Mishimoto's Explorer ST Catch Can R&D Thread

The news of the departing Ford hatchbacks left a hole in many enthusiast’s hearts. For us here in the States, that means no more compact speed demons, finished with bulging bucket seats and manual gearboxes. The balance of power and practicality bearing the blue oval is gone. Or is it?
Enter the Explorer ST. Ford didn’t delete the ST line. They just matured it a bit and crammed the essence of a hot hatchback into a full-sized, family-friendly SUV. It’s a combination that shouldn’t work, but the 400 hp and surprisingly nimble handling is sure to fill the void left by the hot-hatches departure.

No matter the vehicle segment, however, any and all internal combustion engines suffer from the same nasty side-effect – blow-by, Explorer ST included. To put it simply, blow-by is when oil and fuel droplets are mixed in with recycled crankcase pressure. Some combustion gasses make their way past the piston rings during the power stroke and pressurize the crankcase. In the olden days, this pressure was relieved by venting to the atmosphere, which spewed harmful emissions, not to mention slick oil on the roads. Now, though, this pressure is routed and recycled through the intake via the positive crankcase ventilation (PCV) system, fuel, and oil, and all. The blow-by mixture will collect on the engine’s intake components, specifically the intake valves, resulting in sticky carbon buildup, which detracts from the sport part of your sport utility vehicle. For a more in-depth look at blow-by, make sure you check out our full tech article: Blow-By 101: What is Blow-By and How to Keep it from Ruining your Engine

I hope someone can answer a question for me- As you're driving down the road, I can see that one is using vacuum in the intake (partially closed throttle plates) to create a low pressure area to evacuate the crankcase. However, once the turbos spool up that low pressure source is now unavailable. Coincidentally, this is exactly when one would expect the most blow-by to occur. So, is there something I'm missing as to another low-pressure source? Such as in the airbox between the compressor intake and the air filter? I can imagine a check valve in the system somewhere, but is it in the kit, or does the ST already have provisions for this on the stock crankcase evac system?

I hope someone can answer a question for me- As you're driving down the road, I can see that one is using vacuum in the intake (partially closed throttle plates) to create a low pressure area to evacuate the crankcase. However, once the turbos spool up that low pressure source is now unavailable. Coincidentally, this is exactly when one would expect the most blow-by to occur. So, is there something I'm missing as to another low-pressure source? Such as in the airbox between the compressor intake and the air filter? I can imagine a check valve in the system somewhere, but is it in the kit, or does the ST already have provisions for this on the stock crankcase evac system?

Will this work for a aftermarket intake and how much?

I hope someone can answer a question for me- As you're driving down the road, I can see that one is using vacuum in the intake (partially closed throttle plates) to create a low pressure area to evacuate the crankcase. However, once the turbos spool up that low pressure source is now unavailable. Coincidentally, this is exactly when one would expect the most blow-by to occur. So, is there something I'm missing as to another low-pressure source? Such as in the airbox between the compressor intake and the air filter? I can imagine a check valve in the system somewhere, but is it in the kit, or does the ST already have provisions for this on the stock crankcase evac system?

Which intake are you running? So far we can only confirm fitment on the OEM intake.

Now that December AND January have passed, those of us that ordered would sure like to see those first. Nice to give one away, but paying customers would be happy to have theirs before a promotion like this goes up. Fingers crossed that February will see the pre-orders taken care of.

Now that December AND January have passed, those of us that ordered would sure like to see those first. Nice to give one away, but paying customers would be happy to have theirs before a promotion like this goes up. Fingers crossed that February will see the pre-orders taken care of.

I tend to agree. The estimated shipping date has quietly slipped; would love an update.


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Apologies for the delay guys!

We're still waiting on some components to arrive at the warehouse which are currently mixed in with backlog at the port. We're doing everything that we can to get those pieces out to our warehouse!

-Nick

Thanks for the update, Nick. Totally understanding that the delay appears to be out of your control: its been a couple weeks: do you have any more insight as to when these will ship?

The reason I ask is that I'm not super enthusiastic about driving my new ST without a catch can in place; depending on when these release, I may have to jump ship and purchase something else in stock.

How long did it take to install and did you run into any problems?