I would take the head off before anything else, look in the cyl as see if its beat up or not.
My words of advice are, if you arent sure how something goes, take a picture of it. I have done this on especially carbs and linkages and its pretty useful to get things right. It may seem like it will take longer having to take pics of it, well think of how long it will take to fix when it will never run again.
Also look up torque specs. Youll need them when you are ready to put things back.
Good luck. Take it slow, so you dont break anything, and once you get to look at the cylinder you may be able to tell right away... (not fixable) but lets hope its something minor.