Page 4 - Chevrolet

UPDATE: This catch can is now on pre-sale! Check out the installed & kit photos below and be sure to check out the website to purchase this kit: Mishimoto Direct-Fit 2010-15 Camaro SS Catch Can Pre-Sale

An engine is a lot like a human body. It's full of moving parts and fluid. It breathes in and out, just like you or I. Except instead of lungs and a heart, it has cylinders and a crankshaft. Its blood may have an octane rating, but like your body, an engine needs fresh air to survive. Blow-by finds its way into your engine's lungs, compromising its airways, and choking the power out of it. Imagine having a chest cold, but instead your lungs are full of oil and unburned fuel; I bet you wouldn't run well either.

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.

If you grew up working on cars, you're probably familiar with the clamor that a wrench makes when it hits metal. This sound was once the soundtrack of America, the marching drum of industry. But then came the modern age and that clamor was replaced with the dull thud of plastic. Now, everything is made from plastic. Your computer, your table, your car: plastic. Your Camaro radiator is partly made of plastic, but Mishimoto is changing that.

At Mishimoto, we see ourselves as modern alchemists, turning plastic into gold"well, aluminum really. It's no secret that aluminum is far more durable than most plastics. Eventually, that plastic radiator end tank is going to crack or break, leaving you and your Camaro steaming at the side of the road. It's hard to predict when this will happen, but it is easy to prevent.

The pre-sale for this oil cooler kit is now live! You can purchase the 2010-15 Camaro SS Oil Cooler Kit here!

There's nothing quite like the feeling of powering down the long straight, your right foot trying to turn the throttle into dust, hurtling towards the first turn. As the engine RPM climbs into the red you tell yourself not to lift, keep that foot down until the last second. You've put your heart and soul into your Camaro's engine, and you've placed your trust in your Mishimoto oil cooler. All you need to do now is keep your foot down and let them both do their jobs.

Combating high oil temperature is something that almost every 5th Gen Camaro SS owner has experienced. The factory liquid-to-liquid oil cooler that we examined in the last post

For the past seven years the 5th Gen Camaro SS has been a staple of track days at Willow Springs, Road Atlanta, Laguna Seca and just about every other road course in America. Another staple of those track days has been a spike in mild heart attacks as those Camaro SS owners glanced down at their oil temperature gauge to find temps in the 290+°F range.  Even off the track, though, a hot day mixed with a heavy foot can lead to oil temp related heart problems for both you and your Camaro.

Everything in Balance

When it comes to modern engines and driving, oil temperatures are a balancing act between hot and cold; thin and thick.  When straight-weight oil, also known as single-weight oil (like SAE 30), is cold, it's thicker and more viscous.  Higher viscosity means that the oil flows slowly and sticks to surfaces longer.  This also means, however, that on cold start-up, it's much harder for the engine to move the oil and thus bearings and wear surfaces

A Car for Drivers

There are 7 billion people on Earth driving over 1 billion cars. Some of those cars were made for people who spend their Saturdays shopping for houseplants and whose idea of speed is doing 45mph in a 40mph zone. Some of them were made for the passengers of the world, whose perfect car is a silent butler. Then there are the cars made for the select few. For those with fuel in their veins and tire smoke in their lungs. For drivers.

The fifth-generation Chevy Camaro SS is certainly a driver's car. With a 6.2L V8 capable of 426 horsepower, independent rear suspension, and launch control, the Camaro is not your average run-around. It's raced in touring car championships, NASCAR, and even Formula Drift (piloted by none other than Mishimoto-sponsored driver Ryan Tuerck). The SS's bigger brother, the ZL1, clocked a 7-minute, 41-second Nürburgring lap, keeping pace with Lamborghini, Porsche, and Mercedes. But

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

With our testing complete, it was time to recap the results and see what kind of benefits our cooler was capable of producing. The testing procedures and information from our previous posts are outlined below.

Testing Procedures and Information

Vehicle: 2011 Chevrolet 2500 6.6L LML Duramax

Engine Modifications: None, all factory equipped

Ambient Temperature: 85°F (29.5°C)

Humidity: 35%

Sensors: PLX Pressure and temperature sensors were placed on both the hot-side and cold-side intercooler boots.

Physical Benefits

Before we jump right into the testing data, let's compare the physical aspects of our intercooler design that distinguish our unit from the factory cooler.

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

Product Testing and Procedures

The fun part of development is the reveal of our initial prototype design, but the truly exciting part is the testing portion of development. At this point our offices are disrupted by noise from the dyno pulls, tempting a few of our empolyees to filter into the garage and check out the action. Below we see the truck loaded onto the dyno.

LML test truck on dyno

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

Prototype Test Fitting

Time to see if this massive intercooler fits! Our prototype design was based on critical dimensions taken from a test vehicle so we could expand the cooler as much as possible without causing fitment concerns. Let's see if we succeeded on our first attempt!

The radiator and intercooler are thicker than the factory units, so we bolted the intercooler prototype to the new Mishimoto radiator prototype. Now attached to each other, we installed them together for the benefit of those customers who would want to purchase both components.

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

Prototype 3D Design

Now that we outlined our project goals and had all the test data from the factory intercooler, our engineers were ready to design a prototype intercooler. Using dimensional data from a rendering of the truck as well as the actual measurements we took from the test vehicle and factory intercooler, our team was able to create a very nice looking prototype. Check out a couple renderings of the design!

Mishimoto prototype intercooler rendering