smoke

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

With our testing complete, it was time to recap the results and see what kind of benefits our cooler was capable of producing. The testing procedures and information from our previous posts are outlined below.

Testing Procedures and Information

Vehicle: 2011 Chevrolet 2500 6.6L LML Duramax

Engine Modifications: None, all factory equipped

Ambient Temperature: 85°F (29.5°C)

Humidity: 35%

Sensors: PLX Pressure and temperature sensors were placed on both the hot-side and cold-side intercooler boots.

Physical Benefits

Before we jump right into the testing data, let's compare the physical aspects of our intercooler design that distinguish our unit from the factory cooler. We increased the core size of this cooler significantly, so let's take a look at the actual numbers behind the increase.

Comparison chart of intercooler volumes

The gains in

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

Product Testing and Procedures

The fun part of development is the reveal of our initial prototype design, but the truly exciting part is the testing portion of development. At this point our offices are disrupted by noise from the dyno pulls, tempting a few of our empolyees to filter into the garage and check out the action. Below we see the truck loaded onto the dyno.

LML test truck on dyno

LML test truck on dyno

To collect data, we installed our PLX sensors in a hot-side boot and a cold-side boot. We would be collecting both temperature and pressure data for each side of the cooler. Additionally, we would be recording power output to see if our cooler provides an increase in output.

Intercooler boot with sensor ports

Boost gauges

Once we had everything set up, the dyno pulls began with the factory intercooler and the Mishimoto intercooler.

Interested in purchasing this Cummins Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Dodge 6.7L Cummins Intercooler

Finally, the results are in! The testing of our 2010-2012 Cummins Performance Intercooler is complete. After months of development and weeks of testing, our team was extremely excited to crunch the numbers to see how our cooler compared to the stock unit. Before we jump into the actual data pulled from our dyno pulls, we will first compare the physical attributes of the Mishimoto cooler to the stock unit.

Intercooler Physical Comparison

First, our comparison of overall thicknesses of the stock and Mishimoto cores. This difference was displayed in an earlier post where we showed the actual measurements.

Stock vs Mishimoto intercooler core thickness comparison

As seen in the chart above, we are doubling the thickness of the factory cooler. Due to the design and placement of the intercooler, AC condenser, and radiator, we were able to expand this unit

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

Prototype Test Fitting

Time to see if this massive intercooler fits! Our prototype design was based on critical dimensions taken from a test vehicle so we could expand the cooler as much as possible without causing fitment concerns. Let's see if we succeeded on our first attempt!

The radiator and intercooler are thicker than the factory units, so we bolted the intercooler prototype to the new Mishimoto radiator prototype. Now attached to each other, we installed them together for the benefit of those customers who would want to purchase both components.

Mishimoto prototype intercooler (bottom) and prototype aluminum radiator (top), assembled

Mishimoto prototype intercooler (bottom) and prototype aluminum radiator (top), assembled

Mishimoto prototype intercooler (top) and prototype aluminum radiator (bottom), assembled

We then located a

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax Intercooler Kit

Prototype 3D Design

Now that we outlined our project goals and had all the test data from the factory intercooler, our engineers were ready to design a prototype intercooler. Using dimensional data from a rendering of the truck as well as the actual measurements we took from the test vehicle and factory intercooler, our team was able to create a very nice looking prototype. Check out a couple renderings of the design!

Mishimoto prototype intercooler rendering

Mishimoto prototype intercooler rendering

When designing this intercooler, our team experimented with different end-tank diverters to provide better air dispersion through the core. Our goal is to spread the airflow to all portions of the core so we can take full advantage of the surface area available. Check out this neat shot of our test results using Computational Fluid Dynamics

Interested in purchasing this Cummins radiator? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Dodge 6.7L Cummins Aluminum Radiator

Alright, it is finally time to see how our engineering team did with the development of this product! First, we measured the physical properties of the Mishimoto radiator compared to the factory radiator. Our first chart highlights the most common selling feature of a performance radiator: core thickness.

Mishimoto vs. factory radiator core thickness

We squeezed out as much additional core thickness as possible without causing any fitment concerns with factory equipment. The factory core came in at just under 1.7" thick, while the Mishimoto radiator measures 1.95" thick, making the Mishimoto radiator 13% thicker than the factory radiator. This additional core thickness allows our product to provide a greater fluid capacity and promote improved efficiency, which is reflected in the following charts. Our second chart shows the improvements made in

Interested in purchasing this Cummins Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Dodge 6.7L Cummins Intercooler

Time to see how efficient our cooler design is! We would be pulling our test truck onto our Dynojet to collect the data needed to evaluate the intercooler fully. Check out the conditions of our testing procedure below!

Testing Conditions

Vehicle: 2010 Dodge Ram 6.7L Cummins, Automatic Transmission, Performance Air Intake, Exhaust Modifications, Tune

Ambient Temperature: 70°F-76°F

Sensors: PLX Devices with Temperature sensors on both the intercooler inlet and outlet

Process: 6th^-gear pulls from 1,800 rpm to 3,200 rpm, with 4-minute breaks between each pull

Variable: Intercoolers were swapped on the dyno to ensure conditions were identical between the pulls.

Check out a few shots of this truck on the dyno!

6.7L Cummins test truck on dyno

6.7L Cummins test truck on dyno

The wiring harness you see coming from the engine bay connects to our temperature

Interested in purchasing this Duramax Intercooler? Check out the product page for more information!: Intercooler Kit, fits Chevrolet/GMC 6.6L Duramax 2011-2016

Welcome back! In our last segment we removed the factory intercooler so we could determine if this project would even be necessary. The good news is, all that work was not for nothing; our team found several aspects of the factory intercooler that could be improved. Check out a few more detailed images of the factory intercooler.

First, a peek at that interesting metal end tank we discussed in part 1 of this article.

Factory LML intercooler metal hot-side end tank

Now let's take a look at the core!

Factory LML intercooler core

So, what do we gather from all this data? The factory intercooler is a reasonably sized unit with a well-designed core. From our initial inspection, we believe it should support factory and mildly modified trucks without issue. That being said, there is certainly room for improvement. The plastic end tank used

Interested in purchasing this Cummins radiator? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Dodge 6.7L Cummins Aluminum Radiator

Time to install our prototype radiator into a test vehicle to make sure that it fits perfectly. Luckily, we were able to check fitment on the same donor vehicle we used for our last round of testing. Once the truck rolled into the shop, we quickly installed our prototype radiator shown at the end of our last post. Check out a few shots taken during the installation process!

Mishimoto 6.7L Cummins radiator prototype installed

Mishimoto 6.7L Cummins radiator prototype installed

Mishimoto 6.7L Cummins radiator prototype installed

Mishimoto 6.7L Cummins radiator prototype installed

Once we confirmed that the primary radiator mounting points fit perfectly, we installed the shrouding for the top of the radiator as well as the mechanical fan and shroud. As with any test fit, we checked critical clearances to ensure that hoses and electrical components

Interested in purchasing this Cummins Intercooler? Check out our product page for more information!

Mishimoto Dodge 6.7L Cummins Intercooler

Our prototype intercooler is ready to go! Let's take a quick peek at what our engineers designed!

Mishimoto 6.7L Cummins intercooler prototype

Mishimoto 6.7L Cummins intercooler prototype

First impressions, this cooler is massive compared to the factory unit. Our engineers weren't kidding when they mentioned that the size increase would be significant. You will notice two dimples on the intercooler outlet. They are predefined spots for injection systems such as methanol, or for a temperature/boost pressure sensor. These bungs are not predrilled, but they provide extra material thickness for those who wish to drill and tap the port. Pretty slick! You can also see from these images that our core is a solid bar-and-plate design. Now, let's compare the core thickness of the factory intercooler to the Mishimoto unit.

Factory 6.7L Cummins intercooler thickness