Long Time No Salty

It has been well over a year since I've blogged about Salty. Unfortunately, that also means I haven't touched the bike for a year either. It is sitting comfortably in the garage between the Bridgestone Sport 90 and the Hodaka ACE 90. Looking lonely.

Over the previous winter, I decided to build a new race motor for the Formula Vee. This was something new for me, so I took my time on it. I had the engine in the car running, about a week away from my first race date, when a rod bearing decided he wasn't happy. I pretty much pouted for a week, then pulled the engine out and tore it down. It was very obvious what had happened. I then spent the next couple months building up the engine again, this time with success.

I built an engine stand to run the engine on before putting it in the car. It ran great. Luckily, it also ran great in the car. I've made two race days with it, which also meant a bit of fine tuning to the cooling system (scoops and oil coolers) and a few other odds and ends. Before I knew it, it was winter again. I haven't touched the race car for several months, nor have I touched any bikes.

But that will change. My race club is lacking local events early in the year, so I've decided to jump back on Salty over the summer. I don't know if I'll actually get to Bonneville though. I would need to make that a primary objective, schedule vacation, set other projects aside etc. Initially, I just want to get it running and finish him.

I'm also going to finish a few other bikes. The Bridgestone needs a few small touches, I have a Yamaha YG-1T that needs some details too. Basically, I'm going to pull all the bikes out of the garage, walk around them and make a list. If it isn't raining this weekend, I may do that Saturday. I'll also organize the garage and make a real work center for Salty.

So keep posted, as I hope to have more stuff to blog about over the next few months.

Chris H.