Thursday 23rd July 2009

Mugen HQ Visit

PH's Matt Rigby and competition winner Nick explore door handles and other hidden treasures at tuner's HQ

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Nestling in a drab-looking building in the northern suburbs of Tokyo is a cache of hidden treasure. Tucked away in an unlit corner of renowned Honda tuner Mugen’s showroom, alongside a racing version of the Japanese-market Civic Type R, is a Mugen concept Civic Type R made, as far as practically possible, of carbonfibre.

Like so many industrial facilities, Mugen’s M-TEC headquarters gives precious few clues to the delights that lie within its walls. But the signs are there. Aside from the modest ‘Mugen’ sign, there’s also a strange handle on the door to the modest showroom. It’s made from the crank of an old V10 Mugen F1 engine. It’s the sort of touch that lets you know that these people really have a lot of petrol flowing through their veins.

It’s day two of PH’s trip to Japan and, having sampled the new Civic Type R Mugen concept yesterday, Honda/PH competition winner Nick and I are here at Mugen for a snoop around (slash official guided tour of) Honda’s version of M Power.

Actually, the analogy to M Power doesn’t quite fit because, although Mugen is owned by the Honda family, it is entirely independent of Honda. Mugen was set up in 1973 by Honda founder Soichiro Honda’s son Hirotoshi, mainly as a competition-biased tuning firm. Even today Mugen takes its activities deadly seriously. “Competition is always our primary focus” says Mugen’s head of European operations, Hiro Toyoda. “The tuning side is important, but motorsport must come first.”

He’s not kidding, either. As we wander around the factory, almost everything seems motorsport-related. Toyoda-san says that around half of Mugen’s business centres on motorsport, but it feels like more than that. In one workshop we see a Formula Nippon car being stripped down to its bare components right next to a Japanese Super GT NSX race car, gleaming and ready for a weekend’s racing. On the other side of that are two Honda Insight hybrids (yes, you read that right) being turned into racing cars for a forthcoming seven-hour endurance race.

Everything Honda does, it seems, Mugen turns to some sort of motorsport or high-performance use. And it does so with an almost unbelievably tiny workforce – just 180 people worldwide. But that is of course the whole point of Mugen, as Masahi Honma, one of Mugen’s marketing chaps points out: "Honda’s excellence is in manufacturing, but Mugen’s excellence is in craftsmanship."

Which brings us back to that rather wonderful carbonfibre Civic. It turns out that this car was originally planned for production. It is based loosely on the standard car, but packs a bored-out 2.2-litre version of the 2.0-litre VTEC with 256bhp and 220NM of torque (to power something that weighs 150kg less than the standard car!), and is an utterly, joyously insane creation that was only killed by the current global financial crisis. Nobody would talk costs to me, but you can bet it was going to be a lot of money.

And now the company that seriously considered producing a carbonfibre Civic wants to expand its presence in the UK – possibly with a production version of the three-door Civic concept we saw yesterday. Mugen: As far as this PHer is concerned, with an approach to performance motoring as mad as this, you are more than welcome anytime...

 

[stew-S160]

no, not jealous at all..........fk

[Wilburo]

The carbon Civic looks so much cooler than the red one

Carbon having shed 150kgs, we're surely unlikely to see anywhere near that weight loss with the RR?

[Bug106]

That looks like such a cool place, would love to visit that one day.

[Pie n Chips]

Nice to see that PH staffers know the difference between a crank and a con rod :lol:

[ridds]

Pie n Chips said:

Nice to see that PH staffers know the difference between a crank and a con rod :lol:

[Speed_Demon]

Pie n Chips said:

Nice to see that PH staffers know the difference between a crank and a con rod :lol:

Oooo I see that too

[Garlick]

I did say that if he didn't do the custard test at the Mugen factory then I would cancel his return flight.......this just seals his fate.

[SkinnyBoy]

you jammy bastids....


Moar piccies please.

[Pie n Chips]

Garlick said:

I did say that if he didn't do the custard test at the Mugen factory then I would cancel his return flight.......this just seals his fate.

I can think of worse places to be stranded

[stuart-b]

Why don't they offer the 2.2 engine as standard.......... why why why!

The Jun Prelude with the 2.2 n/a puts out over 270 BHP... it's the right choice for torque!

Edited by stuart-b on Thursday 23 July 16:34

[Nightshade]

Any pics of the NSX?

[Martin_Hx]

That Carbon Civic does look good but im sure the price would be very scary !

[havoc]

stew-S160 said:

no, not jealous at all..........fk

Me either!

...not sure where I'd have started - probably the race-spec NSX (as I suspect would the lucky sod himself as he's on nsxcb as well as here...)!



(Paul...just ring Japanese immigration and tell them that the test results have come back and he's got swine-flu! )

[chuntington101]

stuart-b said:

Why don't they offer the 2.2 engine as standard.......... why why why!

The Jun Prelude with the 2.2 n/a puts out over 270 BHP... it's the right choice for torque!

Edited by stuart-b on Thursday 23 July 16:34

there a a good few stroker kits out for the Ka20. i dont think you can bore the engine out like this guy said. all block and thin liners juist dont let you do it!

However you might be able to re-sleave it to open the bore out a little?.....

Chris.

PS if you want both toqur and power and to stay NA then why not use the K24 block with a Brian Crower stroker kit? that will net you a 2.6ltr 4pot! some throttle boide and hot cams and you would have a lovely little engine!

Edited by chuntington101 on Friday 24th July 07:35

[stew-S160]

havoc said:

stew-S160 said:

no, not jealous at all..........fk

Me either!

...not sure where I'd have started - probably the race-spec NSX (as I suspect would the lucky sod himself as he's on nsxcb as well as here...)!



(Paul...just ring Japanese immigration and tell them that the test results have come back and he's got swine-flu! )

imagine a zombie surrounded by live people, the zombie would not know which was to go, you'd see it dribbling and eyeing up it's prey...that's kinda how i'd be at the Mugen factory.

[rsstman]

Speed_Demon said:

Pie n Chips said:

Nice to see that PH staffers know the difference between a crank and a con rod :lol:

Oooo I see that too

yes very professional

[zac510]

Very cool nice work riggers.

[slayaz]

chuntington101 said:

stuart-b said:

Why don't they offer the 2.2 engine as standard.......... why why why!

The Jun Prelude with the 2.2 n/a puts out over 270 BHP... it's the right choice for torque!

Edited by stuart-b on Thursday 23 July 16:34

there a a good few stroker kits out for the Ka20. i dont think you can bore the engine out like this guy said. all block and thin liners juist dont let you do it!

However you might be able to re-sleave it to open the bore out a little?.....

Chris.

PS if you want both toqur and power and to stay NA then why not use the K24 block with a Brian Crower stroker kit? that will net you a 2.6ltr 4pot! some throttle boide and hot cams and you would have a lovely little engine!

Edited by chuntington101 on Friday 24th July 07:35

I really wish I knew what you were talking about!

[robert_raw]

That JDM Civic is soooo much nicer that the UKDM space ship we get over here

[chuntington101]

slayaz said:

chuntington101 said:

stuart-b said:

Why don't they offer the 2.2 engine as standard.......... why why why!

The Jun Prelude with the 2.2 n/a puts out over 270 BHP... it's the right choice for torque!

Edited by stuart-b on Thursday 23 July 16:34

there a a good few stroker kits out for the Ka20. i dont think you can bore the engine out like this guy said. all block and thin liners juist dont let you do it!

However you might be able to re-sleave it to open the bore out a little?.....

Chris.

PS if you want both toqur and power and to stay NA then why not use the K24 block with a Brian Crower stroker kit? that will net you a 2.6ltr 4pot! some throttle boide and hot cams and you would have a lovely little engine!

Edited by chuntington101 on Friday 24th July 07:35

I really wish I knew what you were talking about!

Well i was saying if you really want to strech the K20 engine one way is to use the Honda K24 bliock and mate it to the K20 Type R head. then install a Brian Crower stroker kit (longer throw crank gives you a greater cubic capacity for any given bore) that will take the engine out to about 2.6ltr. with a worked head, some hot cams, throttle bodies and the ECU you should have a power and torque monster!

Chris.