I’ve been waiting a pretty long time for this day to come and it’s pretty freaking glorious. I spend a lot of my time – maybe even an unhealthy amount of time – thinking about how I should put the Type R together and I often go through so many parts in my head imagining and picturing what it would look like over and over again. Does anyone else do the same? lol

My dilemma is really trying to build it in the best way possible while retaining functionality and the “daily driver” aspect of it – particularly because of the need to haul the family and groceries or whatever else I need. It’s hard sometimes because there are some days that I want to slam it and put more aggressive wheels on it but then I wouldn’t be able to drive it as much as I want to lol. I’m sure a lot of other FK8 owners can agree that there aren’t many options out there either – so trying to build one that has your own flair and style is also equally challenging.

At the end of the day, the important thing to me is that high quality parts go on the car and go on with enough thought to make it worth it. There are so many Type R’s on the road and so many that unfortunately have been just “ruined”. It’s just disappointing to see a good car become so easily bastardized – it’s not a “Type R” problem either – but when you own a specific chassis and see other examples of it being just fucked up, it hurts the soul a little bit. It’s not the time or place for me to rant about it so I’ll just stop before I get ahead of myself…

Anyway, after seeing what Varis and Spoon had to finally offer – I decided to stay on track with Mugen. When the kit came out, I loved it but really wanted to wait it out a bit to see what other big names were going to offer and I was personally disappointed. Varis looked good at the sculpting stage but after completion, it was not much different than stock. Spoon also didn’t deviate much from the stock look and I guess I can’t blame them, the FK8 “out-of-the-box” is already aggressive as it is, so to change it and have it look good would be challenging – I don’t even know what I’d do to it LOL.

The almighty Mugen logo and box…

Of course Princess Elsa/Aria had to come check out what it was – asking if it was hers. You wish, kid.

Side skirts painted CW by Mugen

Front lip painted CW by Mugen

JDM instructions

JDM 3M primer for the adhesive…

As soon as I received it, I drove it right over to Tommy at Tint tech to 3M it.

He did a fantastic job – can’t even tell there’s wrap on it.

The front lip was super easy to install. Remove the bottom screw on each side of the front lip in the wheel well.

Remove the two OEM clips underneath.

I popped the lip on just to see if everything fit nicely… I had no doubt that it wouldn’t…

Secured with some tape just to hold everything in place

The install requires you to drill an extra hole into the stock sideskirt to bolt the top piece in. Mark it…

Drill the hole and insert the fastener into place – good to go.

Once all ready, pull up a piece of the 3M adhesive backing and put all the screws and clips in. Once you’re happy, pull the backing off and press 🙂

Voila!

That Mugen emblem on the front is icing on the cake…

Love it.

I know there are some of you that were unsure of the OEM red grill garnish when I first put it on but my end vision was to have the Mugen lip tie it all together, and that it did!

I will say that although I didn’t doubt Mugen, I am blown away by the fit and finish of the front lip. It fits like OEM and there are absolutely no gaps and holes line up perfectly. This would be my first time dealing with Mugen body parts and I am a believer.

Front lip complete! But we’re not done yet…

The front lip actually came first and the sideskirts came a few days later… I was beginning to think they lost the sideskirts in transit, but thank God they didn’t. Waiting for parts to be delivered has got to be one of the most stressful things LOL

Stamp of authenticity on the sideskirts…

Again, laid out and ready for a mockup

Easy peasy.

Fitment again is perfect. Literally perfect lol – I don’t think I can emphasize this enough.

I ended up finishing the passenger side and forgot to take pictures because it was a little more involved than the front lip. More pics on the driver side below…

So the sideskirts were slightly more complicated because the instructions say to remove the whole sideskirt off the car. The reason is because you have to drill 4 additional holes on the underside of the skirt to attach clips to it.

Removing the sideskirts are a whole other process and while it “may” have been easier, I decided to just lift the car up and drill while it was in the air.

First time the wheels have been off lol…

You have to take the wheel off to drill an additional hole for the backside of the sideskirt.

Here’a s hot of the hole you have to drill to attached the Mugen sideskirt

I know it doesn’t line up here but it’s because the sideskirt was not fully bolted on yet and is just hanging loose. Don’t worry 🙂

Once you drill the four holes underneath, you need to drill one more top hole on the back of the sideskirt like I mentioned to put an additional screw in. You can see the newer black screw on top. Look at how perfect this thing fits… Again – emphasizing “perfect” lol

Tight fitment.

And voila!

Looks awesome!

Here’s a shot of it all together in the garage… Full pics coming soon. The Mugen kit definitely helps break up all the black from the white and visually lowers the car a little more. Super satisfied with the look.

And of course, as soon as it was all done – I prepped the lip kit and then coated with CQuartz. Literally one of the best things I’ve done to the car.