Page 14 - Engineering

Spirited driving is now a family affair in a Ford. Ford needed a new herald for the ST badge since exiling their small car lineup to Europe and Australia. So, why not turn one of America's most popular SUVs into a performance machine? Thus, the Explorer ST was born. A 3-row monument to practicality now fitted with a heavy-hitting 3.0L twin-turbo EcoBoost, hunkered down suspension, and bolstered sport seats. From the factory, the Explorer ST already boasts enough grunt to shove you and the kids back in your seats, but we reckon there are more ponies to squeeze out, particularly through the intercooling system.

Ever since Ford brought the EcoBoost engines to life in the early 2010s, enthusiasts have been on a quest for more boost. The downside to added boost pressure, however, is that

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it." This colloquialism is a phrase we've all heard before. It translates to, "If it's still working, why put any effort into improving it?" But that doesn't sit well with us here at Mishimoto, especially when referring to keeping your engine running at peak efficiency. So with that in mind, it's time our tried-and-true compact catch can got a refresh, and we're stoked to show it off. 

Since 2014, our compact catch can has been filtering out harmful blow-by from CCV systems around the world in its universal form and has starred in tons of direct-fit applications. It has a long service history, but we wanted to evolve it into something even more effective. 

The old and new cans look just about the same

Perfection isn't something that comes by accident. It takes heaps of careful planning and consideration to even come close to the status of "perfect." Take the M3, for example. For decades it's been considered the benchmark of sports sedans, and no manufacturer can release any fast four-door without first facing the mighty M on a test track. This didn't happen out of pure dumb luck, but rather M-division pouring countless hours of planning and consideration into each of their vehicles. The G80 continues that practice, and we intend on applying the same mindset for our intake system for the S55.

Our planning started with the evaluation of the stock system, which

Every enthusiast evolves through a modification journey. It starts with the cheapest and rudest mods you can get your hands on. As we touched on in the last post, intakes are often first on the list, and many settle for a filter on a stick. It satisfies the itch, makes a racket, and provides the placebo of speed. Unlike simple filter-on-stick intakes, our performance intake kit for the FK8 provided the turbo soundtrack but combined it with measurable performance gains. While our FK8 intake performs well alone, we wanted to take it a step further by addressing the turbo inlet.

Engineering on the turbo inlet began with our development on the CTR's

The muscle car is a simple recipe written by Detroit in the 1960s. Start with one heaping cup of fire-breathing power plant. Add two rear wheels slinging the power to the road and a manual transmission to taste, then garnish with a sleek, sexy shell. Simple, yet effective. Like any simple recipe, though, someone always comes along with the artisan take. The result is essentially the same, but with a waft of complexity and pretension, much like the E6X M5 and M6.

BMW isn't the first thing that comes to mind when discussing muscle cars, but the formula fits. One screaming 5.0L V10 at the front, power sent to the rear wheels, and one big grin gleaming through the tire smoke. Like their American cousins, the Deutsche Braun Bimmers need adequate cooling to perform their best. Specifically,

One of the leading reasons for buying a mega-mass-produced product is reliability. Your Honda Accord already bears that trait thanks to Honda's decades of tried-and-true testing. Functionality and reliability are features that we also aim to make synonymous with our 2018+ 1.5L Accord intake kit, but that only comes with the same level of rigorous R&D. So, we put our intake to the test.

The first leg of the testing journey takes place on our flow bench, which you might remember from the prototyping post. During the design phase, we used the bench to pinpoint the most restrictive components in the OEM intake system. From there, we could generate more free-flowing designs and put our prototypes, and eventually the complete production kit, to the test against the stock unit.

There's a Civic out there for everyone. Through its 11 generations, the Civic has been a staple of basic practical transportation and unassuming speed demons. The 10th generation Civic was no exception. With the addition of the L15B7 turbocharged option, featuring more potential power while only sipping fuel, Honda's compact option became that much more enticing. A win-win whether you're building a Type-R clone or one of those crazy folks that just want practical transportation. No matter what type of Civic owner you are, though, all of the 1.5T's share the same common side-effect - extreme heat.

Honda's edgy styling for the 10th gen Civic provided us with a handsome outer shell but left us with some cooling issues. Before even reaching the system under the hood, the Civic's cooling

Here on the Mishimoto Engineering blog, we often put our high-tech engineering tools on display. Tools like our DynaPacks, Faro Design ScanArm, or 3D printers are crucial components to our engineering process. Each of them provides us with precise performance feedback or increases efficiency when designing products, making them invaluable in the engineering process. But what happens after the engineering is completed? Naturally, we needed a method of showing off new parts that's on par with all of the other sophisticated tools in our arsenal. 

Enter the Ortery

It's been months of training for our athlete of an F-150. Our regimen for our Raptor's proverbial controlled breathing exercises has come to fruition. Now, though, it's race day, and It's time to see if our deep dive into the V6 Ecoboost respiratory system and subsequent renovations paid off.

First, let's check out the new intake design in its final form. As promised in our last post our intake kit is fully rotomolded. We kept the material consistent for a smooth airflow through the system from the airbox to the turbo inlets. This construction not only aids in a smoother flow but is much less prone to soaking with engine bay heat for lower intake