I have finally saved up enough money to call-up King and order a Mugen Header, Mugen Exchaust, and I am contemplating ordering the ECU as well, but I want to get some opinions first. Should I get it? What are the benefits? I know it states the rev limit is increased to 9100 and VTEC engagement drops to 4700 rpms. Now for me, I'd never rev up that high, either during everyday driving or my track days. During my track days when I push the car real hard, I rarely let it go past 7500. So, the upper end does not interest me. I like the idea of VTEC coming down to 4700. Now that I can definitely use on all occasions. Do you believe the Mugen ECU, at $1300 is a worthy investment, considering I am also getting the header/exhaust and will most likely put in a cold air intake as well? Or, should I not bother? thx.

 

It might be worth half that much but it's WAY too pricey for what you get IMO. Also, keep in mind it will only work with certain setups. It actually made me lose power (VTEC WAY too early) in the midrange with no gains on top but some have reported gains.

 

Contact Kenji on this board; he has a great ECU setup a lot cheaper than the Mugen. I have Kenji's setup and I love it, very noticable gains.

 

I have it. I bought it because at the time I just wanted to stay with stock cams and run a JDM exhaust with no cat. The Mugen ECU (although VERY expensive) gives you a nice rich fuel map and no CEL light if you run aftermarket headers with straight-pipes. For use at the track, I found that the lower VTEC xover gave a wider powerband on the high VTEC lobes, so it was easier to stay "on cam". You mentioned that you are shifting at 7500 at the track. The whole point of shifting at redline is that the car will be making more hp in the next gear if you shift at redline (and thus you will go faster). This is why Realtime uses Mugen ECUs as it extends the powerband (and it's allowed by their sanctioning body). The quality of the ECU inside is top notch and all encased in epoxy - so it's very rugged and will stand up to the vibration and harshness of track/endurance racing.

The other aspect I liked was the plug n' play. Although I had to purchase one of Kenji Plennert's (Kenji) plug adapters to run it on my 2000 ITR - once it was in it ran fine. The exhaust note changed too. I'm not sure what effect the ECU has on the security chip in the key (I wasn't aware this was controlled by the ECU), but I use a pretty sophisticated alarm anyways.

You can do all of the above (except for major fuel map changes) with a Apexi V-AFC (which is a hell of a lot cheaper). You will have to splice into your ECU harness though (which I didn't want to do at the time).

If you have no intentions of changing your valvesprings, go with a V-AFC instead.

 

only regret with mugen ecu is the lowered vtec switch ...it's great on the track but for everyday duties depending on how fast you drive on the highway you will notice at @ 80mph you are very close to your vtec switch and that's not real good for your head ie valve springs, lost motion assemblies and other related parts

but on the track it is fantastic!!!

 

mugen has various programs, the one that I usualyl chip for people results in excellent gains even with XYZ camshafts ... have dynocharts to prove it also.


Greg

 

If you want to spend that extra $1300 on some mugen stuff...maybe throw in another $200 and get the 'lowdown' suspension setup if you run track events...just a thought.

 

That's is precisely what I was thinking. I think the stock suspension is great, so I am not gonna mess with it for a while. But since I run 15-20 track events a year, it'll probably wear out faster, and when the time comes for an upgrade, Mugen it is. I'll look for a cheaper ECU in the meantime.