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Page 5 - intercooler

  1. Hot and Cold - Intercooler Pipes R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Hot and Cold - Intercooler Pipes R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    When I was young, I had a serious tendency to become fixated on a specific item or experience. Starry-eyed and captivated, I'd stubbornly obsess over my desire-du-jour at the expense of appreciating what was going on in the moment - something that was lost on me at the time, but hardly seems unique now, among my generational peers (or even those decades my senior). It's a fault upon which I've improved vastly with age and "wisdom", but I regularly notice reflections of the same tendency beyond the scope of my own experience, even regarding one's attitude to something as simple as Chevy parts.

    You see, although this phenomenon tends often to be associated with my generation, I would argue that its application extends much more broadly to human nature.

    If I had a nickel for every time I heard my aunts, uncles, and parents rehashing their college days, often followed by "I wish I had taken advantage of X

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  2. Getting into the Thick of It - Intercooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Getting into the Thick of It - Intercooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    As a writer, the relationship between words and ideas has always interested me. Often, the same idea, expressed the same way, can have wildly different implications in different contexts.

    An idea may be exceptionally positive in one instance, while equally negative in another. For example, let's take the word "quick." I think anyone who ended up on this blog post can agree that a quick Camaro is a good thing, right? But what about a quick job interview? "They must have really loved me!" Maybe"

    job

    Let's look at another word, "thin." We love thin phones and tablets; with every Apple keynote, we're once step closer to replacing the phrase "paper cut" with "smartphone cut." But when it comes to intercoolers, thin is generally

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  3. The First State's First Drift Event

    The First State's First Drift Event

    To those of us who call drifting a passion, we know that there is something familiar about the hours before a drift event. It's a feeling that we know all too well. The last-minute push to get your car ready and load everything. Floor jack, tire pressure gauge, tires; everything. Most importantly, making sure your car is actually in the right condition to pass the track's technical inspection (tighten your lug nuts!). Once you're over the feeling of rushing to get yourself and the car ready, excitement overcomes you from then on. All that's left is to get to the track.

    If you know the track that you're about to shred, you know exactly what you're in for. The layout, the paddock area, the people, the rules; all are familiar ground for you. You feel a sense of ease wash over you as you arrive. All of the long hours of preparation and traveling. The lack of sleep and the dwindling number that is your bank account. It all leads up to this. Every moment that has brought you here to this

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  4. Cooler Than Winterfell - Intercooler R&D, Part 1: Stock System Review

    Cooler Than Winterfell - Intercooler R&D, Part 1: Stock System Review

    George R.R. Martin isn't the only author who can write some gripping stuff about the cold. That's right, brace yourselves, winter is coming; and we are jumping into the frigid waters which we know well - improved intercooler performance. The patient going underneath our scalpel for R&D is the 2013+ Ford Focus ST, but per our usual process, let's first take a brief second to examine the stock system.

    Our Ford Focus ST intercooler on our surgical table
    Our Ford Focus ST intercooler getting inspected

    Ford decided to use tube-and-fin construction for this intercooler instead of bar and plate. The difference between the two is pretty simple. Tube-and-fin intercoolers are more commonplace amongst stock applications. They are lighter and promote

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  5. Incredibly F-150'n Cool Fitment - Intercooler R&D, Part 3: 3D Printed Test Fit

    Incredibly F-150'n Cool Fitment - Intercooler R&D, Part 3: 3D Printed Test Fit

    Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the third update on the R&D process for the Mishimoto the 2015+ F-150 EcoBoost intercooler. For those of you joining us now who may not have seen our previous updates, you can check them out on our engineering blog. We reached out to you for some feedback, and decided to move forward with an intercooler that utilizes the factory location. We've shown you the 3D-models on the computer, but recently, we took those digital models and brought them to life with the help of our 3D printer.

    Printing Some Parts

    Back in one of my friend's school days when he spent a lot of his free time consuming music and movies from various online sources (purely out of curiosity - any lawyers wanna chime in on the relevant statute

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  6. Cool Air For the EcoBoost - Intercooler R&D, Part 8: Test Fit and Dyno Data

    Cool Air For the EcoBoost - Intercooler R&D, Part 8: Test Fit and Dyno Data

    Greetings, folks, and welcome to the post you've all been waiting for! We've made a ton of progress lately on the Mishimoto 2011-14 EcoBoost Intercooler, so I am happy to present you with a detailed update. As such, I will cut right to the chase so that you can see what we've been working on.

    Oh, and I almost forgot - we threw this thing on the dyno and I've finally got some numbers for you! Before we get to that, let's take a look at how this intercooler looks in its final guise and see how it fits in our 2013 test subject.

    Ford F-150 EcoBoost Intercooler; Factory Review

    As a refresher, this is the factory tube-and-fin unit that we are replacing. You can see that it is rather small and as a result, does not make very efficient use of the space behind the front bumper, which is ample, but unconventional in shape. Check out our first blog post in this

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  7. Mission In-pipe-sible - Intercooler Piping R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Mission In-pipe-sible - Intercooler Piping R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    This hot hatch is heating up our headquarters! We have several projects in the works, so if you have not had a chance to check them out, you can do so on the Focus RS section of our engineering blog.

    Stock Focus RS intercooler piping
    Stock Focus RS intercooler piping

    Often, one of the first modifications to turbocharged vehicles is the intercooler. However, this time we wanted to give the spotlight to its lesser known siblings, the intercooler piping. If you have not yet had a chance to take a look under the hood of your Focus RS, we'll save you the trouble; it's tight in there. Not the best news for those of us who aim to squeeze every bit of power out of our RS. Increasing the flow to the turbo via the piping has power potential, after all.

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  8. What's cooler than bein' cool?- Intercooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    What's cooler than bein' cool?- Intercooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Team Mishi is hard at work developing an entire line of cooling upgrades for our RS. Up to bat is one of the more popular modifications for turbo cars: the intercooler.

    Stock Focus RS intercooler
    Stock Focus RS intercooler

    The stock Focus RS intercooler is an interesting part of this hot hatch. As soon as images of the striking front end of this car surfaced on the interwebs, many noticed that there was a black plate blocking off a portion of the intercooler, and immediately called it out. Ford explained that the intercooler was too efficient and that, in humid climates, the excess efficiency caused condensation within the intake tract.

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  9. Even F-150'n Cooler - Intercooler R&D, Part 2: 3D Models

    Even F-150'n Cooler - Intercooler R&D, Part 2: 3D Models

    Howdy folks, and welcome to the second installment of Mishimoto's Engineering Blog on the development of our upcoming 2015+ F-150 EcoBoost intercooler. In our first post, we examined the factory intercooler on this truck and took a look at some of its unique features, but since then, we have made a ton of headway on developing our improved version. To learn more about how the system functions, check out that first F-150 EcoBoost intercooler post.

    When we first began on this project, we were choosing between a couple of possible design philosophies that Jason, the project engineer, had conceived.  Each had its benefits and drawbacks, but rather than trying to read minds, we decided to reach out to all of you to find out what you wanted for the ideal F-150 EcoBoost intercooler.

    You may recall

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  10. Cool Air for the EcoBoost. F-150 Intercooler R&D, Part 7: Cold-Side Pipe Fabrication

    Cool Air for the EcoBoost. F-150 Intercooler R&D, Part 7: Cold-Side Pipe Fabrication

    Having already obtained precise dimensions from the factory piping and our test vehicle, our engineering team has begun the arduous, but rewarding process of developing and fabricating intercooler piping for our '11-14 F-150.

    Cold-Side Intercooler Pipe Fabrication

    Fabricating the cold side appears to be less of a challenge than dealing with the hot side, so we decided to start there to get the ball rolling. Following the path of the factory piping, we began fabrication at the intercooler side of the pipe and worked our way up toward the throttle body.

    Ford F-150 EcoBoost intercooler pipe fabrication
    Ford F-150 EcoBoost intercooler pipe fabrication

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