A lot of changes happened in 2004 . I raced my vintage GSX-R 1100 to a third-place finish in the Super Dinosaur class with the AFM. But, more importantly, I went ahead and quit my job and moved back to San Antonio. For many reasons, but it feels great to be back here again. I was extremely burned out after pretty much three-years of solid wrenching and racing. I didn't really want to even think about working on motorcycles for a while.

Also, the "shop" that I had my engine at folded. I was lucky to get my parts back. Well, I got my OLD parts back. I never got all of my new parts that I ordered and that were waiting for the rebuild. I also had a head left at a machine shop that I never recovered. So, I lost out there. Really sucked. The junkyard motor would have to soldier on.

Bikes and parts in garage Oct. 2004.

I was finally "moved in" by Oct. 2004. All my parts and motorcycles were stacked in the garage. It took me two months and a lot of help from my father building shelves, workbenches etc. before I could even think about getting the bikes ready to ride.

After getting the workbenches built and parts organized.

One day in the spring of '05 I was really getting tired of my 750 just sitting there. So, I decided it was time to get her going again. Thing was, I had pulled a lot of parts off her to supplement my racebike. Mainly, the 34mm Mikunis. OOPS! Well, I had kinda got her running in August of '04 using a set of 34mm CVs that were in a bucket underwater for about a year. I got the bike running, barely. Just enough to blast her down the street a few times.

Oil pan off.

Before the carbs were to be installed, some more major servicing needed to be done. I wanted to inspect the oil pan and the sump. Once removed, I found a lot of shavings in the pump, and a piece of electrical tape partially blocking the sump screen. Hmmm . . . not good. I cleaned all of the associated parts, including the nice pile of sludge out of the pan.

I went ahead and reassembled the oil pan, and left her sit for a while. There was still a lot more to do.