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Monthly Archives: April 2017

  1. What's Cooler Than Bein' Cool? Intercooler R&D, Part 3: The Big Crunch

    What's Cooler Than Bein' Cool? Intercooler R&D, Part 3: The Big Crunch

    The movement on the 2016 Ford Focus RS intercooler project may seem slow, but it couldn't be more alive. Our lead engineer for the project, at my request, has completed a plethora of testing configurations to get the most detailed amount of data possible. For the past three months, we have been rocking out on testing, testing, and more testing for the RS, the primary objectives being movement on the upcoming diff cooler and this front-mount intercooler. We know that the RS crowd loves their data, so we want to overload you with what's finally available.

    I won't sugarcoat anything here. The update is going to be very data-intensive. I don't have any entertaining anecdotes, interesting fun-facts, or puns about staying focused to fluff this piece with. Today's discussion will be about our Nitrous Blue hatchback and the focus on data.

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  2. Improved Induction - Silicone Induction Hose R&D, Part 2: Production Sample

    Improved Induction - Silicone Induction Hose R&D, Part 2: Production Sample

    Get a silicone induction hose for your LTG powered Camaro or ATS today:

    Mishimoto Camaro/ATS 2.0T LTG Silicone Induction Hose PreSale

    The quality of the airflow is essential for any vehicle boasting a forced induction system. You would think with a compressor literally sucking volumes of air that it would sort itself out, but that's not always the case. Turbulence, and the resulting inconsistent airflow, is the enemy. Any sort of change in the airflow can cause pressure differentials and ultimately keep your turbocharged engine from rising to its full potential. As laid out in the stock review of the Ecotec LTG induction hose, between the couplings, bends, and the muffler, the stock hose isn't exactly the most efficient design. If you recall, GM engineers have certain criteria to meet in their design process and have to consider a broader consumer

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  3. Cool Air for the EcoBoost - Intercooler Pipe R&D, Performance Testing

    Cool Air for the EcoBoost - Intercooler Pipe R&D, Performance Testing

    These intercooler pipes are now available!
    Click here to buy them from our website!

    As the old cliché goes, some things just go together like peas in a pod. Peanut butter and jelly. Cold beer and tailgates. Intercoolers and intercooler pipes; you just can't have one without the other. If you followed along with our 2011-14 F-150 EcoBoost intercooler thread, you've probably been waiting for an update on our intercooler pipes for a while now. Well, the wait is over.

    Fabrication

    Pipe-Fab-22

    In the last post, fabrication ended for our prototype cold-side pipe. Since then, we've been busy fabricating the hot-side piping and testing. Steve and Mike whipped up a hot-side prototype using the same process as the cold-side

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  4. Civilized Pipelines: Intercooler Piping R&D, Part 2: Fabrication Magic

    Civilized Pipelines: Intercooler Piping R&D, Part 2: Fabrication Magic

    Enlarging charge pipes for your turbocharged engine must be a detailed and accurate process. Think about it. It's not like companies make a charge pipe kit that is well-designed, well-documented, direct-fit and requires no modification to, let's say, a twin-turbocharged LS1 V8 engine fitting 1995-1998 Nissan 240SX's. You are going to need a fabricator for that, a very good one. It will be a one-off kit specifically for the car brought into the shop, not able to be mass produced due to the unique setup.

    You can't design good intercooler piping that fits a particular application for wide-scale production willy-nilly. Without the use of the proper tools, time, and R&D, the resulting product will be met with negative feedback from the surrounding automotive community. With the overall tight engine bay clearances of this 2016+ Honda Civic 1.5L Turbo, working around the space to design piping that will fit with a larger diameter than stock is a priority. Even slight miscalculations

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  5. Bring A Jacket: Intercooler R&D, Part 2: Core Framework

    Bring A Jacket: Intercooler R&D, Part 2: Core Framework

    Bigger is better. This is the American ideal that has been the foundation of many in the automotive world. However, in modern times, it's all about consolidation; next-level vehicle technology comes in smaller packages, but broadens the ranges of performance potential. Our engineers shared the modern vision when designing an intercooler for the 2016 Honda Civic 1.5L Turbo. You can't just throw a huge core on this car and call it a day. With a cramped engine bay and the factory intercooler, radiator, and air conditioning condenser tightly bundled together, it's vital we get crafty. It's time to take the road less traveled with the core design to properly surge the maximum amount of cooled air into your Earth Dreams motor.

    Comparison of our core frame vs. the factory intercooler unit
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  6. Stranger Danger - Baffled Oil Catch Can R&D, Part 2: A Canned 'Stang

    Stranger Danger - Baffled Oil Catch Can R&D, Part 2: A Canned 'Stang

    Our engineer has advanced engineering tools at his disposal. Arguably, one of the coolest in our facility's arsenal is our scanning device. This high-tech piece of equipment allows our engineer to scan anything in 3D space into a computer file. The file is then uploaded to a computer so the engineer can design whatever they want within the 3D space they scanned. The fine-tuned hands-on engineering element is still there, it's just done a lot faster and just as accurate with this machine.  We call this contraption the Faro Design ScanArm and we have a full, detailed writeup on how it works. Cool technology aside, let's get into the design of this catch can kit.

    The scan-arm at work!
    The scan-arm at work!

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  7. Clean Camaro - Catch Can R&D, Part 1: Prototype Design

    Clean Camaro - Catch Can R&D, Part 1: Prototype Design

    Success in engineering is rarely the result of one attempt. Our products go through revision after revision before they ever see the light of day (or darkness of your engine bay). This goes for complex products, like oil cooler systems and intercoolers, to seemingly simple catch can brackets. Our engineers must consider every situation that could occur in a vehicle, then design our products to handle them. The development process for our 5th Gen Camaro SS direct-fit oil catch can is no exception to that rule.

    Success is also rarely the product of one person's efforts. Teamwork plays a major role in every product here at Mishimoto. From conception to release, our projects are touched by just about every Mishimoto employee. When it comes to designing and developing a catch can kit, more ideas create a better product. That's why our engineer, Jason, brought in one of our draftsmen, Josh, to help with this kit's design.

    This wasn't Josh's first time designing a product, however.

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  8. Mishimoto Lifestyle: Automotive Photography with Your Phone

    Mishimoto Lifestyle: Automotive Photography with Your Phone

    When I was asked to write an article on "how to take photos of your car with your phone," I cringed, a lot.  I've spent the better part of my life taking photographs with cameras that were just that, cameras.  They serve one purpose, to create images, and they are good at it.  Through college my fellow photography students scoffed at the idea that a camera within a phone could come anywhere close to the professional-grade cameras we used to create "art."  Those days weren't that long ago, but it's time to face the facts: cell phone cameras are creeping up on the quality of professional cameras more and more every day.

    What cell phone cameras lack in image quality, they make up in their versatility, portability, and ease of use. While these traits are great for taking quick and easy photos, it takes a bit more than point and shoot to take a great photo with a cell phone, or any camera for that matter.  Where cell phone cameras present the biggest challenges

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  9. Old Dog, New Tricks - Intercooler R&D, Post 1: A Core Review

    Old Dog, New Tricks - Intercooler R&D, Post 1: A Core Review

    Everything about Ford's Super Duty Powerstroke brand screams, well, Super Duty. It has done so since they were first put in the Econoline Vans in the mid "90's. Our 2011 is equipped with the 6.7L turbodiesel V8 engine, and it's clear Ford has engineers who really took the Super Duty term to heart. There are two batteries, two radiators, two thermostats, two coolant expansion tanks, an engine oil cooler, a transmission oil cooler, an EGR cooler - this truck even has a fuel cooler. Just looking at the engine bay of this monster can be a bit daunting, especially to a guy used to dealing with smaller, beat up, four-cylinder engines. Fortunately, our engineers are well-versed in the nuances of this truck, as we already have many items out on the market for this application including a full charge pipe

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  10. Cooler Than Winterfell - Intercooler R&D, Part 2: Prototype Core

    Cooler Than Winterfell - Intercooler R&D, Part 2: Prototype Core

    It looks like mother nature is giving the tell-tale signs to us gearheads that it's time to get ready for track season. The weather is getting warmer and tracks all around the country have kicked off calendar seasons with maiden 2017 events already in full swing. A common mod many of us who are boosted, especially ST owners, want during this time of year is the intercooler. The 2013+ Ford Focus ST features quality design for its the factory intercooler, but improved efficiency is something we like to target. In the last update, we talked about the shortcomings of the factory core and how we plan to make an even more efficient intercooler. Now that we have received our production samples for the first time, we can get into the details of the design plan and what our goals are to improve performance.

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