The Mustang EcoBoost Intercooler, Part 2: Prototype Fabrication

The Mustang EcoBoost Intercooler, Part 2: Prototype Fabrication

Interested in picking up this awesome Mustang EcoBoost Intercooler? Check out our product page for more details!

Mishimoto Mustang EcoBoost Performance Intercooler

An Interesting Discovery

At this point, our intercooler project took an interesting turn. We wanted to develop a cooler, including going through the process of 3D design, and working up a prototype unit. That said, we had a new idea to get some early baseline testing for core design.

After swinging by our sample room, we retrieved the cooler shown below.

Mishmoto E90 intercooler
Mishmoto E90 intercooler

Mishmoto E90 intercooler
Mishmoto E90 intercooler

This is the intercooler we offer for the E90 BMW 335I. It is a twin-turbo coupe/sedan that makes power from an inline 6-cylinder engine to the tune of around 300 hp. Basic upgrades and tuning have been known to launch power into the mid 300s at the wheels.

The Mustang EB is rated similarly (excluding the two extra cylinders), so it would be a nice starting point to use for designing our core. We saw incredible temperature drops when using this intercooler and even some nice bolt-on power gains.

Strangely enough, this cooler actually fits into the space occupied by the stock intercooler. The core specs are essentially what we would like to use on our Mustang cooler. We decided to modify this cooler for some core testing!

The core of this cooler measures at 20.47" x 5.12" with a thickness of 5.31 inches. This gives us a core volume of 556 ci, which is a 46% increase over the stock cooler.

Before jumping into testing, we had to make some changes to this cooler to allow for connection to the intercooler piping. As you can see, this cooler features a quick-disconnect inlet and outlet, while the Mustang uses a standard coupler connection.

Modifying The Prototype

Fabrication begins! First, we lopped off the existing intercooler inlet and outlet to make way for the newly designed units.

Removed intercooler outlet
Removed intercooler outlet

Removed intercooler outlet
Removed intercooler outlet

Next, we determined the size of the outlets needed and had them machined to our specs.

Machined intercooler outlet
Machined intercooler outlet

Machined intercooler outlet
Machined intercooler outlet

Machined intercooler outlet
Machined intercooler outlet

We then fired up the torch and welded these guys on!

Prototype welding
Prototype welding

Prototype welding
Prototype welding

The finished product!

Welded intercooler outlet
Welded intercooler outlet

Welded intercooler outlet
Welded intercooler outlet

Fitting The Prototype

Finally, this cooler was ready to be mocked into position!

Intercooler prototype installed
Intercooler prototype installed

Check back with us next time for a look at our testing process and data results with our first prototype! For now, we leave you with a teaser rendering of some 3D work on our intercooler design.

Intercooler 3D prototype rendering
Intercooler 3D prototype rendering

Thanks

Interested in picking up this awesome Mustang EcoBoost Intercooler? Check out our product page for more details!

Mishimoto Mustang EcoBoost Performance Intercooler