[BOT_ROCKET]

As promised, I snapped some underhood pics. I am pretty shocked to see how restrictive the intake side is considering how the exhaust looks. Aside from the obvious cats, resonator, and gigantic muffler, the exaust doesn't really have any choke points. The intake side of things, however, have MANY bottlenecks. The air box intake is REALLY restricted, and the filter itself does NOT look like something that should be on a 325hp twin turbo engine. Much could be gained from a decent CAI. It doesn't stop there tho. The pipes after the air box are pinched, kinked, and all over the place. Honestly, if I were the engineer responsible for the intake side of this engine, I would be embarrassed of this mess. There is NO WAY this is the most efficient way they could design this.

Pic 7 shows one of the BOVs, but I could not find the other one to save my life. I think I may need to crawl underneath and peel the aero covers off to get at that one. Vent to atmosphere will probably be my first mod to this car, assuming I can find the other BOV.

The last pic shows a cooler, which I assume is for engine or transmission oil. The other side is blocked off. A good place for another cooler in the future for whichever one the other side isn't, perhaps.

I think my front plate needs to get moved to the side. It blocks a good bit of the intercooler, which obviously isn't helping anything.

Enjoy!

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

I just realized the intercooler opening is off center... That's gonna need some further investigation.

 

[elronino]

A new less restrictive intake would be largely beneficial... and that filter tho... were they on a budget?

luckily... MI doesn't require front license plates...

 

[elronino]

I just realized the intercooler opening is off center... That's gonna need some further investigation.

I noticed this the first day, I assumed it was my radar cover for the adaptive cruise control... But now I am second guessing that assumption.

 

[JaredC01]

Turbocharged engines pull the air they need, restrictions be damned (unless it such a huge vacuum that it collapses the intake tubing). With turbocharged engines, they went from finding equal-length runners and least-restrictive paths of air, to whatever they can fit into the engine bay, and the turbo takes care of the rest.

That said, I'm sure the turbo has to work a bit harder to pull air through all of the restrictions, so long-term the turbo's may not hold up as well as a less-restrictive setup.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

luckily... MI doesn't require front license plates...

Lucky. That bracket takes up roughly a third of the opening. That is unacceptable.

 

[JaredC01]

Lucky. That bracket takes up roughly a third of the opening. That is unacceptable.

Missouri does require it, but I bought the car in Indiana where they don't... They didn't put the front holder on, and I don't plan on putting it on unless I run into issues.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

Turbocharged engines pull the air they need, restrictions be damned (unless it such a huge vacuum that it collapses the intake tubing). With turbocharged engines, they went from finding equal-length runners and least-restrictive paths of air, to whatever they can fit into the engine bay, and the turbo takes care of the rest.

That said, I'm sure the turbo has to work a bit harder to pull air through all of the restrictions, so long-term the turbo's may not hold up as well as a less-restrictive setup.

Turbos can't manipulate physics any better than pistons can in a naturally aspirated engine. A higher vacuum on the inlet side of a turbo means less air that is being pressurized by the compressor. There is a reason you see turbocharged drag cars with the turbos mounted with the inlet open to the front of the car. The turbo benefits from free flowing intake just as much as any other aspiration. Some even use a blower to feed the turbo(s) because they act as a pressure multiplier. More boost (or less vacuum) in equals more boost out.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

Missouri does require it, but I bought the car in Indiana where they don't... They didn't put the front holder on, and I don't plan on putting it on unless I run into issues.

I work at a place that makes those issues you speak of, so I have to comply or my boss gets fussy.

 

[JaredC01]

I work at a place that makes those issues you speak of, so I have to comply or my boss gets fussy.

Just don't park it on the lot?

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

One interesting thing of note is the space around the air box. The battery tray is significantly bigger than the battery, and all that space between the air box and battery is free real estate just waiting for a custom CAI.

 

[elronino]

I'm pretty sure I'll run a CAI or some sort of modified intake coupled with a tune. I'd love to get rid of that resonator and Texas sized muffler... but have to mind the lease. If I end up purchasing it after the lease, those are as good as gone.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

I'm pretty sure I'll run a CAI or some sort of modified intake coupled with a tune. I'd love to get rid of that resonator and Texas sized muffler... but have to mind the lease. If I end up purchasing it after the lease, those are as good as gone.

You can uncouple the exhaust behind the flexpipes and run whatever you want in place of the resonator and sound barrel without making any permanent changes. It would be pretty easy to fab up you own, even. The exhaust on these is pretty straight forward (or backward?) fortunately.

 

[kentak]

Nice shots of the engine. I was wondering what it looked like under the engine cover.

Ken

 

[sleeper1411]

I wonder why the bypass valve is only on 1 side of the intake? I would think that compressor surge when going off throttle would effect both sides. Are the other Ecoboost motor's like that?

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

I wonder why the bypass valve is only on 1 side of the intake? I would think that compressor surge when going off throttle would effect both sides. Are the other Ecoboost motor's like that?

I'm fairly sure the other one is just hidden. I know the SHO has 2. I'm not sure about the rest, but if any of the V6s have 1 BOV, it would have to be somewhere after the 2 intakes merge into 1. The one i could find on mine was only a couple feet away from the rear turbo, bit the front turbo doesnt have nearly as much pipe before it gets to the intercooler.

 

[Kevin74]

Honestly, if I were the engineer responsible for the intake side of this engine, I would be embarrassed of this mess. There is NO WAY this is the most efficient way they could design this.

First off, thanks for all the effort getting and sharing these pics.

I hope you are correct about it not being the most efficient cai design. But as I said in a precious post here after looking under the hood for the first time (certainly not as closely as you have) I am concerned that there is a lack of space for a real good CAI, as well as a lack of space just to help keep temps down. There are videos out there showing successive dyno runs on vehicles such as the Focus ST which show how the heat build-up caused by said successive runs really saps power. Proving the worth of better designed and larger intercoolers. The other vehicles with the same engine have more space to allow for improvements in this regard. I'm curious to know if they have larger intercoolers. Since there are no aftermarket CAI's for the Sport currently I looked up CAI FOR 2.7TT. You should see the size of some of these for the F150, (dual filters and such). No way it's fitting into the Sport. Here's to hoping the aftermarket can improve upon the stock design. Also curious if they were able to improve these areas on the Lincoln 3.0TT, if so that would definitely help me feel better, knowing it was more for cost measures vs. lack of space.

 

[BOT_ROCKET]

First off, thanks for all the effort getting and sharing these pics.

I hope you are correct about it not being the most efficient cai design. But as I said in a precious post here after looking under the hood for the first time (certainly not as closely as you have) I am concerned that there is a lack of space for a real good CAI, as well as a lack of space just to help keep temps down. There are videos out there showing successive dyno runs on vehicles such as the Focus ST which show how the heat build-up caused by said successive runs really saps power. Proving the worth of better designed and larger intercoolers. The other vehicles with the same engine have more space to allow for improvements in this regard. I'm curious to know if they have larger intercoolers. Since there are no aftermarket CAI's for the Sport currently I looked up CAI FOR 2.7TT. You should see the size of some of these for the F150, (dual filters and such). No way it's fitting into the Sport. Here's to hoping the aftermarket can improve upon the stock design. Also curious if they were able to improve these areas on the Lincoln 3.0TT, if so that would definitely help me feel better, knowing it was more for cost measures vs. lack of space.

I had that in mind while I was looking around in there. The filter arrangement of the F-150 wouldn't be much of a stretch for the Sport since there is so much space around the air box. My main issues are the restrictions in the pipes, the hard bends, and the small diameter of said pipes. There is a tiny bit of room for slightly bigger pipes, but you'd get significant gain just from having smoother pathways for the air. There are several unnecessary twists, turns, and kinks in the rear compressor inlet pipe alone. While a full intake overhaul looks like it would net massive gains, I think there is a LOT to gain with just a simple CAI that replaces the air box/air box inlet and banjo pipes.

 

[JaredC01]

Turbos can't manipulate physics any better than pistons can in a naturally aspirated engine. A higher vacuum on the inlet side of a turbo means less air that is being pressurized by the compressor. There is a reason you see turbocharged drag cars with the turbos mounted with the inlet open to the front of the car. The turbo benefits from free flowing intake just as much as any other aspiration. Some even use a blower to feed the turbo(s) because they act as a pressure multiplier. More boost (or less vacuum) in equals more boost out.

Completely missed this reply...

Correct that a higher vacuum means less air, as you said physics comes to play. The difference between this car and a drag car, is that these turbochargers are capable of running higher boost levels than the engine wants them to run at (while a drag car you're pushing as much air as you can stuff into the thing for a few thousand HP). That means there's overhead in the turbos for pulling in and compressing more air. The turbos will indeed work harder (sometimes considerably) to pull that same amount of air through and boost it into the engine, but the turbos ARE capable of doing that... They just require a higher shaft RPM to achieve the same result as a less-restricted setup. Because of that, the design of the piping is of lower concern than what they are for the naturally aspirated engines.

Generally speaking, the restrictions really only come into play when you're trying to push more power than the factory anticipated... That said, if you can find a way to make the life of a turbo easier, it will generally reward you with a longer lifespan, and more power if the ECU allows.

 

[Kevin74]

I had that in mind while I was looking around in there. The filter arrangement of the F-150 wouldn't be much of a stretch for the Sport since there is so much space around the air box. My main issues are the restrictions in the pipes, the hard bends, and the small diameter of said pipes. There is a tiny bit of room for slightly bigger pipes, but you'd get significant gain just from having smoother pathways for the air. There are several unnecessary twists, turns, and kinks in the rear compressor inlet pipe alone. While a full intake overhaul looks like it would net massive gains, I think there is a LOT to gain with just a simple CAI that replaces the air box/air box inlet and banjo pipes.

I am glad to hear that your more indepth observations are positive in regards to what should be possible.