Page 52 - Engineering

Though the winter continues to perpetuate chilly weather and monotonous gloom here on the east coast, the future is looking bright for our Mishimoto 2013+ Cadillac ATS catch can kit. After a nice visit to the local Porsche dealership (yes, you read that correctly), armed with some anomalous 50◦ January sunshine, several delicious sandwiches, and our final ATS prototype catch can kit, we've determined that our fitment is just about spot on.

For those of you just catching up with us now (I crack myself up), this ATS kit is largely the same as our Camaro 2.0T catch can kit, which is now on pre-sale"don't worry, the ATS pre-sale is not far behind!

However, to properly fit the Caddy, we needed to design a bespoke set of ATS-specific brackets and hoses.

Here I stand, firmly within the land of people who spend egregious amounts of money on car parts, as I look back and wonder how in hell I got here. Those of us in my position often place the blame on a nasty little creature called the "mod bug."

The mod bug, as they say, is a tricky little bastard. Though you may think most damage-imposing biting insects live in Australia, I can assure you, this one is alive and well in the Americas. I've had firsthand experience as a victim, and it isn't pretty - just ask my bank account.

The feeling of that bug biting for the first time is unforgettable. At the beginning, you say "just an exhaust and springs, and then my car'll be perfect". Enter mod bug. Before you know it, you're dropping a Ferrari engine in your wide-body FR-S.

Anyone with a car older than 15 years or so likely has a coolant expansion tank with the structural integrity of wet toilet paper. These tanks rarely get aesthetic love in the factory vehicle design. They are usually plastic, look weird and can start cracking given enough time. After 20 years, the expansion tank in my 1995 Nissan 240SX project car will literally begin crumbling around your finger if any sort of pressure is applied. We don't want that happening to your RS/ST a decade or two from now, so we decided to design a sweet looking expansion tank that will outlast the car and be a nice addition to your engine bay.

The stock cap on the RS has a pressure limit of 21psi

They say that good things come to those who wait, and we'd certainly say that's the case with the Mishimoto 2016+ Camaro expansion tank. Note that I did not specify "SS" here. This tank also fits on the 2.0T, but we haven't gotten a change to test it out on a V6 model yet, though it should fit. If any V6 owners are local to the Philadelphia area and want to come on by for a test fit so that we can be 100% sure, please reach out!

We've tested the tank on both of our Camaros, and we've gone through several stages of refinement, ultimately ending up with quite the fine-looking aluminum piece. Oh, and did I mention it's already on Pre-Sale?

Mishimoto 2016+ Camaro Expansion / Overflow Tank Pre-Sale

Let's take

Preparation is an elusive concept. No matter how much time you spend getting ready, you find yourself at the event remembering everything you did not bring. Perhaps this applies more to me, the least prepared individual of all. I constantly find myself in situations where if I had prepared, I could have been ahead of the eight-ball rather than feeling like it was tumbling down a hill after me. For instance, I once showed up to a track day without a tire pressure gauge, rookie mistake. Since then, I have learned the merits of taking some extra time to be prepared.

The Titan XD is no different. The truck is relatively new, so many won't choose to modify it just yet, but we have a feeling that the XD has big things in its future. That is why we decided to be prepared with our intercooler.

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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

Our intercooler pipes are on the tail end of our journey to extract some elevated performance out of our 2016 Ford Focus RS. Along with our intercooler project making great strides in development, we have some updates to share with you regarding our intercooler piping. In usual fashion, we plan to make each pipe individually available, as well as having the option to purchase the entire kit (piping and core) as one. We aren't quite there yet, but easy does it. Let's start with the cold side intercooler piping for this RS.