King Motorsports: Engine Builds (Updated)

05 April 2013 Administrator Around the Shop, Big Mike: Tech, King Motorsports (0)

King Motorsports is a leader in building Honda engines that balance power and reliability, and we've been doing it for nearly 30 years!


Read our staff interviews with Mike Lindquist and Chad LeBeau for a glimpse into the care we put into builds.


Here are some of the motors we've been working on recently...


This is a B Series cylinder head we are putting the finishing touches on. We're doing a King Motorsports Ultra cylinder head prep which will be shipped out to its new home in Brazil shortly!



This is a 85 x 89 KMS B Series Turbo engine just finished up for a customer. Ready to install!



Here's another angle for the newly-completed King Motorsports Turbo B. Note the KMS valve cover venting with fresh powder coating.



The finishing touch on every King Motorsports prepared engine is this uniquely-numbered authentication tag. All engines we prep are serialized and all build specs achieved.



Here is an unclothed 87.2 x 81.5 B Series turbo build in the engine room waiting for final dressing:



The Turbo B Series long block build ... now fully dressed and awaiting installation.



Update 2/14/2013:

This week on our Flow Bench we are dialing in a customer's cylinder head. There is no substitute for real world numbers-- no guesswork here....

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-231-cnc-heads-valve-jobs-head-porting-milling.aspx


King Motorsports factoid: In the over 30+ years we've been building engines, we have found the majority of advertised piston dome values to be off. The only way to calculate true compression is to CC the cylinder head and measure the piston dome volume as shown below. This is important step is part of EVERY engine build we do at King Motorsports.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-206-engine-building.aspx



Here we are CC'ing a cylinder head. Once we have the volume of the combustion chamber, combined with the volume of the piston dome plus a little math- we arrive at our compression ratio. Oh- and don't forget to measure the valve to piston clearance, but that's another chapter :)

 http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-231-cnc-heads-valve-jobs-head-porting-milling.aspx



Just finished up the D series race engine. Next up some header and exhaust development on the dyno, then off to hopefully win another SCCA championship :)

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-194-engine.aspx




Update 2/21/2013:

Full Race Turbo AP1 S2000 project just burst to life in the shop! Checking vitals then on to the dyno for tuning.....

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-173-dyno-tuning.aspx





Making sweet AP1 turbo noise on the dyno.....



Update: 2/28/2013

This morning in the engine room we are checking piston to valve clearance on a set of Kelford Stage 2 cams on a K20A bottom engine. We use a cutway cylinder head so we can actually see and measure the clearances.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/engine_building.aspx



Here's a look at what you can see with the cutaway cylinder head..



The stock K20 VTC cam gear gives 50 degrees of advance. When installing a higher lift camshaft set there can be piston to valve clearance issues at maximum advance. Previously the only way to limit the VTC advance was to use a TSX VTC gear which is 25 degrees. Through our dyno development program on the K20 engine we saw 25 degrees advance is not enough to make optimum low/mid range power. Using this knowledge we designed a new King Motorsports VTC cam gear that limits the advance to 30, 35 or 40 degrees. Now you can have the not only great top end power with a solid mid range to match!

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/p-4294-kms-k-series-adjustable-cam-gears.aspx



One of the current projects in the shop is this EK Turbo coupe. We just finished up the engine, now are working on the fabricating the intercooler, intercooler piping, air filter setup, dump tube and exhaust system- then onto the dyno for some tuning!

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-173-dyno-tuning.aspx





Update: 3/3/2013

After mapping out where we are running the intercooler piping, etc., we are hard at work fabricating a battery box for a lightweight battery on the our Turbo EK Civic Coupe project.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-242-fabrication.aspx



Work continues on the Turbo EK Coupe project in the shop. Here we begin wiring the Hondata Coil on Plug retrofit kit.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/p-4122-hondata-coil-packcoil-on-plug-retrofit.aspx


In the fab shop today- just finishing up a King Motorsports prepped B series intake for a client.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/p-4048-king-porting-service-edelbrock-performer-x-intake-manifold-b-series.aspx





Update 4/5/2013:

In the shop this morning- fabricating intercooler tanks for a B series turbo build.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-242-fabrication.aspx



We just completed this H22 build. King Motorsports cylinder head prep, sleeved 13:1 with Skunk Pro 3 cams and a Euro R intake. Installation and dyno work next!

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-194-engine.aspx





Mugen Honda Civic AT Group.A Parts Catalog

20 February 2013 Administrator Mugen, Racing, Vintage & Nostalgia (0)


Way back Wednesday- we are going to post the entire Mugen AT Civic Group A parts catalog. We think you'll be amazed at the depth of the parts Mugen made available. You could literally build a turn key competitive Group A Civic from this catalog.


Right-click on an image to see it larger.



The Mugen Group A Civic leads the way. The Group A series was hotly contested by Honda and Toyota with Honda typically having the upper hand...



Mugen Group A Civic engine parts. Forged Mugen pistons with special material connecting rods. There were a few iterations of the connecting rods through the years- some beautifully polished. The Mugen oil pan was a work of art! It strengthened the block and added oil capacity and helped eliminate windage resulting a a 5 hp gain all by itself. The Mugen 30/50 cams were very easy on the valvetrain and had a very sophisticated profile to work with the PGM-FI system.



Part 2 of the Mugen Group A Civic engine parts list- smaller diameter pulleys and the adjustable PGM-Fi ECU and controller. The Mugen hard rubber engine mounts were sold for both race and street cars and made a great improvement! Keeping the engine and engine oil cool was very important- anything over 225 degrees oil temp caused the engine to loose HP.....



Because FIA Group A rules state you must use the factory upper exhaust manifold, considerable time was spent developing the secondary to make the most power. Chromoly lightweight flywheel and AP racing clutch.



One of the big advantages Mugen had over the competition in Group A was a wide range of alternative gear ratios and final drives. With this gearing you could always keep the engine in it's fairly narrow power band. The Mugen Limited slip has been a mainstay of all Honda competition cars all the way back to 1973....



Moving on to the Mugen Group A Civic suspension parts. Here's where things get really interesting. Mugen Showa dampers and upper camber plates, and the really trick front reinforced knuckles designed to be used with an adjustable sleeve that gave even greater camber adjustment. All the different front torsion bar diameters made it easy to dial in the handling to suit the track.




Here we have the quick ratio Mugen steering box (RHD) and 21mm front sway bar. The Mugen rear trailing arms were made specifically to help keep the correct suspension geometry. Mugen made three rear springs rates available, However most opted for an even higher rate linear spring.



The Mugen Group A rear axle with adjustable Panhard rod. The Mugen internal sway bars really worked well and we sold quite a few to street and race enthusiasts. Check out those Mugen 15" wheels......!!!!



We have covered how Mugen made the AT Civic go and handle, so how did they make it stop? 4 piston AP calipers and full floating front brake rotors, single master cylinder and rear disc conversion with all the needed brake lines.



Here's the Mugen brake proportioning assembly and yes- the FIA required a hand brake.....



The Mugen Group A fuel system. A custom ATL 90 liter fuel cell with pump and swirl tank. Don't forget the Mugen gauge cluster with 10K tach. And Mugen SW-36 steering wheel to grab onto!



Lastly the Mugen aluminum FIA roll cage.....



Add up all those Mugen parts with a few hundred hours of labor and this will be you!