Disclaimer: This information is provided for academic curiosity and as a testamonial to what I was able to do. It should not be followed unless you are aware that you may permanently damage your iPod and are willing to risk losing your iPod. I'd love to hear from people who successfully repair their iPods, but if you fail, don't come asking me for a new one.

This iPod disassembly tutorial picks up where others tend to leave off. To open your iPod please refer to ipodbattery's instructions. It is intended to show how to access the connectors for the firewire port on a first generation iPod.

The image files are quite large, feel free to open them in their own tab or window to see them full scale.

After you have removed the battery from the sticky cushions,

you will need to carefully lift up on the harddrive to separate it from its own cushions. I found that holding the cushions down with a screwdriver and lifting the top end (near the firewire port) first helped.

Carefully separate the drive from the connecting ribbon by pulling gently on the drive and holding the ribbon in place.

Next you will need to find the four screws that hold the motherboard in place. In my case one of the lower screws was under a sicky cushion. These are easily removed with a Torx-6 screwdriver.

The motherboard with LCD attached should now be easily removed.

Leaving behind an empty front.

Almost there!
Finally you will need to gently pry (or pop?) off the four white clips that hold the LCD screen to the mother board.

You should now be able to flip up the screen.

Finally to access the firewire connections peel back the black plastic covering.

Putting the whole thing back together is quite simple if you made it this far, just reverse the steps, and don't forget all four screws.