To remove the sections that includes the threads, welcome new member, blog stats, then in the FORUMHOME template remove this:
<div id="wgo_stats" class="wgo_subblock section">
<h3 class="blocksubhead"><img src="{vb:stylevar imgdir_misc}/forum_stats.png" alt="{vb:rawphrase x_statistics, {vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}}" />{vb:rawphrase x_statistics, {vb:raw vboptions.bbtitle}}</h3>
.... a bunch more stuff ...
<p>{vb:rawphrase welcome_to_our_newest_member_x, {vb:link member, {vb:raw newuserinfo}}, {vb:raw newuserinfo.username}}</p>
{vb:raw template_hook.forumhome_wgo_stats}
</div>
</div>You would modify the navbar by modifying the navbar template. If you want to easily add links and such, you may want to look at the modifications for the adding links to your navbar.