King Motorsports Official Blog | Re-inventing "San Pedro" Part 1 (Updated)

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!!