Monthly Archives: January 2015

Interested in purchasing our Mustang EcoBoost intake system? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Ford Mustang EcoBoost Performance Air Intake

Last time we covered the design of our intake pipe and left you with a look at our airbox design in the form of a rendering. It's time to show you how we developed this component.

First, we started with some steel and began selecting mounting points for attaching our box. Once we found these points, we pulled out the welder and began fabricating a prototype.

Fabricating Mustang airbox

Fabricating Mustang airbox

We then constructed a lid to fully seal the filter from engine bay temperatures.

Fabricating Mustang airbox

Fabricating Mustang airbox

Now that we had a basic design, our engineering team put this into Solidworks to create the awesome 3D renderings shown below.

Mishimoto intake system rendering

Mishimoto intake system rendering

We didn't stop here! To ensure the perfect fitment of this component, we used our 3D

Interested in picking up our 2015 WRX FMIC kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Front-Mount Intercooler Kit

Crash Beam Fabrication

After an unsuccessful test fit of our existing bumper beam on the 15', we started from scratch to create a beam specific for the 15' chassis. First we hacked off the end tanks of our cooler so we were left with a bare core. This would provide some freedom to design our crash beam and later work on the end tank direction. Next we cut out some new mounting plates and fit them into position.

Intercooler crash beam mounting plates

Intercooler crash beam mounting plates

Next we fabricated a beam for mounting the cooler. The beam would run parallel across the front of the vehicle and attach to each mounting plate.

Intercooler crash beam fabrication

Intercooler crash beam fabrication

Intercooler crash beam fabrication

We then added the connector legs to attach this beam to the mounting plates. After a few tweaks, this guy

Interested in purchasing our WRX or STi catch can system? Check out more details on our product pages linked below!

Subaru WRX Baffled Oil Catch Can System

Subaru STi Baffled Oil Catch Can System

Mishimoto 2010 STI

After developing a highly successful, direct-fit catch can setup for the 2015 WRX we turned our attention to the previous generation. Our next target would be the 2008-2014 WRX and STI. At this point, Mishimoto still owned a 2010 STI, and this project would be our last for our shop vehicle.

Catch Can Selection

As with our 2015 WRX project, we would be using a dual catch can system to address both the PCV line and the crankcase breather line. One of the main differences would be the inclusion of a three-port breather catch can to replace the two-port unit used on the FA20 engine. The EJ engine features a breather line for each valve cover, which necessitates a dual-in, single-out catch can for that system. The PCV line would still use a standard dual-port catch can for the EJ.

Interested in purchasing our Mustang EcoBoost intake system? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Ford Mustang EcoBoost Performance Air Intake

With the stock unit out of the way we could begin developing our intake piping. We would be starting at the turbocharger and working outward to an airbox near the stock location.

Using the dimensions from the stock unit, we developed a 3D model of an inlet hose that would be constructed from a silicone material. After completing the model, we produced a unit using our 3D printer.

Printing 3D model of intake inlet tube

Because this piece is larger than the bay of our 3D printer, it was constructed from three sections that were glued together. Check out the final design!

3D model of intake inlet tube

3D model of intake inlet tube

This unit has a shape that is similar to the factory unit. We also incorporated both the BPV and the CCV ports, which allow for connection to the OEM pieces. This unit will install just like the

Interested in purchasing our 2015 WRX cat-back exhaust? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Subaru WRX/STi Cat-Back Exhaust

As promised, we hit the road to begin testing our prototype designs. Our first round of testing was purely to evaluate the tone and sound level of the exhaust.

What are we looking for?

• Rich tone
• Little to no rasp
• Minimal highway drone
• Noise amplification from one-half to full throttle

As you know, the FA20 utilizes an equal-length header, which means that the traditional Subaru rumble is likely to be lost. Either way, we would be looking for a nice tone that would be acceptable for daily use.

Our first road test utilized our smaller, round style muffler.

Cat-back exhaust prototype 1

Check out the video below!

After driving with this setup in a variety of conditions, we had a few first impressions.

• Highway drone is more than we would prefer.
• Exhaust is too loud under normal driving conditions.
• Turbo-spool noise is greatly amplified and sounds fantastic

Interested in purchasing our 2015 WRX top-mount intercooler kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Subaru WRX Performance Top-Mount Intercooler and Charge-Pipe System

We've shared a ton of teasers that show our awesome charge-pipe design for the 2015 WRX. Now it is time to show you how this component came to life.

First, take a look at the factory-equipped charge pipe.

Stock 15' WRX charge pipe

Stock 15' WRX charge pipe

The stock pipe is a plastic unit that routes air from the front-mounted turbocharger to the hot side of the top-mount intercooler. The connection point with the turbocharger is a two-bolt flange. The intercooler connection is a simple coupler. This unit is similar to that featured on the Forester XT, and it is prone to boost leaks and clamp issues.

Our team then pulled off the piping and placed it on our CMM table to collect the dimensional data we would need to design our pipe.

Collecting dimensional data from stock 15' WRX charge pipe

Once

Interested in purchasing our 6.4L coolant filter kit? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Ford 6.4L Powerstroke Coolant Filter Kit

We mentioned in our 6.0L coolant filtration thread that we would be tackling the 6.4L as well. Let's take a look at some of the components our team has been putting together for the 6.4L kit.

Although the 6.4L does not seem to be as susceptible to buildups as is the 6.0L, a coolant filtration setup is certainly still a worthy investment in preventive maintenance.

So let's get started!

Filter Housing

We'll start with the filter housing. As mentioned in our 6.0L thread, we developed a housing with a wide range of adjustability that could be utilized for a variety of kits. This housing is shown below.

Mishimoto coolant filtration housing

Mishimoto coolant filtration housing

Here's a look at the hardware and filter mounted to this housing.

Mishimoto coolant filtration housing and Wix filter

Since we had our housing already, this project should

Interested in picking up our 6.4L Powerstroke coolant hose kit? Check out our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Ford 6.4L Powerstroke Silicone Coolant Hose Kit

Our full prototype unit has arrived and is ready for some final test fitting! Before introducing our final product, let's take one last look at the stock hose setup.

Stock 6.4L radiator hoses

Now, check out the Mishimoto prototype kit!

Mishimoto prototype 6.4L radiator hoses

A few interesting things to note. First, we have replaced several of the bends that were previously plastic with our silicone hose. Instead of incorporating the bends into the quick disconnect fittings, we are using the hose to make all the bends.

Also, the stock hose uses a double O-ring connection on the engine-side quick disconnects. On the radiator side, the stock still uses a single O-ring system. We use double O-ring connections on both ends of our hoses for better protection against leaks and to reduce the chance of air entering the cooling system of

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

Mishimoto Mustang EcoBoost Performance Intercooler

With nearly a 30-year gap between the old and new turbocharged 4-cylinder Mustang, some things are bound to change. The new Mustang features many interesting advances in technology, including direct injection, a twin-scroll turbocharger, a DOHC cylinder head with variable valve timing, and a newly designed intercooler. The 80's model featured a top-mount intercooler that was fed cool air through a functional hood scoop. This was pretty slick stuff for the days when the Walkman revolutionized how we listen to music, and "the Clapper" paved the way for a new level of laziness.

The new Mustang features a very efficient front-mounted intercooler that fits right below the radiator. A fresh stream of airflow passes through the tube-and-fin core and works to combat high intake temperatures.

We've been highlighting our progress on the

Interested in picking up this awesome catch can kit? Check out more details on our product page linked below!

Mishimoto Ford Mustang EcoBoost Baffled Oil Catch Can

When we left you last time, we had equipped our Mustang up with our prototype dual-can setup, and we sent the vehicle out for some road use. Since we would be testing other components (intake and intercooler) at the same time, dyno pulls would also be conducted with this setup installed.

After just 300 miles of road use, this is what we found.

PCV catch can contents

PCV catch can contents

It's Interesting that our breather-side catch can looked fairly empty after our road testing.

Breather catch can contents

The can above was bone dry. We continued to accumulate miles, and strangely enough, this can still did not collect any fluid. Although it had a scent of fuel and oil, accumulation was nonexistent.

With our results in, we came to the conclusion that our kit would include only the PCV-side catch can. We would never want to