Great news, the VCR is now up and running! Thank you everyone who helped me out on this and I hope this thread can serve as a guide for anyone in the future who is (foolish) enough to take on this task. Despite the noises i heard in the head, the video seems to be playing fine.
The next step is to work on the pinch roller, the audio is very fluttery and sure enough the roller is not catching fully. Also the rewind and fast forward belt which I assume is slipping a bit too.
