Dave, making your own kernel is SO so easy. And best of all, if you munge it up you just choose a different kernel in the grub options and go back as you were.
As I said, try to make anything a module that you can. makes the kernel smaller, only loads what is neede when needed.
get the source at kernel.org and go to
http://kernelnewbies.org/ for instructions.
http://kernelnewbies.org/faq/index.php3#compile that one shows them using lilo there at the end. you're using grub so it's even easier. just edit grub.conf.
Use makemenuconfig by the way. That's the better one to use. You can choose ? for every menu option. It will show a brief desciption and a recommended selection option.
