Page 7 - mishimotoengineering

In our last post, we took a look at the fabrication of our oil cooler bracket and the prototype heat exchanger. We've settled on the final bracket design, and now we are moving on to the heat exchanger.

Heat Exchanger Fabrication

The lead engineer on this project, Dan, plans to test several designs, including an all new heat exchanger design for this project. Exciting stuff! Before we test, we first need to fabricate our test subjects with the help of our expert welder, Mike. We will be creating a small cross-flow oil cooler, a large cross-flow oil cooler, a small dual-pass oil cooler, and a large dual-pass oil cooler.

We began with the cores of our new oil cooler designs. First up was welding the mounting points to the top edges of our cores. We have a pretty cool mounting design for our oil cooler, and we were pretty excited to see it come together.

One of the best parts about a small, dynamic company like Mishimoto is that there is never a dull moment around our R&D facility. Change happens frequently, and no two days are the same. At any given time, we've got a solid fleet of engineering vehicles at our disposal that serve as development platforms for our exciting new products, and over time, we become intimately acquainted with each vehicle's characteristics and quirks; each develops a personality and earns its own place on the Mishimoto team. This makes it tough to see them go, but it is always exciting to welcome on a new team member.

This week, it was time for our 2015 Ford Mustang EcoBoost to move on to bigger and better things. We had the car around for a decent amount of time and grew quite fond of it, but our engineers could never quite relax in its presence, particularly when they were gathered in large crowds for meetings.

However, the circle

As any traveler can tell you, it is an unparalleled experience to be an American abroad and take in so many of the mesmerizingly different facets of the world. This is to be expected, but one thing that first-time travelers often don't so readily anticipate is the way in which being abroad empowers one as a representative of his home country. (I probably should have expected this; some good friends of mine are Canadians residing stateside, and they are practically walking billboards for Tim Hortons™.) Being a walking window into American culture not only elicits patriotism, but also prompts one to join his international friends in examining the USA from the outside-in.

One pervasive international perception of the US is that of our capitalist ideals and consumerism. This is polarizing stuff, but just about everyone with whom I spoke could agree on at least on one thing: When it comes to being consumers and producers, Americans are damn good at it. We know how to make a product,

In our last post, we wrapped up the fabrication of our X- and H-pipes. Now that we have some excellent looking prototypes, it is time to put them to the test. We are not expecting much in the way of power with this modification; however we still want to give these resonator deletes the rundown for sound benefit.

Mustang GT Exhaust testing

Testing

In addition to testing for any power increase we may see with our resonator delete, we will be testing our three different X-pipe designs to determine which one we will proceed with.

Our Titan XD has been poked and prodded, and the next upgrade we are working on is a DPF-back exhaust. Before we begin development, we like to take a peek at the stock version to determine which upgrades we can make to the design. Our first observation was that this exhaust is, well, plain. Not to worry; our goal is to spice up the design a bit to give this Titan more to show off.

Stock Titan XD Exhaust

Stock Titan XD Exhaust

You will have to excuse

I have been a big fan of Subaru vehicles for a substantial part of my life, and I have lots of experience with WRXs, but the BRZ (and FR-S) is still very new to me. Not too long ago, one of our engineers had his 2013 Subaru BRZ out in the parking lot, and I asked him to pop the hood so that I might check out the power plant. Have you ever seen an old episode of Scooby-Doo when Shaggy opens a door and jumps about a mile in the air, screaming, having revealed the spooky ghost residing therein? Well, you can call me Shaggy, and here is the ghost:

BRZ Parts (or FR-S Parts)

Like, zoinks! Look at all that hideous white plastic - nobody wants a haunted Toyobaru, but how on earth would one solve this problem? Who ya gonna call?

Greetings everyone! I hope you all enjoyed Cinco de Mayo last week. We celebrated here at the Mishimoto R&D Center with a salsa and dip competition - let me tell you, many of our team members have just as much talent in the kitchen as they do in the design center (and those of us who don't were grateful taste testers).

Though our schedules have been VERY busy with projects, the beginning of show season, and maybe a few siestas here and there (definitely a necessity after all those corn chips!), our engineers have been able to squeeze in some time designing our improved aluminum 2016 Camaro SS radiator. I am here to show you the fruits of their labors! Let's take a peek at what they created.

2016 Camaro radiator - Front View

After evaluating the factory intercooler, our team was prepared to begin designing an intercooler with even more efficiency. The process started as a simple 3D model that included our primary mounting points. This model was then sent to the 3D printer for some rapid prototyping.

3D printing Cummins intercooler end tank

Once our tanks were complete, we mated the different pieces using adhesive.

3D printing 6.7 Cummins intercooler end tank

For those of you not familiar with the climate here in New Castle, Delaware, let me educate you on our summers; they are hot, and they are HUMID. In the dead of the July heatwave, there is nothing worse than smoldering in an apartment with no AC. I am always very appreciative of the little part of my psyche that drives me, once I can barely stand the heat, to pause Top Gear, get off the couch, and grab a cold, refreshing drink. If I were a car, that little part of my psyche would have a name, and it would be called a thermostat.

2016 Camaro thermostat housing (OEM) next to some of our other 2016 camaro parts

What is a Thermostat, and in what Neighborhood