what have mugen done to the ordinary s2000? It seems to be filter change, exhaust, suspension change and ECU (i may be wrong). Just wondering if it is worth tracking down the binary (*.bin) file used in the MUGEN s2000 and socketing my ECU (or having a spare) to accomodate and burning it onto an EPROM? is this possible? anyone looked into this?
Cheers

 

Depends which "Mugen S2000" you're talking about.

Southern Honda sell a "Mugenised" S2000, which has had the exhaust, manifold and air intake replaced with Mugen components. It doesn't have the Mugen ECU however.

Mugen do sell a lot of other components (see King Motorsports' website for a list) over and above those fitted to the SH car.

I have no idea whether you could reprogram the ECU with the Mugen ECU's settings or whether the only way to do it is to physically replace the ECU. You're probably better off asking the question in Under The Hood - there are some serious hard-core petrol-heads in there

 

Moved to UTH for you HH - you'll get more reply there

 

We don't get that option here in the States so we can offer little insight into what is being offered.

 

no it's not possible to reprogram the Honda ECU. You need the whole Mugen ECU unit if you want the changes. But don't bother unless you are planning to modify and play with the car,...the ignition is advanced so you may have problems unless you change other bits. Just an example, I have a Mugen ECU and looks like I need to change the radiator for a higher capacity one since the OEM unit does not keep my JDM engine cool enough. Note mugen state it is for racing use, so it's going to be on the edge for a lot of the original components. In terms of performance impact, it's pretty big when coupled to other things such as manifold changes. I have had to re-adjust considerably braking points on roads I knew well...before I was comfortably controlling the deceleration at a specific braking point...with the ECU I am having to use the ABS (in the dry) and missing the apex..this is because of the extra speed I carried from the previous straight. May sound like it defeats the object, but you don't need to VTEC so much for rapid progress.

 

Sounds like great fun to me

 

Kobe,

How hot is the engine running? I too have the Mugen ECU and have just installed a water temp gauge so I'll be able to keep an eye on the temp.

What radiator are you going to put in?

Can you use the Spoon or Mugen radiator and retain the aircon?



Chris

 

Honda UK originally looked into an official Mugen S2000 for the UK a few years back. There was at least one prototype car kitted up, and quite a bit of testing was done. In the end Honda UK decided it wasn't viable. IIRC the test car hard Mugen intake, exhaust manifold, and exhaust.

Some time later on, Southern Counties Honda dealer somehow obtained permission to do their own 'Mugen' S2000.

They fit the Mugen exhaust manifold, exhaust, cold air intake and oil cap. I say fit, in the case of the cold air intake, they refuse to cut the air guide restricting the effectiveness of it. They cite hydrolock risk for this, with is somewhat to say the least. Mugen themselves in the airbox instructions list 15cm deep water as being the safe limit. They do have some cheek as well - , shame they don't install it correctly to get the proper benefit.

For the curious, you can read about it here. While the site is mostly bits copied from elsewhere, it does have the saving grace of having the Mugen dyno graph for the exhaust manifold and exhaust which disappeared from King's site some time ago.

Basically, it's just a dealer fitting some of the Mugen parts (but not some of the key ones - add the thermostat/thermoswitch and ECU for a much better power increase), and exploiting the Mugen brand. Think of it as an 'easy' UK source to get some Mugen parts fitted, but a 'Mugen S2000' - give me a break.

As to running the Mugen ECU, air intake temperatures are far more important than coolant temperatures. You need to change thermostat and thermoswitch for the cooling, but that's it. If the air intake temps get too high, it's certainly possible to getting pinking with the Mugen ECU. As well as a good cold air intake, an intake manifold coolant bypass helps give a decent safety margin. There are several cars UK running the Mugen ECU. If the car is prepared for the ECU, it works perfectly under UK conditions.

-Brian.

 

Brian,

I know that you have logged lots of data from the S. What do you consider a safe/acceptable maximum air intake temp when running the ECU?

Chris.

 

I find that if the water temperature is 70-75C...then seems OK...above 75, towards 80 and above is point where I think I get some pinking. The Honda water gauge is useless because the 2nd bar seems to go from about 40degrees to ~ 70 degrees. Even on the motorway I found it difficult to keep below 80 C if going uphill..this is in spring weather too. Remember I have slightly higher compression so there is more risk on my car than a UK one..the extra octane on the fuel does not seem to compensate enough. From what the Jap tuning guys are saying..I need to keep in mid 70's to avoid trouble and only major suggestion they had was improve the cooling capacity. I don't know about spoon or mugen being OK for A/C - but I am getting a 3 element one (what will do a lot will do a little concept) and apparently the A/C will still be OK. Hopefully sorting out the air-intake at some point too.