Page 3 - oil

We have begun developing a catch can system for the 2015+ Ford F150 EcoBoost! This project, although small (in components), could have a significant impact on the F150 EcoBoost market. Why? There are not many direct-fit options, and there are a lot of these trucks out there. Oil blow-by can be pretty serious, especially on turbo applications, and this truck is twin turbocharged! Nonetheless, many gearheads tend to question the merits of using a catch can. So before we go any further, let's briefly explain what a catch can actually does and why it's so beneficial!

Port vs. Direct Injection

With port-injected engines, the fuel injectors are inside the intake manifold and produce the fuel stream that mixes with the air. This mixture is shot into the combustion chamber,

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.

Before completing this project, we need to evaluate the performance benefits of adding this GTO oil cooler. We are confident that our cooler location is receiving ample airflow, so we should see a nice drop in oil temperatures.

Test Conditions and Apparatus

We have two different tests to conduct for this particular kit. First, we will record temperature and pressure data to determine the improvement in efficiency.

To provide accurate data, we need to ensure that our process is repeatable and reduces as many variables as possible.

Conditions

• Driving: 65 mph highway cruise
• Time: 5 minutes
• Ambient temperature: 68°-75°FNo thermostat installed

Apparatus

·         AEM AQ-1 Data Logging System

This type of test is not as strenuous as most would anticipate for a performance product. The data we obtain will provide the most accurate comparison of

Introducing Blow-by and the PCV System

Internal combustion engines are essentially controlled bombs; air and fuel combust to drive pistons and crankshafts.  One byproduct of this violence is power, but there are darker horses to contend with.  During combustion, high pressure on the top side of the piston pushes combustion gasses, as well as droplets of oil and fuel, past the piston rings and into the crankcase. This mixture is known as "blow-by."

To keep the crankcase from becoming pressurized, causing issues with oil sealing and robbing the engine of power, blow-by is pulled from the crankcase via the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) system and routed back into the intake. 

In our last two posts we took a look at the prototype catch can brackets and hoses for both the driver and passenger-side. As a recap and to better explain our results, the next paragraph describes the crank case ventilation systems on the Mustang GT. If you're not in a reading mood feel free to continue to the results below.

Crank Case Ventilation on the Mustang GT

While we can continue to refer to the two catch can systems as the driver and the passenger-side, we can also differentiate them another way. This will allow us to better understand the results of our testing. The passenger-side catch can is tapped into the ventilation line that allows crankcase air (and blow-by) to exit the engine. We often call this the positive crankcase ventilation, or PCV line. This line is equipped with a valve, referred to as the PCV valve, which works to regulate the air flowing through the crank case ventilation (CCV) system. The driver-side catch can is tapped

We're back with another quick update on our TGV delete project for the 2015+ WRX. After designing our initial models and then 3D-printing a prototype for test fitting, we worked up a couple functional prototypes for on-car testing.

First Prototype Images

Check out a few images of our functional prototype deletes!

Mishimoto's 2015 WRX TGV delete prototypes

Mishimoto's 2015 WRX TGV delete