Monthly Archives: December 2017

Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 5: A Tale of Two Track Days Part 2

Posted: December 28, 2017

Categories: 2016 Ford Focus RS Rear Differential Cooler

Tags: rdu, ptu, focus rs, focus, Differential Cooler

At first, admittedly, it didn't look like we were flexing as hard as we could with the Focus RS. With our full PTU/RDU cooling kit installed, we extended the time on the track with all four wheels producing power by about three minutes. However, after some reassessment, Dan transplanted the PTU temperature sensor from the gear oil into the coolant stream, producing great prospects for a fully functioning AWD Ford Focus. Since it would be a while until we could take our RS to the track, we decided to reach out to a third-party tester known for thrashing their cars in the name of motorsport.

Three's a Party

Motorsport is all about the challenge, and pushing your vehicle of choice to the limits. In the realm of racing, there are a myriad of different genres to challenge any car, but one especially stood out for the perfect test of Ford's sophisticated AWD system"rally stages. Keen to increase the performance of their brand-new rally-prepped Focus RS, Team O'Neil

Functional Form - Expansion Tank R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

Posted: December 27, 2017

Categories: Ford F-150 Expansion Tank 2015+

Modern society tends to view vanity as an unwanted trait. But, without a certain level of vanity, our lives would be dull, to say the least. People care about how something looks, whether we put a value on that appearance or not. We use our eyes to recognize danger and make critical decisions about our lives. The weight we naturally apply to our vision affects less important decisions, too. We choose our clothing, our food, our homes, largely based on how they look. If it weren't for our natural vanity, nobody would care about Lamborghinis or Ferraris. We'd all drive brown Camrys, wearing brown shirts and brown pants on our way to our brown houses.

We surround ourselves with things that we like to look at, and those things say something about us, which is why the great divide between form and function in the automotive community has always been confusing to me. On one hand, there are enthusiasts who are obsessed with function and only function. It doesn't matter how it looks as long

Civilized Pipelines: Intercooler Piping R&D, Part 3: The Fruit of our Labors

Posted: December 13, 2017

Categories: Honda Civic Intercooler Pipes, 2016+

Tags: turbocharged, turbo, intercooler pipes, honda civic turbo, honda, camaro2.0t

This is truly the age of forced induction. A clear indication of the trend came with the release of Honda's 10^th generation Civic. After decades of abstaining from giving the intake manifold any extra assistance, we've been delivered a lifetime of naturally aspirated 4 and 6-cylinder engines, which is not necessarily a bad thing. The turbo-less times lead to some truly remarkable engines from the Japanese giant, but enthusiasts craving the extra boost and whine from a turbo or supercharger were left to their own devices.

While this

Bye-Bye Blow-By - Catch Can R&D, Part 4: Production

Posted: December 07, 2017

Categories: Ford F-150 Ecoboost Catch Can Kit 2015-2017

The Pre-Sale for this 2015-2016 Ford F-150 3.5L EcoBoost Catch Can Kit is now live! Click here to check it out!

Patience is a virtue, but sometimes, it's also a necessity. Progress often moves at its own pace in science and engineering, and all you can do is sit back and wait for a result. In the case of our 2015+ 2.7L EcoBoost catch can, results have been a long time coming.

If you've been following along with this project since the beginning, we hope you've had a great Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas (or Festivus), New Year, birthday, Memorial Day, 4th of July"I think you get the point. It's been a while. In that time, we've battled check engine lights and overflowing catch cans with our 3.5L kit. What was once a humble kit to fit all 2015+ EcoBoost trucks, has become two kits, a brand-new catch can, three brackets and two sets of lines. All the while, our 2.7L kit was staying the course as planned.

Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 4: A Tale of Two Track Days Part 1

Posted: December 01, 2017

Categories: 2016 Ford Focus RS Rear Differential Cooler

Tags: rdu, ptu, hot hatch, FORS, ford focus rs, ford focus, ford, ecoboost, Differential Cooler, awd

The term "track day" around here is always surrounded with a certain level of enthusiasm. We're all aware of the extra labor that goes into a trip to Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ, but everyone involved is more than willing to pitch in for the chance to see our RS thrashed around the track. Think of it like one of those field trips you would take in middle school. Sure, there would be a test on everything seen that day, but that was a small price to pay for a day out of the classroom. After spending almost a week preparing it was time to take the class on their field trip.

Hot Oil and Broken Eggs

Our other product coordinator Steve Bryson took the journey up to the track as the perfect opportunity to snap</body>

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Redefine the Limits - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

Posted: December 01, 2017

Categories: Ford 6.4L Powerstroke Transmission Cooler 2008-2010

What defines a limit? In the English language, a limit is "a restriction on the size or amount of something permissible or possible." In practice, however, limits are not always as rigid. Anybody who's ever mastered a sport or skill will tell you, limits are made to be pushed and broken. A limit is only as defined as one's willingness to accept it. In the automotive industry, limits are often found by exceeding them. We push our cars and trucks until flaws appear, then step back and find a way to make them better.

Physics tells us that almost everything has limits, whether or not we've found them yet. Air at a certain temperature can only absorb so much heat energy, and transmission fluid loses its ability to lubricate beyond a specified temperature. Add a transmission cooler between the two, and you have hundreds of variables that will decide the limits of what's possible for your truck. In the case of the Ford 6.4L Powerstroke, the limits have yet to be defined.