When we aren't building race cars or getting the most potential from engine builds, we have plenty of other things to keep us busy. Here are a few examples!

In the shop today: Comprehensive dyno development program completed for the multiple time SCCA ARRC championship ITA CRX. Now on to corner weight and four wheel alignment. You can see another pic of this CRX on the King Motorsports Instagram feed.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-326-wheel-alignment.aspx

In the shop today- assembling a close-ratio K series transmission for a Lotus Elise with a K swap-nice!

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/c-296-transmission.aspx



In our fab shop, we just finished up TIG welding an EGT bung to this S2000 header. This S2000 will be the test bed for the upcoming revised Kraftwerks SC kit.... More details to follow!

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/e-DM_ProductsPerMfgAndCategory.aspx?CatID=257&ManID=84



Have you checked your rear trailing arm bushings lately? 95% of the cars that we see for service have badly deteriorated rear trailing arm bushings. This condition can lead to very unsafe handling. Here we have just installed a set of PCI rear trailing arm bushings in an 88-91 CRX rear trailing arm.

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/m-78-pci-procar-inovations.aspx

Heading to the track this season? Consider a set of ARP hardened, extended wheel studs. Cheap insurance against bad things happening....

http://www.kingmotorsports.com/e-DM_ProductsPerMfgAndCategory.aspx?CatID=308&ManID=6

If you're like us, your passion for Hondas is reflected in the artwork you buy and display. We have a few to share:

Years ago we bought this cloth print at the Honda Collection Hall at Twin Ring Motegi- it hangs proudly in our office.

This mural featuring some of Honda’s most iconic racing machinery hangs inside Honda’s closed-to-the-public R&D facility in Raymond Ohio.

The 100 foot long mural was produced by artist John Frye.

There are cars that find new life as race cars, and then there are cars that are practically delivered straight to the track. This 4th gen Honda Prelude (BB4) is a very storied car that's been a race car its entire life -- winning a few championships in the hands of Bob Endicott (it was Bob's car). We are currently reinventing this thoroughbred race car for its next chapter -- which is sure to be very interesting! :)

Orange is the color of the year over here at King Motorsports. The Prelude race car project -- nicknamed "San Pedro" -- is geting a fresh paint job in a bright new color. Some call it Hugger Orange, we prefer to call it Daytona Yellow!! Here it is over at Don's Auto Body in West Allis, WI (Don does all of our paintwork, give him a call at 414-541-5155 if you need anything).

Next stop back to KMS for final assembly and setup.

Now that "San Pedro" is back from Don's Auto Body with a fresh coat of Daytona Yellow (some call it Daytona Red), Chad begins final assembly. Installing the fuel bladder, rear tin work and a set of freshly rebuilt and revalved Penske triple adjustable shocks are the first on the build list.

Fresh new parts and fresh paint-wonderful!!

Rear tin work-bead rolled to eliminate vibration noises. Dzus fasteners are used for easy access to the fuel systems.

We just installed the engine/transmission assembly into "San Pedro" Trick transmission with carbon synchro's and a Mugen limited slip (super rare). The engine is built to the limit of SCCA EP prep rules with a camshaft set ground to our specifications. We'll be using a Hondata S300 for tuning. Can't wait to get it on the dyno!

Getting closer to firing up San Pedro for initial engine break in on the dyno. The engine is now completely plumbed and the engine harness has been installed.

Fitting an oil catch tank on a Prelude is always tricky. We fabricated our own and plumbed it with Aeroquip -10 braided lines.

Here is where we vent the H series valve covers. Here the motor has a race header that DC built specifically for the car years ago. We will use it to establish a baseline before we start developing our own race header for it.

The fuel cell is completely plumbed. We ran a hard line under the car to the engine bay for the fuel feed and return. Connections are -6 Aeroquip.

The Penske triple adjustable damper canisters are mounted for ease of compression and rebound adjustments. Controlling wheel movement is the one of the most important considerations in making a race car handle properly.

Just started fabricating the dash for San Pedro. We use .080" sheet aluminum. We will mount an Autometer tach, oil press/temp and water temp gauge in this panel. Once fabrication has been completed we will send it out to be powder coated flat black to reduce glare.

View from the top of the dash.

San Pedro is alive!! The engine has been broken in on our dyno and we are now testing various intake and exhaust solutions.

It is critical that the initial start and break in of a new engine be monitored closely on the dyno with a wide band. We have seen far to many engines ruined by improper A/F ratios and poor "base line" tunes.

Chad is busy fabricating a new H23 dyno header for San Pedro...

On the dyno with San Pedro with our new H23 stepped race header.

Detail shot of the H23 header....

Finishing up TIG welding the 3" stainless race exhaust on "San Pedro" with a Magnaflow 3" stainless muffler.

Here is the header to Mid Pipe Flex Joint.

Some finishing details on "San Pedro" dash is in and gauges wired up.

Fuel filler fabrication.

Interior tin work completed and plexi windows fabricated and installed.

We rebuilt San Pedro's front suspension using new uprights, bearings, hubs and upper control arms. ARP extended studs were also installed.

More updates will be added to the blog as we go. Be sure to check out our Facebook page to see the updates on San Pedro as they happen!

Update 12/4/2012:

We haven't had an update on the progress of "San Pedro" in a while. Christmas came a bit early yesterday in the form of the correct steering hub to mount the steering wheel. We even hear a pair of factory side skirts are on their way to us. "All" we have to do now is fabricate a carbon front air dam to mount the splitter and it's off to the races!!

Update 12/13/2012:

Here's a picture of the newly-painted Volk TE37's with Hoosier race rubber:

Update 12/21/2012:

We are finalizing chassis setup on "San Pedro" -- this orange beast is on the scales and will soon be ready for testing!

Update 1/9/2013:

Finally... San Pedro gets a new windshield!

San Pedro sees the light for the first time in 2013! Spring testing is coming soon!

Clicky-click to see "Re-inventing 'San Pedro' Part 2" for a continuation of the build pics!

In late November we posted up pictures of the prep and loading of a special Mugen shipment leaving Tokyo. We're happy to say that the shipment has officially arrived to our facility here in Wisconsin, USA!

Although this shipment contains a variety of Mugen parts, the lion's share of the cargo allocation was for the FRP Mugen S2000 hardtops. We've already pre-sold most of this shipment's hardtops and they will head out to customers very soon. The remaining hardtops will go fast so if you've been eyeing one of these quality pieces, now's a good time to order since (for now) they are in stock and ready to ship!

Here are pics of this latest Mugen shipment, freshly unloaded in the warehouse area of our facility! You're looking at ten Mugen S2000 hardtops, Mugen wheels, Mugen SS S2000 bumpers, DC5 aero and more ...

Back in April 2001, we made it out to the S2000 (S2K) Days in Asheville NC. The King Motorsports SS2000 and S2200 join the S2K crew for a spirited drive amongst the scenic Blue Ridge mountains. Photos courtesy Juliann Pokorny (Thanks Juliann!!)

What we consider the best shot of the SS2000! From the West Coast beat down tour :)

Commander Brad leads the pack and receives his first Honor Badge of the trip- when a rock flies off a passing car and lands squarely on his hood- OUCH! We pull over to commiserate....

The KMS SS2000 and S2200 pause for photo op in the Blue Ridge mountains.

Here's the OG KMS facility in Sullivan WI.  The "Mistress" is being serviced with the GAC ITR on the rack between races. From the looks of the front bumper Bob may have wanted to occupy the same space as the car in front of him..... :)

The SS2000 at Laguna Seca. IIRC the NA SS2000 put all the boosted West Coast S2000's to shame that day. Just sayin......

Our very special orange guest at this year's annual Dyno Day was the amazing Honda CR-Z MUGEN RR Concept vehicle. After months of careful planning, Mugen and King Motorsports were proud to bring Mugen's newest concept all the way to Milwaukee -- exclusively for our Dyno Day. This is the first and possibly only time that these wheels will ever be in the States.

Shipping a hand-built, one-of-a-kind concept vehicle over 6200 miles from Tokyo to Wisconsin (and back again) is no small accomplishment.

The process starts in April, months ahead of June's Dyno Day.

Moving the car out of the Mugen showroom:

In this picture, Mugen technicians charge the battery and do all the final prep:

Then the super-low hatch is eased up the ramps for transport to where it will be crated up and shipped out!

And here's what a shipping label for an entire vehicle direct from Mugen looks like! Made in Japan!

Box within a box!

6229 miles later the Mugen CR-Z RR Concept Car arrives in Wisconsin!

After two hours of uncrating!!

You just can't walk by this car without marveling at all the details....

Wanna see what's under the hood of the Mugen CR-Z RR???

Rotrex supercharged beauty!

Another view. The carbon work is just amazing! Approximately 200 hp and all the weight savings from the carbon body work should perk up the CR-Z!

Finally we moved the CR-Z into the King Motorsports showroom. We moved out all of our regular showroom cars to give the CR-Z center stage! Here it is covered the night before -- ready for its unveiling on Dyno Day June 2.

Grand unveiling the morning of Dyno Day!

YouTube user FLBFLY posted up this video walkaround of the Mugen CR-Z: RR!

Dyno Day over and a great success, the day for us to return the orange Mugen beast back to Tokyo came all too soon.

Charging up the battery one last time before we say goodbye to the CR-Z: RR! A huge thanks to our friends at Mugen for helping make this happen!

The King Motorsports International Shipping Division goes to work crating the Mugen CR-Z RR for its return trip!

Our Japanese colleagues built a very clever shipping container that clips together. Reassembling all the pieces was a bit challenging. :)

This is the Mugen CR-Z's last glimpse of North America! :)

Once the container was built, the fork lift pushed it into the back of the shipping company's truck. Sayonara!

Recently a customer brought his Civic in for dyno tuning. On the first dyno run, the motor hits VTEC and goes dead rich -- but makes no horsepower.

We pulled off the aftermarket header. Here's a pic:

We look inside the header -- a generic one from eBay -- and examined it more closely. What we found was shockingly poor construction yielding almost total blockage. See for yourself:

We replaced the header with a quality Skunk2 Alpha Series header. Ran it on the dyno again, and saw a *dramatic* power and torque increase.

Here's the comparison chart:

If you've read Mike's interview, you know our philosophy about buying from eBay is to use extreme caution. We're not saying every auto part on eBay is badly made or a knockoff (and eBay is trying to fight that image too), but there are still dreadful products out there that can cost you power, money and sometimes even your safety. Ebay sellers know they will probably never meet you, so their motivation to simply move product overshadows *doing the right thing for the customer*. And even if the seller does care, customer feedback doesn't always make its way back to the seller.

We do the right thing for our customers. If it won't help your build, we won't sell it to you.

And we have the dyno charts (and decades of experience) to back it up!

It really is true: "When you buy cheap, you buy twice."

Congrats to Rob Delimat, our 2011 Dyno Day Photo Contest winner!

Rob's picture was chosen because it captured so much about what Dyno Day is all about: Race Cars, Street Cars, People, and Cars on the Dyno. For his efforts Rob's photo will be featured on the front page of our website and he will receive a King Motorsports TShirt. Rob's uncropped photo can be seen here.

Rob's pics on Facebook.

Thanks to everyone who entered.

First off, thanks to EVERYONE who sent in photos from Dyno Day 2011. We received a lot of great images, but after some tough decisions, here are the finalists (in no particular order):

Rob Delimat

Brandon Adkins

Nick Campos