Page 7 - Engineering

Plotting courses is a significant part of a life off-road. While these Broncos are designed to take on any spontaneous adventure and leave the asphalt behind, knowing your path home is a vital part of any journey, no matter what vehicle you're piloting. Like mapping these off-road excursions, the quest of packing more ponies into the 2.7L EcoBoost is a long and sometimes complex. Upgrading the intercooler piping is one of the vital legs of the journey, but Ford's layout can leave some aimlessly wandering this part of the wilderness. Not us, though. In our last post, we found our way through the jungle under the Bronco's hood, and now we're plotting the course.

We've all heard it before - Failing to plan is planning to fail. It's an old adage, but it still rings true, especially regarding your off-roading adventures. Nothing makes you feel quite as stranded on the trail like forgetting a crucial part of your recovery gear or vital tools from your kit. Having a plan in place is great in theory, but it still needs to be implemented. Making checklists of the gear that needs to be piled into your rig and shakedown runs is ideal for keeping you and your Bronco from being stranded. When it comes to our snorkel kit, we have the same mindset with our design and decided to set up a shakedown run of our own.

As we covered in our last post, these Broncos come prepared from the factory for life off-road. Well, mostly. Ford might have incorporated provisions to protect the intake against dust and water, but these enemies of the

Navigating the engine bay of the 2.7L powered Bronco was quite an arduous journey. The maze of hardlines, pipes, and fluid hoses added a degree of difficulty to our journey, but we were still able to find the hidden treasure buried under the dense labyrinth of stock components - more power. The success of this expedition was explicitly tied to our fresh new intake design that's now found a home in the 2.7L EcoBoost jungle and is contributing to its thriving ecosystem.

To find out just how much this kit is contributing, we started on our flow bench. The SuperFlow SF1020 is equipped with an array of air pumps and precise air metering equipment that provides our engineering team with an instant calculation of the airflow restriction between the stock system and our new design. If you want to dig deeper into our flow bench system and testing methods, make sure you head over to our in-depth tech article - Flow Bench Equipment Profile.

Deep breaths. The slow, methodical inhale and exhale helps us land-dwelling mammals find a sense of calm focus. Breathe in".breathe out. Zen. Breathing deep has parallel effects on our horse-themed adventure machines. Where the additional air in our lungs enhances our mood and focus, these fuel-burning Broncos are dead set on a longer stride and quicker gallop. So far, we've spent months training our 2.3L powered Bronco on its new breathing exercises, and now the time has come to see if they've paid off.

Our tests start on our flow bench. The SuperFlow SF1020 is equipped with an array of air pumps and precise air metering equipment that provides our engineering team with an instant calculation of the airflow restriction between the stock system and our new design. If you want to dig deeper into our flow bench system and testing methods, make sure you head over to our in-depth tech article -

Deep in the bowels of every EcoBoost engine is a penned-up herd of wild horses dying to run free. These ponies are destined to stretch their legs, but Ford's quest for a comfy, affordable off-road machine forces some of the herd back into the stable. Luckily, we have the right tool to break them free to join the pack and maybe even add a few more to the 2.3L's numbers.

To find out how enticing our intercooler is to the wild horses living under the hood of the 2.3L powered Bronco, we needed to run some tests, starting on our flow bench. Our SuperFlow Dynamics SF-1020 is packed with an array of air pumps and complex metering tools that help us determine how well the charged air will flow through our improved core. Make sure you head to our equipment profile to learn more about our

Toyota's toughness isn't just limited to the multifaceted pick-up trucks in their lineup. Some of these trucks developed super-specific skills like navigating challenging terrain without breaking a sweat. Enter the FJ Cruiser. This towering off-roader might not share the same skeleton as its pick-up cousin, the Tacoma, but both of these trucks share the same beating heart dispersing power and traction to dominate dunes, crawl through crevasses, and ford raging rivers, all of which are not places you'd want your transmission to give out.

Unlike the utilitarian-based Tacomas, the FJ Cruiser lacks the external support for maintaining transmission fluid temperatures. Both platforms utilize a heat exchanger built into the radiator's cold-side end tank, which manages the automatic transmission

The WRX will forever be an enthusiast car. While the initial reactions to the latest iteration of Subaru's sporty sedan we're as gleaming as they once were, the essence of what made this namesake legendary still lurks under the slick new styling, layers of tech, and plush comfort features. The turbocharged flat-four mated to a full-time AWD system that still powers the WRX today is why it rumbled its way into our hearts and many of our driveways. As this rally racing legend evolved into the VB platform, however, some of those rambunctious roots were forgotten along the way, but we hope to jog its memory.

Some things never change. Like how Subaru hasn't strayed from its boxer engine layout since its introduction, we enthusiasts often start our automotive attitude adjustment with

The toughest trucks on the planet are typically sporting a Toyota badge. The Hilux might be the model responsible for Toyota's rugged reputation, but that same DNA runs through the oil passages of the trucks we see on and off the roads here in the States. Specifically, the multifaceted Tacoma has become our crowd favorite, from commuting to the office to hauling you and all of your things across the wilderness. While plenty of things make all of this possible, the transmission is the driving force to accomplishing these tasks, so keeping the drivetrain in good health is imperative.

Extreme heat is the enemy to any component driving the Tacoma, especially the transmission. The fluid running through the planetary gears and clutch packs pulls double duty between cooling and lubricating the

Our Bronco Performance Stock Location Intercooler is now available! Click Here to grab yours today!

Any EcoBoost is synonymous with power potential. Sure, these Broncos roll off of the assembly line with plenty of grunt, but we enthusiasts always want more. The hidden vault of speedy goodness is simple to find, but breaking in can turn into quite the heist without the right tools. Luckily, our engineering team has been hard at work crafting the proper implements to keep charged air temperatures low and give these wild horses a longer stride.

Our design has come a long way since the sheet metal frame and 3D printed end tanks and has appropriately filled out

Our Bronco Performance Intake kits are now available! Clickhereto grab yours today!

Lifting the hood on your 2.7L powered Bronco is like unfurling a roadmap. Roads and trails are heading in every direction to countless destinations that all seem to cross, merge, or repel each other at some point that can make anyone's head spin. However, carefully examining this labyrinth of possible directions can make the right path shine through and easily plot the best destination for your journey. While not quite as intricate as the highway system, finalizing this intake system still took some expert navigation.

It's a maze under the hood, but our engineer, Ye, plotted a route