lig

little testy here in this thread, eh?

My .02 - while I admire Mugen parts and like the psuedo-factory nature of their products - I'm too cheap to buy most of that stuff. If I were sponsored - that would be another matter.

Quality stuff - no doubt. Value? Everyone is free to make their own decision about that.

hyperpm

Red: Mugen header and exhaust along with 4IG CAI
Blue: Same mods with VAFC installed and tuned
Temp: Mid 90's
Rims: 17" CE28N's
Dynojet

Which is better: Mugen ECU or tuned VAFC?

smccurry

I'm not 'picking sides', but I do not race for a living, and merely autocross about once a month. I also have the Mugen mods in question, and I had the opportunity to race a stock S2000 (well, it only had a Spoon snorkel) and my car on the same track. The owner of the other S2000 and I switched rides during the fun runs, so I got 4 passes with each. THE DIFFERENCE WAS LIKE NIGHT AND DAY. Don't let the peak numbers fool you.
What will skew the results of my experience are that I have another significant mod that wasn't listed on Corleone's mod list, and that's the 4.44 gears. Nevertheless, the other S2000 driver and I both agreed that throttle response and power were 'very' significantly affected. We both achieved faster times with my car despite my car being on stock (and worn) S02's whereas his car had race rubber (I've gotta get me some of those too. What a difference in grip!).

Corleone

Is it true that Mugen Headers ( or any other aftermarket header) with stock exhaust gives more power then Mugen Headers + Mugen Exhaust ?
It's hard to believe that but, might be logical as the stock exhaust increases back pressure with a enlarged headers or is it not ?

smccurry - Are you happy with your 4.44 gearset ? Does it really makes such a difference as people say it does ? What are the pros and cons of that mod other than losing a couple mph from your top speed ?

Xplosiv

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Corleone
Is it true that Mugen Headers ( or any other aftermarket header) with stock exhaust gives more power then Mugen Headers + Mugen Exhaust ?

xviper

You won't lose any top speed with the 4.44's as the stock gears won't allow you to get to its "redline" top speed anyway. Here were some impressions when I did mine:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...&threadid=85331

SEVNT4

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Corleone
Is it true that Mugen Headers ( or any other aftermarket header) with stock exhaust gives more power then Mugen Headers + Mugen Exhaust ?

AusS2000

I'm with Xviper on this one. If you feel let down because his response wasn't sagely and guru-like then wake up and smell the jasmine tea. Xviper is just another guy with an S2000 who happens to know a great deal and share it willingly. He still has a right to an opinion no matter how much you or I disagree with it.

And so am I.

Unless your racing class or religion or whatever says stay NA, and you have an infinite amount of money, I can't see a justifiable benefit to Mugen products. Drivability, area under the curve, throttle response, cool stickers! Sure but look at the price! 5-7hp? The only place you are ever going to see that is on a dyno. The butt dyno isn't sensitive enough. It won't be measurable on the race track and it sure as heck won't be apparent in the 1/4 mile (racing for ADD sufferers).

Maybe others disagreee, but here's the telling quote:

In other words, "When am I going to get what I paid for".

To which I answer: "Not until you put the stickers on!".

Is it true Mugen is pronounced "Mugging"?

Xplosiv

Its very hard to enhance the performance of a already well-tuned S2000. If you decide to stay NA, dont ever expect a high hp gain from any i/e/h setups...its not happeneing; Mugen or not is just a personal perference---if we calculate the ratio of money spent over hp gain, then indeed Mugen should be pronounced Mugging.

ultimate lurker

I have never been one to shy away from criticizing Mugen/King Motorsports pricing policy in the US. $1200+ for a header is simply ridiculous. Shouldn't be hard to find my rants on the policy in other posts and threads going back quite a ways.

But, up until Toda released their header, no one else had put together an S2000 header that showed reasonable gains and no significant losses. So, if you're the only one out there with a product that works, and people are willing to pay....which explains why I bought a Mugen header three years ago and only recently removed it. It was the only one that worked. And the Mugen exhaust frees up a couple hp while retaining good sound and losing weight. As much as I admire what Spugen has done, they haven't licked the resonant problem yet - Mugen has.

As for benefits, make no mistake, the Mugen products combo does provide gains. And believe me, if you hopped from a stock car into a Mugen I/H/E and ECU equipped car, you'd notice it from the moment you engaged the clutch. That 5-7 hp peak gain may not be much, but the 12-15 hp at 9000 rpm, or the 10% increase in torque at some points in the midrange is pretty substantial on a normally aspirated car.

And frankly, since we're sharing opinions here, anyone who is running a forced induction setup on an S2000 without proper engine management (which, in this case means a proper fuel and ignition timing control system and preferably bigger injectors) is asking for trouble. I'd be more forceful with my commentary, but I'm not out to insult anyone or hurt their feelings. Its dangerous because you are counting on the ECU's knock sensor to protect you. I've seen 4 different FI S2000's with engine failures now, and that's just among my direct customers (all were supercharged incidentally). None of them had aftermarket engine management when they started.

Caveat Emptor

UL