Is it me, or does the right pipe on the King rear shot look a bit higher than the left? That is exactly what i described, and fixed with a little heat and persuasion. It is minor, but I have an eye for detail. "Fanatic and anal" is my wife's description.

And where are the rivets for the rear section of the cans? This photo looks doctored to eliminate them, and shine up things.

My "cans" were not as shiny as those pictures make out, which is fine with me. The pics do not do the rivets on the intake side of the muffler canisters justice - they are beautiful. The tip edge welds are Technicolor, but not as garish (to me) as the Amuse treatment. The inside of the exhaust tip is a thing of beauty, as it is a separately pressed and welded in piece. There are drain holes for water and/or condensate.

I did an hour commute to and from work today, and it was warmer, and the thing sounded mean. I had the top down and went for a spin at lunch-time, and was on the Jeff Davis pike in 2nd at about 6K, and this kid in a Civic R (a real one) did a rubberneck, a u-turn, and stalked me into a fast food place. He went bonkers about the sound and the look, and he asked me the price. I said "Expensive", and he said "Like $400?". I did not have the heart to tell him. I have seen the Mugen system for his car, and it looks like a single one of the stock muffflers on the S2000, with the dual inlet tubing. That is I am sure one reason why the OE system is hard to beat, at least for power. I have seen a lot of variances in what is reported for singles and duals, and even though some say the Mugen makes no power on the 2.2L, i cannot see how that could be true, since the backpressure has to be a bit less, and Mugen has a pretty good rep. and heritage. Except those fake Mugen grounding wires. ha ha.

But even if it is just for the sound, I am OK with it - my car sounds great now. And I can be like Alan deCadenet now*, heel-and-toeing to make a perfect entry into a tight switchback, back on the throttle hard at the apex, with the unmistakable sound of a race car on the boil resonating in my mind, and the canyon walls of the Angeles crest - ahhh, Heaven!

*In my dreams, although i am a decent stick. But I have all the de Cadenet DVD's of him driving the great marques: Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, Alfa, etc, and with my surround system, the sound is justy wonderful - I put the wail of the P3 Ferrari or Knopfler's car on A-B repeat, and just closed my eyes and took it all in, imagining the smell, the heat, the virbration, the elements combining with THE SOUND to make a driving experience many here can relate to, but only dream of. One of the great joys of my life was once delivering a 1967 365 GTB to a famous customer of Luigi Chinetti's when he was exclusive North American Ferrari distributor, wailing up the Taconia parkway. The seller knew i knew how to handle the 365, since a few stalls and the plugs fouled, and it was several thousand $'s to correct that little situation. Nirvana on wheels - the mechanical sound of the small displacement V-12 is like nothing else on this earth. What woudl Jesus drive? A V-12 Ferrari, not Prius. He earned it.

I will try to get digital photo competent soon. You certainly can se the cans from the side, but it is not an unpleasant look, just more noticeable than stock.

 

Damn Glenn without any images you are painting a vivid picture in my mind and now I really I want these

And yes, the right side is higher than the left in that direct rear shot. So you're not seeing things. I'm sure most people wouldn't notice, but you like the rest of us pick up on these minor details happy driving

 

You're not the only one. Mine is like that too. This must be a design issue because this seems to be common.

 

Great write-up, RR I had been in the market for an exhaust for my 04 and had decided on the Mugen before the debacle about availability and delivery constantly being pushed back. I got sick of waiting and ordered an Amuse R1 instead.

Do you write for a living? You certainly have a gift for writing very evocative prose

 

Glenn,

I'm sure your cans are pretty. You shouldn't doubt yourself like that......

-Lee

 

I'm trying real hard to fight the temptation to mod my car but after this testimony I'm about ready to lay down the plastic and call Scott @ King and get one of these.

Dayummm RR

 

You are very kind, but no, I am just the only scientist in the family. My Dad was an English major, as were my two older brothers. My Dad, just deceased in March, has a chair in English in his name at Dartmouth College, where the entire family attended, including now my niece.

I am an IT Director now, but I do write for one car newsletter, have done freelance for C&D, CarCraft, and BMW Roundel (Article: "M" Means More, on the 1995 M3). I write for two audio publications, The Sensible Sound and the Audio Critic. My brother worked at Newsweek and Wall Street Journal, and my nephew is looking for an entry-level job in journalism in Connecticut right now.

I love words, and the art of written communication, which, alas, has declined steadily for quite some time IMO, and the Internet is the final straw. I am now training my 5 year old daughter how to use adjectives, which are in abundance in the English language, rather than "like".

Nothing gets me going worse than people saying "I was "like" this and she was "like" that...and then "I go and then she goes".

This is a tough fights, as her teachers use the same horrible verbal style. I teased her kindergarten teacher who said she was so mad "she was like ...hmmmph". I said: vexed, dismayed, angered, despondent, irritated, and went on for, "like", half a minute. She got the point. It is a losing battle I fear.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by asu_lee
Glenn,

I'm sure your cans are pretty.

 

RR,

is yours the "revised" '04 mugen??

it looks awefully similar to my pre'04 mugen...

(masterful wordmanship!)

 

I believe it is.
p.n.18000-XGS-K2SO. This is what was on my box and in the instructions, which are all in Japanese.

I think the pre 04 is 18000-XGS-K1SO.

The few English words did say AP1, but that could mean for the 2004 AP1. I think the tips are bigger on the 2004 Mugen, but I do not claim to know all the intricacies of the exhaust world - is there such a thing as an exhaustologist?