Focus on ReSpiration: Mishimoto Focus RS Performance Intake R&D

[Mishimoto]

ReSpiration Focal Point: 2016+ Ford Focus RS Performance Intake R&D, Part 1: Stock Intake

Finally!! Ford has teased us with the prospect of an all-wheel-drive (AWD) Focus RS for the US since the early 2000’s. Now, in 2016, it is finally here and in our garage. This is pretty groundbreaking considering that no Ford with an RS badge ever made its way to American soil, and they were not hot-hatches to ignore. The label had particularly dominated the rally world. Who can forget the infamous Escort RS Cosworth rally car with its countless podium finishes or the Focus RS WRC that won back-to-back manufacturer titles in 2006 and 2007? We at Mishimoto haven’t, and we’re glad to be reveling in all the mechanical glory that is Ford’s newest, AWD, turbocharged hot hatch.

Besides Ford providing us with a vehicle name that carries endless puns and name plays, this RS is packed with goodies, making it hard to pick an area to focus on because there are so many awesome features (I promise, that will be the only pun.). Although this RS shares its heart with the Mustang EcoBoost, it does have slightly more power, boasting a hearty 350 hp engine. And how about that drift mode feature? There is a lot of information I can get into here, so for more, check out our vehicle review!

This stock intake is actually not all that unfamiliar to us. We have designed an intake for the Focus ST as well, and it gave us some promising numbers. However, these kits will not be directly interchangeable. Let’s take a look at this new RS intake!

The airbox has a lot of features similar to the ST airbox; it even uses the intake air temperature (IAT) sensor that the 2015+ ST models use. (The 2013+ ST models use a mass airflow sensor.). Ford has also retained the two tubes coming out of the airbox and that attach to the front grille. Of course, we will opt to keep this design feature in our prototype.

When it comes to the intake tube, it is actually a slightly more complex piece. The fitment space is very tight, and the small attachments on the tube will make it a challenging design. An aspect that stands out from our intake projects is the omission of a sound induction tube. These tubes direct more engine sound into the cabin of the vehicle by attaching directly to the intake and connecting to the firewall. The RS doesn’t have this tube located there; it is rather directly attached to the hot side intercooler pipe!

Another key difference is the shape of the intake tube, compared to the ST. The tube for the ST is flatter compared to the more cylindrical design of the RS. Check below for a quick comparison.

What's Next?

We have a clear view of where we want to go with the prototype design. We will report back with our plan of attack soon, so stay tuned! Thanks for reading!

 

[Mishimoto]

ReSpiration Focal Point: 2016+ Ford Focus RS Performance Intake R&D, Part 2: Something?s Rustling Up


The RS has gotten a lot of attention the past few weeks, especially with the ball in our court. Need I remind you of our awesome stock dyno clip?

[video=youtube;yON7UIv7-d0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yON7UIv7-d0[/video]

But somethin?s-a-brewin with one of our most recent projects, the performance intake we are developing for this hot hatch. We mentioned earlier that the development of this intake kit is not completely uncharted territory, considering that we made one for the 2013-2014 Focus ST. However, as we dived further into this project, we uncovered the true complexities of this design compared with our ST intake kit.

Intake Construction

What exactly makes this intake pipe so much more complex? It?s simple: More attachments and brackets need to be added so that the fit will be accurate. Not only have the number of these attachments increased, but also the orientation of these pieces are not easy to accommodate. There will be bends with relatively tight tolerances, and these measurements must be exact. Difficult? Yes. Impossible? Not at all!

First, we needed to decide how the pipe should be routed around the engine bay with all the attachments and brackets properly placed. Almost immediately, we knew we?d want to use a silicone piece that attaches to the turbo behind the motor, but for the mockup, this part was printed.

Now it comes down to the long piping section. Once the initial mockup of the piping was completed, it was up to our lead fabricator, Mike, to get the pipe welded together and mocked up on the car.

Once this step was completed, it was time to make those brackets and attachments that would hold the intake pipe properly in place. This part of the project is actually very interesting because of how we developed these small components using our waterjet. Check out a shot of it in action below!

When the water settles, you get the resulting cutouts.

This process is cool because it shaves off time from the R&D process. Before our waterjet days, these particularly small yet complex pieces would have been painstakingly cut by using a myriad of different drill bits, tools, files, etc. With no waterjet, this part of the project would have taken about five hours to complete. Now, however, we upload the exact specs of these pieces to the waterjet computer, and it simply cuts them using high-pressure water mixed with an abrasive material. Total time taken? About 30 minutes ? the longest part of that being the machine setup, which generally takes around 25 minutes. Time is money, so, yeah, we?ll take the latter.

In the images below, the parts have been properly bent to their correct shapes. Take a look at the fitment.

Next up was the airbox, which is pretty similar to the ST box, but Ford made a statement with its honeycomb lid design. It is certainly one of the more visually pleasing stock intake airboxes we have seen here at our R&D facility. Getting air to the filter is important, so we will be using both of the fresh air inlet scoops that route into the stock airbox with the OEM-supplied inlet tubes.

These airboxes appear to be somewhat similar, but they are actually very different with minor, yet significant dimension disparities in the digital 3D design space. One immediately noticeable difference is the prototype airbox lid; the ST lid is completely flat, whereas our RS lid has some bends that create a bit of a curve.

So what does the entire prototype now look like? See for yourself!

Above, you can also see one last addition, which is the fitting for the IAT sensor. It has been glued on for now using a highly adhesive epoxy. This prototype is not a particularly good looker right now, but that?s all part of the R&D process! Next up, dyno time ? let?s see if we can get a tune out of this trombone!

Thanks for reading!

 

[Mishimoto]

ReSpiration Focal Point: 2016+ Ford Focus RS Performance Intake R&D, Part 3: Data Time!

Our product development for this 2016 Ford Focus RS has been getting a good amount of attention. Even a fellow Focus RS owner and writer, Kelly G over at “ArtofGears” has taken notice with this awesome piece he penned a couple weeks ago. But I digress. How about we stick to the project at hand?

The engineers, who pretty much call our brand new R&D facility their second home, have been busy working on both current projects and projects you guys don’t even know about just yet. Of course, what we are going to shine a light on in today’s piece is the performance intake development that has garnered quite the following. Why keep you guys clamoring for more information? Well, I wanted to be sure that you could really sink your teeth into the next update. Good things come to those who wait!

First, we dove head first into testing, testing and more testing. Our engineers wanted to know every single aspect of how our intake would perform in various conditions. As a matter of fact, it’s great we are testing in this insane Delaware heat. Testing a product like this give us a better idea of its performance in more extreme conditions, really pushing its limits.


The Data

The RS needed to be out on the road, as we needed to look at how the intake kit performed on the car at highway speeds. First, we outfitted the car with AEM data-logging hardware and some software for monitoring. In one of the road tests, two engineers doing testing; one tested our intake and the other tested our new oil cooler projects.

We will be focusing on the information that we obtained from the OBDII (on-board monitoring) system. To gather this data, we simply connected an iPhone directly to the OBDII port using third party software. Pretty nifty, right?

So how did it do? Let’s first take a look at the fuel trims. Well, even before we do that, it’s important that we talk about what fuel trims are, so that everyone is on the same page. Don’t worry, it will be quick.

A vehicle’s engine computer, especially in this car, uses a dizzying array of checks and balances for its electronics. When it comes to fuel trims, it’s all about maintaining a balance between the air content that the oxygen sensor reads and the resulting fuel that comes out of the injector. Think of it like a playground teeter-totter; imagine that air is on one end and fuel is on the other end. It’s the computer’s job to keep this balance as level as possible while the driver is hopefully doing good things to the gas pedal. Disturbance of this balance is usually the culprit behind many check-engine lights, but that’s a discussion for another day.

There are two ways to measure fuel trims: short-term fuel trim (STFT) and long-term fuel trim (LTFT). The concept here is pretty simple; STFT is the measured fuel mixture at any given moment, and LTFT is measured over a longer, predetermined length of time, such as a road test. We evaluate fuel trims both at idle and at around 2,500 rpm, the latter taking place on the highway with the cruise control set at around 60 mph.

In stock form, the RS has a relatively high fuel trim level, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing; it’s just how the car handles its internal air and fuel mixtures. Most manufacturers build their cars this way to ensure a safer tune in a variety of climates, but running slightly leaner usually means more power. The first baseline STFT report, with the car at idle, showed a settling process that the computer goes through: The early plots differed from later baseline runs as the plot lines became much smoother. LTFT changes are minor once the car is moving; this was even more evident when we switched to our intake prototype. As the car “learned” and was driven for multiple times, the plot lines stayed consistent throughout, which bodes well for how nicely the car learned to adjust properly. With our intake, STFTs were a bit quirky, having constant minor adjustments while at idle. This is most likely due to the idle being rougher at idle. (TLDR?)

The car’s fuel trims are great and don’t show any signs of problems when our intake is installed on a brand-new 2016 Focus RS. We even saw max gains of about 11hp and 15 ft-lbs of torque! Take a look at the chart below for these results.

We now had to take a look at how the airflow goes through our prototype system. We hooked this intake up on our flow bench to get even more data, specifically the pressure drop across our prototype system.

Pressure drop is the resistance of air when sucked through the air filter. To better visualize that, imagine a vacuum cleaner with a hose attachment. If you place a screen filter or a piece of paper on the hose, the vacuum needs to work harder to bring in the air. However, if you were to remove that filter and, say, increase the hose diameter, then the vacuum would not have to work as hard. Intakes work in a similar way. The changes made to our vacuum cleaner example will show a positive pressure drop, which means a decrease in pressure. Essentially, the air is now taking the path of least resistance.

Some readers have expressed interest in whether we would follow in Ford’s footsteps with an open-top air box. Initially we were not, but hey, things change. We worked on designing a box that also accommodated a perforated lid design, because testing the pressure drop of both designs is important.

A Newer Design
With our data in mind, we began designing a new intake box. It wasn’t as simple as just cutting out a hole in the lid and calling it a day. This lid would have to seal against the hood to reduce the amount of heat soak the filter could see. Part of the box needed to be raised a bit for the lid to reach the hood and seal properly, so the entire design had to change. Another prototype box had to be made, but our fabricator made it look easy!

After the box was spot-welded together, all that was left was to bend a few pieces. And just like that, we had our new box!

Shown above are both of our lids! We plan to give you the choice between open or closed - whatever suits your needs. But before we fit this into the car, we needed to test the pressure drop so we could get a solid understanding of how this airbox functions with each lid.

Pressure Drop

We are presently working with “prototype B”. “Prototype A” was the box described in the previous post. The chart above shows a comparison between prototype A and prototype B with the closed lid design. Prototype B has a drop of about 21%, and A has a drop of about 20% over the stock system; these numbers are similar, but overall, this is very good news. The stock intake box has the interesting honeycomb design with the RS badge imprinted on the top. Ford didn’t do this only because it looked cool; the Ford engineers most likely knew that this box would have a good impact on pressure drop. Plus, you get the added benefit of hearing the intake a bit more!

In the chart above, you can immediately see an improvement between the two designs. We have three sets of data, but these designs performed so similarly, with a difference of less than 1%, that we included only one set on the chart. To properly replicate our test, we omitted the original lid on prototype A during this test, while prototype B used our newer box and open lid. Either way, we saw a pressure drop of 31% over stock from both designs. This tells us that a partially covered design B performs just as well as a completely uncovered design A.

We calculated this pressure drop by using simulated yet constant-real world driving conditions. These data points were gathered at 1,000 rpm increments, starting at 1,500 rpm. Aspects such as boost pressure and ambient temperature were among the multitude of variables we took into consideration to get these calculations. and we had to be sure that these things stayed constant. Keep in mind that this was a fully simulated test run, but it should give you an idea of what our kit can do with respect to airflow and pressure drop.

Although the newer open-lid design did not have any significant performance gains over the previous design, it did improve intake air temperatures (IAT’s). This box reduced the IATs by 3? F during our cruising tests. If you look closely, there is a cutout for an opening on the front edge of the box. This actually opens up behind the headlight, and more air is circulated through that small opening, which helps reduce the temps. The closed lid will completely seal this off.

Remember, the piping hasn’t changed at all. It’s all about the box, so let’s see what the new design looks like when test fitted in the car!

The closed design is very similar; the box will just be the fully enclosed option.

We made two boxes for two reasons. First, exploring both designs give a wider scope of possibilities for improving induction and being thorough in our research is a priority. Second, we want you guys to have the choice between an open-lid and close-lid design instead of manufacturing only one or the other, that way, you have options!

What’s Next?
Wow. That was a lot. I know many of you wanted an update, so how ‘bout them apples? I told you we were up to a lot with this project! We are finally on the tail end of this intake project, so stay tuned for the next update. We will soon have a cool looking, painted prototype everyone can ogle. Thanks for sticking with me and reading through!

 

[Mishimoto]

ReSpiration Focal Point: 2016+ Ford Focus RS Performance Intake R&D, Part 4: Let's Hear It!

This project has been strenuous, but ?thorough? is our Engineering Department?s proverbial middle name, so let?s hear it for them (cue applause). The last update, which was relatively recent, consisted of a pretty big pile of data. Though necessary, it was a lot to soak in. Now that that?s out of the way, we can get to the fun part ? what this intake actually sounds like.

We really have to give it to our engineers. The reason they were so careful with this project was primarily because the software reported slightly increased fuel trims. We suspected that the 2016+ RS just has relatively high fuel trims from factory; but, being the thorough bunch that they are, the engineers wanted to be absolutely sure. We brought in another RS (thanks to our next door neighbors ID Motorsports) to do some stock baseline runs. (That?s why the test car is now a Frozen White RS instead of our own Nitrous Blue.) We installed our prototype intake and drove the car for a couple hundred miles to let the ECU learn the new flow characteristics - essentially repeating the testing we had done for our RS.

All of the data came back solid; the numbers were similar to our previous tests, and the fuel trims were exactly the same as those we saw with our RS. This was great news, because it confirms our initial theory that the RS just has high fuel trims out of the box, at least compared to the other cars.

Back to why you are all reading this post. We hooked up this RS to our four dynapacks, which is a very interesting sight to see. We?ve only ever run four packs at the same time since way back during our product development for an STI. We tried putting this thing into the infamous ?dyno mode,? but the rear wheels continued to receive power, which resulted in some very weird numbers. It just wasn?t going to work. So we did what pretty much everyone else does with this car and disconnected the rear drive unit (RDU) harness. From then on, it was smooth sailing. Take a look at our runs below!

[video=youtube;jceI4KBQ-8w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jceI4KBQ-8w[/video]

Before I go on, I should mention that this RS actually has an upgraded blow off valve (BOV), so our intake does not enhance the BOV sound. Nevertheless, our intake sounds pretty darn good if you ask me!

What's Next?

While this was a short post, it was important for you all to hear this thing rip on our dyno. Next, we are going full steam ahead with this project. Once we get our prototype painted and branded, we will throw it onto our RS so you can get a taste of what it will look like. We are just around the corner from officially kicking off full-scale production.

How did this intake sound to you? Please leave some comments below and thanks for reading!

 

[Mishimoto]

ReSpiration Focal Point: 2016+ Ford Focus RS Performance Intake R&D, Part 5: C’est Fini

Here it is, the final hoorah. The production sample of our intake kit for the 2016 Ford Focus RS is here at last. In the last update, we took you guys through what this intake sounds like with the help of some dyno runs; it sounds awesome and made 11hp and 15ft-lbs of torque! I’m happy that you guys have stuck with me through the long development process, but there is a light at the end of this R&D tunnel. I know you guys want to see what the finished product looks like, so let’s check it out.

We have put this intake design through hundreds of miles of testing, accruing too many Excel sheets of data. We even installed a prototype on a daily-driven RS (with no issues) that was graciously provided to us during the dyno testing. Big thanks by our next-door Maryland neighbors ID Motorsports.

The fitment of the intake pipe was a top priority. The routing was complex to design due to the extra bracketry and low tolerances we had to accommodate, something we did not encounter in our intake for the 2013 Ford Focus ST. With this project, there was little, to no room for a flawed design. Our pipe is also a full three inches in diameter from the filter all the way back to a silicone piece that necks down to the turbo, pictured above. What’s cool about the silicone piece is that it is not a conventional transition coupler. Rather, it is a horn shaped piece that provides a smoother transition from our piping to the turbo, compared to the physical step-down found in most transition couplers.

Everything in this kit was made for direct bolt-on performance with a perfect fit. In the picture above, our box has openings for the stock air-duct tubing, which grabs air from the front of the car and directs it to the filter on two fronts. The ST airbox also had this design feature and I still think it’s cool how Ford designed that. Speaking of which, let’s move on to the airbox!

The airflow is directed to the filter on the RS from three points; the two inlets attached to the box, and the opening on the airbox lid. While writing the third update, I talked about how we improved the overall pressure drop by 31%; we measured that using our flow bench. Check out that update for a more in-depth analysis.

When the hood closes, it forms a seal on the weather stripping, essentially shielding the top from the open environment, while allowing air to stream into that U-shaped opening in front of the box. We had taken the front end off the car for some other projects, so it’s a bit easier to see how the seal will mate with the hood.

The polished intake pipe looks nice, but you will also have the option of a wrinkle black and an upcoming limited color option we will reveal at a later date; trust me, it’s going to be a head turner. The box will stay powder-coated black and will come only with an open lid for the US and European markets. Our friends in Australia will get only the closed lid version. We know Australian emissions laws are pretty strict, so we wanted to be absolutely sure that this intake won’t raise any red flags. It isn’t too different; it’s just a fully enclosed system without the use of a hood seal.

Now, all that is left for us is to deliver this intake to your waiting arms. We are going to make the pre-sale live very soon, so please keep an eye out for that. Thanks for keeping up with the development of our 2016 Ford Focus RS Performance Intake!

Before I officially bring this project to a close, I’d like to quickly shift gears for a moment. The late Paul Walker is a big reason why most of us are even gearheads in the first place. With the recent anniversary of his tragic passing, I’d just like to say: May he rest in peace; this would not have been too much chrome for him.

-Diamaan

 

[Mishimoto]

Hey everyone

The time is now...we are now ready to officially launch our presale! During this period, you can get our intake at a great discount before the final production kits hit the warehouse and the market.
Please check out the details below and please let us know if you have any questions!

PreSale Link

Expected Release: Early February 2017

Pricing Details:
Full Induction Hose Kit
MSRP: $440.00
Pre-sale: $370.95

Includes:
(1) Aluminum Intake Pipe w/ CNC-Machined MAF Section
(1) Airbox w/ Protective Edging
(1) High-Flow Oiled Filter
(1) Silicone Turbo Inlet Hose
(2) Worm Gear Clamps
Mishimoto Lifetime Warranty

PreSale Link

Again, please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns!

-Diamaan

 

[Mishimoto]

Ready to order but want to know the special color option.

Same here.

We're finally ready to unveil the limited-run color option we are planning that many of you have asked us about. Say hello to our Wrinkle Blue intake pipe!

We wanted to do something special for this RS. Considering how historic the landing of this awesome RS model is, especially on US soil, we wanted to offer something that pays tribute to Ford finally bringing back this blast from the past. It was NOT easy to get this color, but it's a near perfect match to Ford's Nitrous Blue. In person, it looks even better, the lighting in the pictures you see was difficult to properly manipulate, but that is one thing this particular color option is fairly notorious for. Not only will this nicely dress up the engine bay of any Nitrous Blue Focus RS cars on the road, this option will compliment blue calipers and blue interior stitching. This will absolutely stand out!

There is no difference between this intake pipe and our other intake pipes with our Wrinkle Black and Polished options, so this pipe will still only work with our full Mishimoto intake kit, which is currently in presale! Our product page is now updated with the option present in the dropdown color menu, so check it out. Also, as an added bonus, the presale price will stay the same!

If there is anyone who has already put a presale order in, you can contact our CS team ASAP at either support@mishimoto.com or call in at 1-877-466-4744 to make the change, or you can cancel your order and reorder this intake with the Wrinkle Nitrous Blue option - you are not charged until the product actually leaves the warehouse!

As you can see in the images above, our Focus RS is in pieces for some other product testing, so we will have an official update with a blog post, media content and pictures of what it looks like on the car next week. We just did not wait to show everyone. You guys are among the very first to even know about this option and its current availability! Remember, this is a limited-run color option, so pick up a Wrinkle Blue Performance Intake Kit while you can!

What do you guys think? Do you like our newest color option? I'd love to see your responses below!

-Diamaan

 

[Mishimoto]

ReSpiration Focal Point – SPECIAL ENTRY!

Boy do we have treat for you.

Our RS made it to our R&D facility early in the summer last year. We did our research on the car. We knew what color RS we were going to get, what parts we were going to make and just how much fun we were going to have with this little blue hatch. Every now and again, a wild idea is brought to the table that challenges the very fabric of our normal business operations – you are about to witness what happens when Mishimoto decides to take a walk on the wild side.

If you have been following our updates, you all know and love the intake we have made for this 2016 RS, but we have one more trick up our sleeves. Some of you have been lucky enough to have already seen it. Some of you may have even put yourself down for a presale order. Without further ado, say hello to our first ever, limited color option for our 2016 Ford Focus RS Performance Intake kit – Wrinkle Nitrous Blue.

The final outcome did not happen overnight; nothing truly great ever does. This took months of planning, logistics, trial and error and a bit of managerial convincing, but we did it. We will now offer our intake pipe in a blue that is almost identical to Ford’s now-iconic Nitrous Blue that is only available for the Focus RS. Considering that this is the first time the RS has been offered on US soil, it’s only fitting that something be done to pay homage to this badge. It has carried such a legacy throughout the years, and this 2016 model is a platform built to perform in every aspect of the word.

The original idea came up when I was talking with a project manager about how difficult it would be to color match this paint code (looking at you Mark). Then, for whatever reason, I said, “You know what would be rad - if we gave the intake pipe a color option that was Nitrous Blue.” I chuckled to myself at the idea, but was immediately met with a very serious we-should-totally-do-that stare.

Even though it wasn’t really his project, we kind of dove headfirst to try and find a close enough color that could work. But remember this was early last summer before a lot of RS’s even made it on the road. There wasn’t much of a reliable solution to color matching an engine part to Nitrous Blue. So, you can imagine how tough this task was. Doing some basic research, we found that Nitrous Blue was going to be the most common color Ford offered this RS in, adding some validity to the idea.

This pipe is actually part of a spare production sample kit that was originally in our Polished finish. After deciding on a color pan tone, we sent the pipe off with that color sample and essentially crossed our fingers, praying it would come out close to the way we envisioned it. Clearly, we could not have been more impressed. As I was taking pictures of the newly painted pipe, literally everyone in the R&D facility stopped by and commented on how awesome it looks. Let me tell you, it’s pretty great to finally see this on the car. It’s almost unbelievable to see an idea in your head finally become a reality, and this vision could not have worked better. I think we have really hit a home run here and I can talk about it all day, but how about I give what a lot of you have asked for and let you check this piece out installed on the car?

What do you guys think? I'd love to see your comments.

This is on PRESALE NOW, so get yours today!

-Diamaan