. Any advice? Point Beer? I'm an Indiana transplant, I know not of these beers.

Do the bars have that faux-leather grip / molded hood thing going?

If yes, you have to cut it off. Then you are stuck with hoodless levers. This complete setup may have some value if in excellent condition, maybe $40 including the stem of course, because you cannot get it off. You are almost stuck with the stem and bars you have due to the French nature of the bike, so be careful with them.

If not faux leather, insert a 4mm (I think) allen into the hole on the front of the lever and unscrew to loosen. If the bars are wrapped in such a way that you could pull the lever assy off, just unscrew completely.

Bar tape is easier to do than it looks.

I just recently finished this Motobecane Grand Record conversion. I used the original TA bottom bracket (Swiss Thread) but swaped out the spindle (which was meant for dual chainrings 118mm, i believe) and picked up a Track TA spindle 111mm. This completely fixed my chain line. If you plan on using another set of cranks, the TA BB will except most modern Japanese spindles to match your cranks. Outside of the BB / chainline issue... French parts are notoriously hard to find and inconsistent in terms of sizes... Harris Cyclery (www.harriscyclery.com) has an amazing collection of old french parts and they are a tremendous resource as far a French bikes are concerned. Good Luck, French bikes ride like no other! I love my Mototbecane.

Sweet ride... always loved that GR paint scheme. Nice lugs, too.

Alright. I just fell into what I think might be a really good deal. Here it is

At the moment, unknown wheelset with Suzue SIW hubs (flip-flop) 16t dura ace cog and lockring and 17t on the other side w/ new tires tubes. 165mm Sugino RD cranks.

All for around $125. The only problem I see is that most of the gear is 2+ years old. I think the parts have been through a couple winters, so I'm not sure how much wear and tear this would cause. Also, I'm assuming these were parts from a messenger bike. According to the guy it's all in good condition. What do you think? Good deal, or be very cautious?

Inspect everything closely, be prepared to true / rebuild the wheels with new bearings. I've never heard of SIW.

Good deal.

I think the SIW is the basic hub. I've read where those are crap, but I've also read that when paired with a dura ace cog, they work pretty well. I'm not sure if I should risk it, but cranks and wheelset for $125 would get me rolling on this conversion.

depending on the reach of the brakes, they may work for both 27" and 700c wheels (4mm difference, right? combined with tire profile...). Definitely spring for new brake shoes, and I second the recommendation for salmon Kool-stops--the larger Eagle type if you can fit 'em. They work beautifully. I'll bet the brakes are OK, just need to be taken apart and cleaned+lubed. (which is kind of fun, but make sure to draw a picture so you can get them back together again...)

I have the Suzie basics, running them for a year and no issues. I paid $150 shipped and feel I got an OK deal. I paid $35 for my used Campy road cranks, so it seems to get rolling, you'll not find a better deal within the next few days.