By Mishimoto Intercooler Kit for the 2017+ Ford F-150 & Raptor 3.5L EcoBoost
In this article, we are going to talk about the Mishimoto Intercooler Kit and expansion tank for the 2017 and up Ford F-150 with a 3.5L EcoBoost, which includes the Raptor. One of the best ways to get more power and torque out of an engine is to keep it cool. And one of the best ways to do that is with an intercooler. So we’re going to talk about how an intercooler works and why it’s one of the best mods you can get for your turbo engine specifically. You can shop for these parts at Motoroso.com, where you can browse that and over a million top name-brand products sold by trusted vendors at great prices, and the shipping is always free with no minimum. Let’s go ahead and get started.
VIDEO: MISHIMOTO INTERCOOLER KIT FOR THE 2017+ FORD F-150
How an Intercooler Works
The way an intercooler works is it sits between the turbo and the intake manifold to cool the air down, but let’s look at the whole system. Fresh air comes into the vehicle through your cold air intake system through a filter to make sure that it’s clean. Then that tube runs down into the turbo where the turbine compresses the air. The turbine is spun by exhaust gases, which means it is usually very, very hot so the compressed air coming out the other side of the turbo is much warmer than you want it to be. From there, it runs over to the intercooler where it does its job to cool the air down, making it denser with more oxygen in it. That compressed cold dense air then makes its way up into the intake manifold. The more dense air gets into the engine, the more bang it makes, and the more bang it makes, the more power and torque you’re going to get.
And when it comes to performance engine cooling technology, there aren’t a lot of names, more recognized in this industry than Mishimoto. Mishimoto specializes exclusively in engine and transmission cooling products, so we’re going to dive into the technology here that lets this product perform at a better level, making it one of the must-have mods for any F-150 or Raptor EcoBoost.
Aluminum TIG welded Construction
One of the most notable features about this Mishimoto intercooler is that it is an all-aluminum TIG-welded construction versus your OEM unit, which is going to be plastic end caps mated to the aluminum core. As those heat cycles perform their function, it can lead to cracking, which leads to boost leaks, and that’s a big problem in any turbocharged engine.
Additionally, the plastic end caps aren’t offering any additional cooling performance. Whereas this all-aluminum construction is going to be cooling that air better, but it’s also never going to crack and lead to any of those boosts leaks, which zap performance. Additionally, the materials that they use, the actual aluminum is of much higher quality grade, and it’s going to have much better cooling properties.
Highly Efficient Intercooler and Pipes
Now the aluminum end caps on each end of the intercooler also feature a larger tube diameter, which means it’s much easier to get high volumes of air flowing through. This is very important if you’re going to be tuning and pushing the performance of your engine as well-you don’t want your intercooler to become a bottleneck on the flow of air.
In addition to that, once the tubes go inside the intercooler, the fins are what pulls the temperature away from the air and Mishimoto is engineered for a 163% increase in total fin surface area, as well as a 77% increase in internal volume. All that means that by the time the air gets through to the intake manifold is a whole 10 degrees cooler, and that is much denser to help you make more power.
Cold-Side Pipe Port
Now Mishimoto knows who their audience is and they’re making these products for people who are tuning. On their cold side pipe, they’ve drilled and tapped an additional port so that you can put in an air sensor so you can get more data for logging and tuning. You can even mount an injector there for methanol-if you’re going to do a water-methanol kit-to help you develop more boost.
Ease of Installation
And lastly, one of our favorite features because we like bolt-on builds, we don’t love cutting things up and fabricating all kinds of special stuff, because we know most of you don’t either, this is a direct bolting replacement for your factory intercooler. It comes with all the tubing, all the hardware necessary to mount it all up. Of course, we’ve written an installation guide how-to article, so make sure you check that out. Now let’s talk about the expansion tank.
The Expansion Tank
If you’re like us, one of the most annoying things about opening the hood of any modern car or truck is that the first thing that you see is a, basically a giant plastic tub holding a bunch of coolants and it looks ugly. It doesn’t look like it fits there. If we’re totally honest, this expansion tank is frankly more of a cosmetic upgrade than anything else, but it is beautiful. It’s aluminum construction, it’s black powder-coated, it’s an easy installation, and it has a little sighting window on the side so that you can see the coolant. Mostly what it does is dress up the engine bay to compliment your brand new intercooler, which you, unfortunately, can’t see.
All right, that wraps up our product spotlight article for the Mishimoto Intercooler and Expansion Tank for the 2017 and up Ford F-150 with a 3.5 liter EcoBoost. If you want to shop for these products, go to Motoroso.com or you can browse over a million top name-brand products sold by trusted vendors at great prices, and the shipping is always free with no minimum. Thanks for reading.
