Ford Focus RS Performance Intercooler 2016+

What's Cooler Than Bein' Cool? Intercooler R&D, Part 3: The Big Crunch

April 28, 2017

Ford Focus RS Performance Intercooler 2016+

# turbo, thermal imaging, PROTOTYPE, intercooler, gif, ford focus rs, focus rs, ecoboost, dyno, data, boost, 2.3l

The movement on the 2016 Ford Focus RS intercooler project may seem slow, but it couldn't be more alive. Our lead engineer for the project, at my request, has completed a plethora of testing configurations to get the most detailed amount of data possible. For the past three months, we have been rocking out on testing, testing, and more testing for the RS, the primary objectives being movement on the upcoming diff cooler and this front-mount intercooler. We know that the RS crowd loves their data, so we want to overload you with what's finally available.

I won't sugarcoat anything here. The update is going to be very data-intensive. I don't have any entertaining anecdotes, interesting fun-facts, or puns about staying focused to fluff this piece with. Today's discussion will be about our Nitrous Blue hatchback and the focus on data.

This RS was laced with monitoring systems to capture every facet of the performance

Temperatures

Let's start with temperature reduction, because this is a big

What's Cooler Than Bein' Cool? Intercooler R&D, Part 2: Prototypin'

January 20, 2017

Ford Focus RS Performance Intercooler 2016+

# turbo, PROTOTYPE, intercooler, ford, focus rs, focus, ecoboost, boost, bar and plate, awd

Some time has passed since the last update for this 2016 Ford Focus RS intercooler project, but that doesn't mean we've forgotten about it! It's all-hands-on-deck to get this project back in the swing of R&D as we are getting close to testing and beginning a huge data push. Let's see what it looks like and quickly go through some of the design specs.

May I present to you, our prototype intercooler for the Focus RS!

At the beginning of this project, we knew we'd want to get rid of the plate the stock intercooler has in place to combat the over-efficiency issue a lot of people were experiencing causing condensation inside of the core. Since performance was something we wanted to improve, enlarging the core and external fin capacity was going to be a must. A question that did pop into my head was "Well, won't a higher performing intercooler with a thicker core be more efficient, causing more condensation problems?" It turns out to be a great question.

There isn't any way to really tell exactly

What's cooler than bein' cool?- Intercooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

August 08, 2016

Ford Focus RS Performance Intercooler 2016+

# turbo, teammishi, RS, performance, mishimotoengineering, mishimoto, intercooler, ford, FocusRS, focus, featured

Team Mishi is hard at work developing an entire line of cooling upgrades for our RS. Up to bat is one of the more popular modifications for turbo cars: the intercooler.

Stock Focus RS intercooler

The stock Focus RS intercooler is an interesting part of this hot hatch. As soon as images of the striking front end of this car surfaced on the interwebs, many noticed that there was a black plate blocking off a portion of the intercooler, and immediately called it out. Ford explained that the intercooler was too efficient and that, in humid climates, the excess efficiency caused condensation within the intake tract.

Stock Focus RS intercooler

Although we had been warned, like any horsepower-hungry enthusiast, our first thought was how to get rid of this plate. After having a closer look at the block-off, we found that it is not permanently affixed to the intercooler. It is a small piece of plastic attached to the front of the intercooler with a strong adhesive. It can