Page 2 - Monthly Archives: September 2016

A car of mine has been in desperate need of a new oil pan for months, and it is currently sitting on jack stands in the garage. The new pan, gasket, and bolts are sitting in the back seat, so why isn't the pan on the bottom of the engine?

I'll give you some hints as to the culprit: Only it will tell, nobody ever seems to have enough of it, and Pink Floyd wrote a song about it. No, I'm not talking about LSD - I'm talking about time.

In our modern age, this connected world has led us to expect the fulfillment of our desires in short order. I want my MTV, and I want it NOW! In the movie Castaway, Tom Hanks' character sums it up well: "87 hours is an eternity. The cosmos was created in less time." Nobody likes waiting for things. Why would you, after all? But I can say personally that nothing is worse than having to wait for something that other people don't have to wait for.

As the oldest sibling of three, I was adamantly forbidden from seeing the aforementioned PG-13 movie, Castaway,

We have had some radio silence with this F150 catch can project, but we now have some updates that we are ready to spill! This has been an interesting project from the beginning. The bulk of time has mainly consisted of road testing; we've logged thousands of miles so far, and every single mile counts.

Let's backtrack a bit. When we began this project, we intended to see what a dual-can setup would accomplish. In the last update we explained the benefit of having a catch can as part of both the PCV and CCV systems. Also, our engineer, Dan, was in the process of creating a mounting bracket for the cans and getting ready for some road testing. Our prototype looked great, and the hoses were neatly situated to allow the engine cover to stay in place.

Mounted Ford F150 EcoBoost catch can prototype!

Mounted Ford F150 EcoBoost catch can prototype!

Routing of some of the lines

The 3.5L

On to road testing! When we make a catch can for any vehicle, road testing allows us to be sure that no codes

In our last post, we ended with a rendering of the Nissan Titan XD intercooler pipes and the jig that we plan to use to fabricate them. Since then, we began fabricating our prototypes and testing fitment.

Before we could begin welding our prototypes, we first had to fabricate our jig. With the help of the trusty waterjet, we sliced the pieces for the jig and began assembling them.

Titan XD Intercooler piping jig

Titan XD Intercooler piping jig

Titan XD Intercooler piping jig

Titan XD Intercooler piping jig

With the jig assembled, Mike fired up the welder and got to work on our prototype. Although the measurements that we took with our CMM (coordinate measuring machine) in the last post should be accurate, we tack-welded the pipes first to check fitment on our Titan.

Titan XD stock and Mishimoto intercooler pipe

Titan XD stock and Mishimoto intercooler pipe

Titan XD hot-side intercooler pipe installed

Titan XD hot-side intercooler pipe installed

Titan XD cold-side intercooler pipe installed

From its conception, the RS was designed to be an enthusiast's dream. The car is beyond agile and begs to be driven within inches of its limits, and assuming its driver is alive and breathing, they are more than happy to oblige. If you have driven a Focus RS, you know that it is happiest heading into a corner, hunkered down, with the RPMs up. With the aggressive driving style that the RS demands, comes the dark art that is heel-toe. Only the best can tame the RS with properly executed downshifts, and in return it will reward you with the exhilarating feeling of powering through a corner.

Mishimoto's Focus RS

At Mishimoto, we love driving our RS, and in the process of testing various parts on our engineering vehicle, the idea for the pedal spacer was born. We noticed that the gas pedal sits low in respect to the brake pedal which makes for difficult heel-toeing. By bringing the gas pedal higher, it will sit even with the brake pedal, allowing the driver to roll their foot more easily.

Prototype

High oil temperatures can shut down a track day faster than you can scream your favorite four-letter word. Unfortunately, high oil temps are already sidelining RS owners at the track. Not to worry, Team Mishi is on it!  In our last post, we took a look at the stock cooler and our plans to create a larger one. Now it's time to construct and test our prototype.

Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

We began with constructing our prototype bracket for fitment testing. After cutting the bracket on our waterjet, we tack-welded it together and bolted up our cooler to take a better look at fitment. We will be using one of our larger bar-and-plate coolers designed for our Mustang GT oil cooler project for the RS oil cooler kit.

Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

You may have noticed the scoop on our prototype above, or in our render from our previous post. When designing the bracket,

This is it. The leather seat grips your back as hard as your hands grip the wheel and the tires grip the road. The pavement is your playground and nothing can break the connection you have to its twists and turns.  Your mind is calm, but calculating, guiding the wheels through every turn with finesse as the headlights cut through the darkness.  Smooth is fast, and this car is certainly smooth.  When you finally coax yourself to go home, stepping out into the cool night air, you think to yourself, "This is it."

The Dark Horse of Combustion: Blow-by

But what aren't you thinking about? Sure, BMW's N55 TwinPower Turbo inline-six engine is smooth and powerful, but what happens inside that engine is much more violent. Internal combustion engines are essentially controlled bombs; air and fuel combust to drive pistons and crankshafts.  One byproduct of this violence is power, but there are darker horses to contend with, too.  As the N55 churns away, high pressure on the top side of the