Page 43 - By Make

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.

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

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.

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.

Mishimoto prides itself on the ability to improve the cooling systems on just about any vehicle that rolls through the garage door. Intercoolers have become our bread and butter at this point. That being said, BMW's are notoriously over-engineered, so improving on the meticulous German design isn't going to be an easy task.

It seems that the engineers at BMW wanted to make sure they provided the best equipment on their "Ultimate Driving Machine," which means tight spacing. Peeling the front bumper cover from our loaner 2014 335i M Sport reveals a space no bigger than a toaster oven. A tricky intercooler project lies ahead, but that's OK, because we're up to the challenge.

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Sometimes there are products we can't wait to get on the market. The sense of urgency follows positive feedback after a release or hinting at a recently started project. There's pride in giving people what they want, what they need. When our 2003-2007 6.0L Powerstroke Transmission Cooler Kit was released, the question that kept coming was if it would fit the 7.3L. What followed was a "no, sorry." That didn't sit well with us. The efforts grew exponentially as more questions surfaced about fitment, and as the number of requests to make a direct fit kit increased.

In retrospect, it would have been best to provide all you 7.3L owners with upgraded cooling when the transmission cooler first launched. The reason why our 6.0L kit wasn't on option then was due to the hose routing. The lines are different. The 6.0L already has hoses that can adapt to our cooler without the necessity of lines from us. The inlets and outlets are in different spots here, so we needed to carefully design hoses that

Many would question the motives behind someone who purchases a four-cylinder turbo of what has come to be a staple of the American muscle culture. Personally, I get it. I'm one for combining performance without having to sacrifice fuel economy or aggressive styling. On top of that, turbo engines open a whole new world for modification, and one of the first steps for most is to increase the airflow to the turbo. The engineers at Chevy had to make a trade-off, however, when it came to designing the stock induction hose for the 2.0T Camaro. I'm sure they would prefer designing each aspect of the Camaro to milk every single drop of horsepower out of this newer, and smaller engine, but they also have the noise, harshness, and vibration tests to contend with, which induction sounds fall under. So, in short, they had to trade performance for cost, and comfort, when designing the stock induction hose.

Our engineers at Mishimoto are no strangers to the dangers of oil blow by. We have well-documented evidence that this is still a common threat to most modern direct injected vehicles. For those of you that don't know, blow-by is a byproduct of compression and combustion. Blow-by is created when oil and fuel vapors push past the piston rings and into the crankcase during compression. To keep the crankcase depressurized from this oil and fuel, there needs to be some sort of venting. This is accomplished by routing this blow-by through the intake tract and right back into the cylinder to be burned during combustion.

Even though this particular engine uses port injection, which sprays fuel directly onto the valves, the problem still lies within the venting process. By rerouting blow-by through the intake tract, there is a potential for accumulating carbon deposits on your valves in addition to a nice thin coating of oil along the inside walls of your intake (and turbo if applicable). The

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

Turbocharger compressors like denser air, which is why us car enthusiasts joke about how, although the winter is the motorsports off-season, it's peak "boost" season. Cars with forced induction love the colder, denser climates because by driving in colder weather, the turbocharger or supercharger gets fed a bit more air than in warmer weather. That's why you might feel a harder punch from the gas pedal in the middle of a freezing Chicago December compared to a Daytona Beach July.

Since we don't all boost happily in the Siberian Tundra, the way to replicate this effect is by finding a way to supply more air to your method of forced induction. One way to do so is by making your intercooler piping or charge pipes larger. Larger pipes allow more airflow, which translates to more power. Our lead engineer for this entire intercooler project is very familiar with this idea, before creating larger pipes, we must first evaluate the stock pipes - hot side and cold side - to know exactly what we