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Monthly Archives: December 2017

  1. Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 5: A Tale of Two Track Days Part 2

    Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 5: A Tale of Two Track Days Part 2

    At first, admittedly, it didn't look like we were flexing as hard as we could with the Focus RS. With our full PTU/RDU cooling kit installed, we extended the time on the track with all four wheels producing power by about three minutes. However, after some reassessment, Dan transplanted the PTU temperature sensor from the gear oil into the coolant stream, producing great prospects for a fully functioning AWD Ford Focus. Since it would be a while until we could take our RS to the track, we decided to reach out to a third-party tester known for thrashing their cars in the name of motorsport.

    Three's a Party

    Motorsport is all about the challenge, and pushing your vehicle of choice to the limits. In the realm of racing, there are a myriad of different genres to challenge any car, but one especially stood out for the perfect test of Ford's sophisticated AWD system"rally stages. Keen to increase the performance of their brand-new rally-prepped Focus RS, Team O'Neil

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  2. Functional Form - Expansion Tank R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Functional Form - Expansion Tank R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Modern society tends to view vanity as an unwanted trait. But, without a certain level of vanity, our lives would be dull, to say the least. People care about how something looks, whether we put a value on that appearance or not. We use our eyes to recognize danger and make critical decisions about our lives. The weight we naturally apply to our vision affects less important decisions, too. We choose our clothing, our food, our homes, largely based on how they look. If it weren't for our natural vanity, nobody would care about Lamborghinis or Ferraris. We'd all drive brown Camrys, wearing brown shirts and brown pants on our way to our brown houses.

    We surround ourselves with things that we like to look at, and those things say something about us, which is why the great divide between form and function in the automotive community has always been confusing to me. On one hand, there are enthusiasts who are obsessed with function and only function. It doesn't matter how it looks as long

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  3. Civilized Pipelines: Intercooler Piping R&D, Part 3: The Fruit of our Labors

    Civilized Pipelines: Intercooler Piping R&D, Part 3: The Fruit of our Labors

    This is truly the age of forced induction. A clear indication of the trend came with the release of Honda's 10th generation Civic. After decades of abstaining from giving the intake manifold any extra assistance, we've been delivered a lifetime of naturally aspirated 4 and 6-cylinder engines, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The turbo-less times lead to some truly remarkable engines from the Japanese giant, but enthusiasts craving the extra boost and whine from a turbo or supercharger were left to their own devices.

    While this might not be a 10th Gen, the 8th Gen is a popular platform for aftermarket forced induction kits. Owner Ian Palmeri wanted to ensure that what was going on under the hood matched the outward appearance of his FG2.
    While this
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  4. Bye-Bye Blow-By - Catch Can R&D, Part 4: Production

    Bye-Bye Blow-By - Catch Can R&D, Part 4: Production

    The Pre-Sale for this 2015-2016 Ford F-150 3.5L EcoBoost Catch Can Kit is now live! Click here to check it out!

    Patience is a virtue, but sometimes, it's also a necessity. Progress often moves at its own pace in science and engineering, and all you can do is sit back and wait for a result. In the case of our 2015+ 2.7L EcoBoost catch can, results have been a long time coming.

    If you've been following along with this project since the beginning, we hope you've had a great Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas (or Festivus), New Year, birthday, Memorial Day, 4th of July"I think you get the point. It's been a while. In that time, we've battled check engine lights and overflowing catch cans with our 3.5L kit. What was once a humble kit to fit all 2015+ EcoBoost trucks, has become two kits, a brand-new catch can, three brackets and two sets of lines. All the while, our 2.7L kit was staying the course as planned.

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  5. Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 4: A Tale of Two Track Days Part 1

    Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 4: A Tale of Two Track Days Part 1

    The term "track day" around here is always surrounded with a certain level of enthusiasm. We're all aware of the extra labor that goes into a trip to Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, but everyone involved is more than willing to pitch in for the chance to see our RS thrashed around the track. Think of it like one of those field trips you would take in middle school. Sure, there would be a test on everything seen that day, but that was a small price to pay for a day out of the classroom. After spending almost a week preparing it was time to take the class on their field trip.

    Hot Oil and Broken Eggs

    Our other product coordinator Steve Bryson took the journey up to the track as the perfect opportunity to</body> " width="600" height="400">
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  6. Redefine the Limits - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Redefine the Limits - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    What defines a limit? In the English language, a limit is "a restriction on the size or amount of something permissible or possible." In practice, however, limits are not always as rigid. Anybody who's ever mastered a sport or skill will tell you, limits are made to be pushed and broken. A limit is only as defined as one's willingness to accept it. In the automotive industry, limits are often found by exceeding them. We push our cars and trucks until flaws appear, then step back and find a way to make them better.

    Physics tells us that almost everything has limits, whether or not we've found them yet. Air at a certain temperature can only absorb so much heat energy, and transmission fluid loses its ability to lubricate beyond a specified temperature. Add a transmission cooler between the two, and you have hundreds of variables that will decide the limits of what's possible for your truck. In the case of the Ford 6.4L Powerstroke, the limits have yet to be defined.

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