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Cool Operator - Mishimoto?s Ford Focus RS Oil Cooler

Mishimoto

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#1


Part 1: Stock Cooler and Plans

While we plan to create an entire line of cooling products for the RS, some require more immediate attention than others. The oil cooler is shaping up to be one of these items. With a stock cooler that?s less than adequate, and oil temps on track days that could make Chuck Norris sweat, we have a problem brewing.

Stock System

The stock oil cooler is a liquid-to-liquid heat exchanger and therefore relies on the radiator to cool the oil, as well as the coolant. This style of oil cooler also acts as an oil warmer, bringing the oil to operating temperature, which is beneficial for colder climates. I know with the heat wave that is currently engulfing a large portion of the country, not many of us are concerned with the oil reaching temperature; but in the dead of winter, it can certainly be helpful.


Stock Focus RS oil cooler

As you can see below, coolant is supplied via the two lines connected to the right side of the cooler. Of course with every liquid-to-liquid cooler pro, there is a con. The most critical issue is that the radiator has to work twice as hard to keep the RS?s oil cool, as well as the coolant. This often results in higher oil temps, especially with any sort of track use.


Stock Focus RS oil cooler

Designing the Prototype

Our game plan is to retain the stock oil cooler, if possible; we will then add our own liquid-to-air heat exchanger in order to combat high oil temps. The first step was deciding where to mount our oil cooler. It?s no surprise that the RS is low on space, but after becoming acquainted with our RS during our intercooler R&D, we knew just where to locate this cooler.


Stock Focus RS front end

The upper-grille area should provide the maximum amount of air flow while minimizing the space that the cooler takes up. Speaking of minimizing space, we will be using the heat exchanger that was born during our Mustang GT oil cooler project. For that project, we designed small, medium, and large bar-and-plate heat exchangers to test. After choosing the best for the GT, we produced the rest for universal applications. The medium cooler should do the trick here. It has a large surface area while still saving space, something that is a hot commodity for the Focus.


Stock Focus RS air diverter panel

Once we had a location, we set out to design a bracket. Based on the location we chose, this proved to be on the difficult side. The air diverter directly above the opening in the grille is plastic and is not likely able to support the size cooler that we want to use. Not to worry. Our engineer, Dan, often shoots for the stars with his designs and came up with an excellent plan. He designed an aluminum bracket to replace the entire plastic air diverter. This will be strong enough to both hold our cooler and continue to function as an air diverter similar to stock. Check out some renderings of the bracket with our cooler!


Mishimoto Focus RS oil cooler bracket


Mishimoto Focus RS oil cooler


Mishimoto Focus RS oil cooler


Mishimoto Focus RS oil cooler


Mishimoto Focus RS oil cooler


Mishimoto Focus RS oil cooler

Coming Up!

Now that we have several renderings of our bracket and cooler, it is time to bring it to life. In our next post, we will weld up our prototype bracket and fit it on our RS. In the meantime, let us know what you think of our oil cooler design, as well as our other Focus RS projects. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading
-Sara
 


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Mishimoto

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Part 2: Prototype Testing

High oil temperatures can shut down a track day faster than you can scream your favorite four-letter word. Unfortunately, high oil temps are already sidelining RS owners at the track. Not to worry, Team Mishi is on it! In our last post, we took a look at the stock cooler and our plans to create a larger one. Now it?s time to construct and test our prototype.


Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket


Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

We began with constructing our prototype bracket for fitment testing. After cutting the bracket on our waterjet, we tack-welded it together and bolted up our cooler to take a better look at fitment. We will be using one of our larger bar-and-plate coolers designed for our Mustang GT oil cooler project for the RS oil cooler kit.


Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket


Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket


Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

You may have noticed the scoop on our prototype above, or in our render from our previous post. When designing the bracket, we saw an opportunity to go the extra mile by adding this feature. It works to direct some of the air that does not pass through the cooler, up and into the intake duct. We plan to test this feature to ensure that it functions as designed before including it on our final product.

Testing

Now that we are sure the bracket and the oil cooler fit our RS, we are one step closer to testing! The rest of the kit was constructed, including a custom center bolt for our sandwich plate, which our engineer, Dan, fabricated for this project. We will leave the stock cooler intact and install our cooler in tandem with the stock setup. This should provide the benefits of a larger aftermarket oil cooler without compromising oil warm-up times. That said, it is on to testing!


Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket


Prototype Focus RS oil cooler bracket

Our on-road testing is important because it replicates how our kit will perform in every-day driving situations. We know that there are more than a few track-dedicated Focus RS?s out there, but for everyone that bought this car to enjoy on a daily basis, our products must function properly on both the street and track. Repeatable baseline testing will ensure that our cooler demonstrates excellent performance in daily driving situations before we move on to more stressful testing.


Stock Focus RS Oil Temperatures

As you can see in the chart above, on-road testing showed the stock cooler holding at 200?F, which is perfectly normal for a stock setup. With the addition of the Mishimoto cooler, we were able to reduce temperatures to 170?F at the inlet and 155?F at the outlet, making for a 45? temperature drop from the stock cooler. By choosing the cross-flow cooler setup rather than a dual-pass cooler, we were able to keep the pressure drop to about 7 psi. Excellent results for on-road testing!


Mishimoto Focus RS Oil Cooler Temperatures


Stock VS Mishimoto Oil Temperatures

Not only did our oil cooler perform favorably during our preliminary testing, but we also found that the design of the bracket produced a 6?F reduction in intake air temperatures. Talk about a freebie!

Second Prototype

For additional track testing, we constructed a second prototype bracket from aluminum, which gives it a much better appearance than our first prototype. In addition, it will be lighter and more comparable to the final product, which will also be constructed from aluminum. This prototype will go to a third party for track testing, and we are eager to hear their impressions of our kit in action. We will report back with an update as soon as their testing is complete. For now, check out our final prototype and let us know what you think!


Focus RS Oil Cooler prototype


Focus RS Oil Cooler prototype


Focus RS Oil Cooler prototype

Coming Up!

With our on-road testing complete, we can now launch our pre-sale! We will post the details of this pre-sale shortly. In the meantime, let us know what you think of our RS oil cooler design!

Thanks for reading

-Sara
 


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Mishimoto

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Thread Starter #3
Mishimoto's Focus RS Oil Cooler Pre-Sale is live!

Pre-Sale Link

We are kicking off the pre-sale for our Focus RS Oil Cooler so everyone has enough time to place their orders. More info and photos are on the way, but until then check out the pre-sale and let us know if you have any questions!





Pre-Sale Link

Sale Price: $599.95

MSRP: $770.00

Estimated Ship Date / Pre-Sale Expiration: October

Includes:
(1) – Application Specific Mounting Bracket / Air Diversion Shield
(1) – Bar and Plate Oil Cooler (Silver or Black)
(1) – 34in Stainless Steel Braided Hose w/ -10AN Fittings
(1) – 51in Stainless Steel Braided Hose w/ -10AN Fittings
(1) – Oil Sandwich Plate (Thermostatic or Non)
(1) – Application - Specific, 3/4" 16 extended length center bolt
(2) – M20 x -10AN Straight Fittings
(1) – Mounting Hardware Set
Mishimoto Lifetime Warranty

Pre-Sale Link

If you have any questions let us know in the comments below!

-Sara
 


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Mishimoto

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Thread Starter #4
Hey everybody,

I just wanted to share a quick video of our track testing with you all while Sara is out for a little while after a long week at SEMA. Hope you enjoy!

[video=youtube;XWo4bupa9lk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWo4bupa9lk[/video]

-Steve
 


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