Page 25 - featured

The 2013 Ford Focus ST has a lot going for it. This 2.0L front-wheel drive, turbocharged, four- cylinder engine pumps out around 250 hp in its stock form, which is impressive for a two-year-old car you can find for under $20,000. Ford now has two weapons in its modern sport-hatch arsenal, and the company is staying competitive. Most car enthusiasts elect to remove the stock intake system first so they can  free up some contained power potential. The story here is no different with our development of an upgraded Ford Focus ST intake.

The Stock System

Our garage was graced with the presence of a nice 2013 Performance Blue Focus ST. Per the usual routine, we began taking apart the stock intake system to familiarize ourselves with and understand Ford's design. One unique element of this Focus ST intake is how air is drawn into the box. As you can see below, the air duct is split into two and the airflow gets routed to both the top and bottom of the system.

Interested in purchasing our 6.0L intake elbow?

We have quite a bit going on with this project! Our discounted pre-sale has launched, and we are currently accepting orders. In addition, our final prototype elbows arrived and have been test fitted to ensure appropriate fitment. Without further delay, let's take a look at our finished intake elbows.

Final Product Images

First, a lineup of the stock elbow next to our three finish options.

Stock 6.0 intake elbow (left) and three Mishimoto intake elbows, final prototypes

Interested in picking up this awesome E46 fan setup? Check out our discounted pre-sale linked below!

Mishimoto BMW E46 Non-M Performance Fan Shroud Kit Pre-Sale

Our E46 product line continues to grow. This series of articles aims to tack another offering on our list of performance cooling components. We've covered the radiator, expansion tank, and coolant hoses. The only radiator-related item left to tackle is a cooling fan solution.

The stock 3-Series E46 offers two different fan options. Automatic models are equipped with an antiquated mechanical fan, while those who row their own gears get an electric fan.

Our goal with this project is to produce a BMW E46 fan shroud solution that will function with either a manual or automatic model. We will be following our trend of successfully producing exo-style shrouds for the E46 M3 and E36 chasses. The idea behind this fan mount style is

Time for another update on our intercooler project! Last time we left off with a foam intercooler core and some cool 3D-printed end tanks. This update is a bit more exciting!

Mock Up Prototype

With both the tanks printed and our core cut to shape, we could mate these pieces to check fitment of our existing design.

Prototype Ford Fiesta ST intercooler assembled

The tanks feature the mounting pegs and brackets to attach the cooler to the radiator and support.

" width="200" height="300">

Interested in picking up our NB Miata oil cooler kit? Check out our discounted pre-sale linked below.

Mishimoto 1999-2005 Mazda Miata Oil Cooler Kit Pre-Sale!

During the previous articles we mentioned that we would be conducting experiments for the stock oil cooler/warmer. Myths and claims exist regarding its impact on the heating of engine oil as well as its impact on cooling. We decided to check out both sides of the spectrum and support them with some actual data. First up, warm-up speed both with and without the stock heat exchanger.

Testing Setup

Setting up the sensors and equipment for this test was relatively simple. For testing the system with the stock heat exchanger in place, we simply installed our oil sensor adapter below the filter and then installed our temperature sensor. Below is a look at the sensor adapter.

In our last post we took a look at the stock Fiesta ST downpipe as well as our slotted flange design based on the stock flange. We are still planning to create both a catted downpipe and a non-catted downpipe for race applications, so let's take a look at the progress!

Downpipe Design

After fitting the flange to the turbo, we began to piece together the rest of the downpipe coming off the flange and meeting with the exhaust. Both our designs feature a slotted flange that bolts to the turbo, in addition to a flex pipe near where they meet with the exhaust. This is important because the entire exhaust system will move a bit, and we need a flex point to allow for this. Not allowing room for flex in the downpipe would most certainly harm your exhaust system and possibly the turbo itself.
We began by laying out the components of our prototype next to the stock Fiesta ST downpipe for comparison. Check out some shots below!

Our engineering team often tackles complex problems to provide ideal solutions for customers. This is true for all our product lines, across a broad range of vehicle makes and models. We are not strangers to Ford's lineup of EcoBoost models, and our team is quite familiar with the issues that exist for each. In general, we've found that the stock liquid cooling systems are not handling the abuse from heavy-footed ST (Fiesta, Focus) and Mustang owners. Each model shows deficiencies in coolant heat transfer, rising oil temperatures, and power-crippling heat-soak.

In our effort to solve each problem, we've started a ton of awesome projects, performed unique testing, and we've had a blast working with the EcoBoost community. Now, we turn our attention to the Focus ST radiator. This component has become the elephant in the room, if the room were the paddock at the track. All around the world, Focus owners are hitting the track expecting a fun day of battles against physics, rev-match downshifts,

Time to dive into yet another Fiesta ST project! This little Fiesta is getting the royal treatment at Mishimoto; over the last few months it has been fitted for numerous upgrades. If you are in the mood for a recap, you can check out some of the other Fiesta posts here on the Mishimoto blog. For now we'll dive right into our development of Mishimoto's expansion tank for the Fiesta ST.

Stock Expansion Tank

Here at Mishimoto we feel a certain type of way about plastic. It is not that we have a vendetta against plastic, but we see an area where we can improve upon some of the stock Fiesta ST parts. Plastic expansion tanks in general (or any plastic parts) are more prone to failure than an aluminum part would be. Plastic becomes brittle with age, exposure to elements, and the repeated heat cycles in the engine bay. Replacing the plastic tank with an aluminum one not only looks better, but it also would be less prone to bursting or cracking especially as the