Monthly Archives: January 2019

In Capable Hands - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 2: Design

January 31, 2019

Ford F-150 Transmission Cooler 2011-2014

The key to great engineering is often making the most of what you're given"using the resources available to you in the most efficient way possible. When we last talked about the 2011-2014 F-150 transmission cooler, we noted that Ford's engineers left a lot on the table. Behind the grille of the F-150 lays a transmission cooler that's only using about half of the resources given to it. But we're not about to let that extra space go to waste. In this post, our engineer will leverage simplicity and creativity to make the most of what the 2011-2014 F-150 has to give.

Our design process for this transmission cooler followed the same path it does for most of our products. We started by analyzing the stock trans cooler, some of which you saw in the last post. Aside from noting the overall design of the stock cooler, our engineer also took specific measurements of the surrounding parts for a comprehensive view of where we could improve on the stock design. Many of our measurements focused on

The Luxury of Performance - Direct Fit Catch Can R&D, Part 2 - Testing Results

January 31, 2019

Infiniti Q50/Q60 3.0T Direct Fit Catch Can Kit, 2016+

Picture this. The year is 2023. You're climbing into your 2016 Q50 on your standard commute to work. It's year seven with your trusty Infiniti, which has kept you riding in style to just about everywhere and still no complaints. Then again, who could have any gripes with the power-packed VR30DDTT and posh cabin as it brings you from point A to point B?

I could think of worse driver's seats to sit in for 7+ years.

You do notice, however, in the past few months that it might stumble a bit on startup. It's not returning the same fuel efficiency as it once did. The once mighty twin-turbo V6 in your Infiniti feels tired and not quite as peppy as it did the day you drove it off the dealer's lot. This sort of takes the luxury part out of sports luxury sedan and makes you wish that you headed off the inherent issue of blow-by before it ended with carbon buildup.

The highly engineered and newest addition to the Nissan/Infiniti VR engine family might be among one of the heaviest hitting six-cylinders

Carry the Weight - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 2: Design

January 25, 2019

Ford F-150 Transmission Cooler, 2015-2017

# transmission cooler, PROTOTYPE, f-150, ecoboost

Simplicity is often the key to great engineering. The
same can be said about Ford's F-150. The F-150 is about function over frills and
getting the job done. Our 2015+ Ford F-150 transmission cooler will follow the
same formula. Our focus will be on one key aspect: use as much of the space
behind the F-150's grille as possible. As we saw in our first post, the stock
transmission cooler only utilizes about 50% of the available space. To increase
that usage to 100% without adding unnecessary complications is where we'll get
the job done, plain and simple.

Ford was kind enough to provide us with convenient mounting
points on either end of the radiator and a hard pipe to connect the outlet port
on the transmission cooler to the soft line going to the radiator. Our cooler needed
another hard line to travel the additional distance from the original soft line
to our end tank but compared to some of our recent transmission cooler project,
that was be a simple task. To continue with the theme of

Rad, White, and Blue - Performance Aluminum Radiator R&D, Part 1 - Stock Review

January 25, 2019

Chevrolet C7 Corvette Performance Aluminum Radiator, 2014+

The automotive industry is like a man-made animal kingdom. Manufacturers design and build these mechanical beasts for their specific purpose in this petrol-powered jungle. Just like any ecosystem, these vehicles can either peacefully cohabitate or evolve to either evade or run down their competitors. Some live on to become majestic beasts while others go extinct. Thanks to our inherent love for speed, the Corvette has stuck around since its inception and is now on its seventh and pushing an eighth generation. While the Corvette might be an old timer, especially in the realm of sports cars, this spry geezer is still showing these youngsters how it's done.

The C6 might have gone out with an LS9-powered bang, but the C7 came in with a thunderous boom. Corvettes, no matter the generation, all seem to have their own timeless look, slightly updating the visuals from each iteration. The C7, however, molted its skin and entered into the market with a much more futuristic look. The current gen is

Prepare for Adventure - Catch Can R&D, Part 3: Test Results

January 22, 2019

Jeep Wrangler JL 3.6L Pentastar Baffled Oil Catch Can Kit 2018+

This 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL 3.6L Catch Can Kit is now available! Click here to check it out!

One of the hardest parts of any adventure comes before you even leave your house: the waiting that leads up to your inevitable start. Sitting there, watching the minutes tick down until it's time, is a test of patience. That last minute can feel like it lasts longer than the hours leading up to it. Here at Mishimoto, it feels like we've been in the final minute of our 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL 3.6L catch can project forever. But with this post, we're counting down those last seconds and moving on.

We installed our prototype catch can kit on our volunteer JL and sent it out into the world to see what it would catch. About 800 miles later, we paid a visit to our volunteer JL to check how much blow-by the can collected. We've seen in the past that the Pentastar engine can generate a lot of blow-by, so there was a lot of anticipation before we cracked open the can. Even in relation to our previous Pentastar

Layers of Cooling - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 3: Testing

January 16, 2019

Chevrolet Silverado 1500 V8 Transmission Cooler, 2014+, GMC Sierra 1500 V8 Transmission Cooler 2014+

This 2014+ Chevrolet/GMC Silverado/Sierra V8 transmission cooler is now available! Click here to check it out!

Trying something new can be a daunting, especially when you're changing something you've done well for a long time. In the case of our 2014+ Chevy/GMC K2 transmission cooler, the design of the stock transmission cooler had us stepping off the beaten path in search of the best possible solution.

In our previous posts, we discussed the design of the stock cooler that's integrated with the A/C condenser and how we would be adding an external cooler to supplement it. We had our core (the same one that we used on our Duramax project) mounted behind the grille of our volunteer K2, but we had no way of getting transmission fluid. This is where we really looked to challenge ourselves and raise the bar for the quality of aftermarket coolers.

Our plan was to intercept the ATF before it went to the stock transmission cooler. The path of fluid would be from the transmission to our cooler,

Breathing Fresh Air - Intake R&D, Part 2: 3D Scan

January 11, 2019

Jeep Wrangler JL 2.0L Turbo Performance Intake 2018+

As the weather here in Delaware continues to get colder,
I've resigned myself to only leaving the house to avoid starvation or getting
fired (and it's not even really cold here). As much as I hate the cold, I'm
reminded every morning that my turbocharged car loves it. The only thing better
than cold, dense air for a turbocharged engine is more cold, dense air. Once
the winter months turn into spring and summer, more of us will be out enjoying
the warm air, but your 2.0T Jeep JL will be longing for the cold of winter. At
Mishimoto, we've been working to give your Jeep the cool air it needs to
perform its best all year long.

The first post on our 2018+ JL 2.0L turbo intake focused on every aspect of the stock intake system. If you missed that post, I suggest going back and reading it because there are a lot of parts to this intake. While we're moving on to our intake's design, we're not quite done with the stock intake yet. After all, a high-flowing, great-sounding, power-adding intake is