Our 2011 Mustang GT, Project WIld E Coyote continues to progress in the engine department. With our new turbochaged bullet under the hood, we wanted to not only dress things up but also protect it from some of the perils that come from running a high horsepower, forced induction setup.
For some help in both those areas we turned to Moroso. They provided us with two engine dress up items, as well as one of their air/oil separators to keep our induction plumbing dry, and unwanted oil out of the combustion chamber.
Dress Up
Lending more of a race look to the engine compartment of Wild E Coyote was the idea here. We didn’t want things to look like we bought all the plastic-chrome, or fake-billet stuff off the local auto parts store rack, instead we wanted something a little more subtle, but with a hardcore look.
Brake Reservoir Cover
The first part we installed was a Moroso Brake Fluid Reservoir Cover, part number 74222. This piece is constructed from aluminum, and the corners have been TIG welded. It matches the appearance of Moroso’s coolant tanks, giving underhood appearance a race-inspired look.
Installing the brake reservoir cover is as easy as adding brake fluid. Simply remove the cap from the reservoir, and the cover slides over top of it. Put the cap back on the brake reservoir and installation is completed. The cover doesn’t interfere with the brake fluid cap.
Fuse Box Cover
The OEM underhood power distribution or fuse box lid is pretty pedestrian looking with it’s plain plastic cover. Just like the brake fluid reservoir cover, the Moroso fuse box cover, part number 74228 is fabricated from .100-inch thick aluminum with TIG welded corners. In our case this piece will match the look of the brake reservoir cover. To install the cover simply slips over the factory fuse box lid.
Air Oil Separator
In higher horsepower or forced induction cars the higher crankcase pressures can force more oil out through the PCV system. Trapping this oil before it coats the intake and the intercooler is the job for a properly designed air/oil separator. -Thor Schroeder, Moroso
With Forced induction engines there is greater potential for blow-by, a condition where combustion gasses, or pressure get past the rings, this further increases crankcase pressure.
These increases in pressure put greater strain on an engine’s PCV system, and can send a mist of vaporized oil into the pcv hoses. This oil then collects on the inside of intake manifold, induction tubing, and intercooler.
That coating of oil then reduces the thermal efficiency of these components, affecting heat dissipation. Oil is also drawn back into the intake and subsequently the combustion chamber. Since oil has a higher ignition temperature than gasoline the octane level of the incoming air and fuel charge is altered, which can cause detonation. This incoming oil mist can also coat the backs of intake valves and the inside of the intake manifold, giving deposits something to stick to, eventually further hindering engine performance.
The solution is to trap the oil and separate it from the other gasses in the PCV system. The way to do that is with an Air/Oil Separator. “In higher horsepower or forced induction cars the higher crankcase pressures can force more oil out through the PCV system. Trapping this oil before it coats the intake and the intercooler is the job for a properly designed air/oil separator,” says Thor Schroeder of Moroso.
The Air/Oil separator works by using a specially designed billet filter media to trap the oil present in crankcase gasses as they pass through the PCV system. The gasses are allowed to circulate back into the system to be burned as part of the combustion process, and the oil is trapped in the separator, which can be drained and the oil either returned to the engine or disposed of properly.
Moroso offers many of these systems for specific applications, and in our case it’s part number 85485. The Air/Oil separator simply plumbs into the factory PCV system. We mounted ours to the driver-side strut tower on Wild E Coyote. This is a good location for both the length of the hose, and allows us easy access to the drain on the separator so we can recycle the captured oil every few weeks, since our car is also a daily driver.
For less than $150 the Moroso Air/Oil separator is one more safety net that can be installed for a reasonable price. At under $50 each the brake reservoir cover and underhood fuse panel cover also offer a little touch of style to our engine compartment appearance as well. We’ll be curious to see how much oil the separator catches once we start driving Wild E Coyote daily again, until then it’s nice to know excess oil wont’ be giving us any headaches.
Part Numbers:
- 74222 Moroso Brake Fluid Reservoir Cover
- 74228 Moroso Fuse Box Cover
- 85485 Moroso Air/Oil Separator