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2016 Ford Focus RS Rear Differential Cooler

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

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

    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

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

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

    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> " width="600" height="400">
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  3. Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 3: Track Prep

    Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 3: Track Prep

    When you're hurtling towards a concrete-walled turn at over 90 MPH, you'd better know that every nut and bolt in your car is torqued to spec.


    Photo: Nick Thomas

    We've all had to prepare for something before"a date, an interview, a test. It's always a stressful experience. Now imagine you were about to go on a date with somebody you were pretty sure is trying to kill you. Or, imagine that your desk would be pushed off a 100ft cliff if you failed that test. Preparing for a track day is a lot like that.

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    About a week before our Focus RS was set

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  4. Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 2: The Master Plan

    Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Rear Differential Cooler R&D, Part 2: The Master Plan

    The mood for the past few days here at the Mishimoto office has been a little giddy.  Scrawled on our calendar in one of our project manager's less than impeccable handwriting are the words "Focus RS track testing".  There's a lot of hard work being done, but underneath it all lies a childlike wonder for what's going to happen in the next week.

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    We've spent countless hours street testing over the past several weeks, trying to learn more about the relationship between the PTU, ECU, and RDU.  We've learned a lot from this testing, but we're finding that we can't push the car hard enough on the street to match what you all are seeing at the track, without getting arrested anyway.  So, we're gearing up for another track day to push the RS and its PTU and RDU to their limits.

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  5. Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Part 1: The Rear Differential

    Diff's Hot, Take it Easy - Part 1: The Rear Differential

    At Mishimoto we are big fans of our little blue car. Over the past few months you could say we have formed a bond that only burnouts and track days can build. In testing various Focus RS parts (and maybe doing a few donuts, for science) we noticed that it is very easy to make the rear differential in the RS angry, and you won't like it when its angry. The rear diff makes the rules. Overheat it, and you're likely to end up parked for the day. When the rear diff heats up, the ECU in the RS pulls power in an attempt to cool it down. Therein lies the problem: We have a car that begs to be driven to the absolute limits and rear diff that is programmed to shut down when it reaches a certain temperature. Don't get us wrong, the problem doesn't seem to be with the diff itself, but rather with its inability to dissipate heat fast enough to keep up with this blue bat out of hell.

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