[Mishimoto]

Removing the Rubber – 2016+ Camaro SS Silicone Induction Hose R&D, Part 1: Stock Review and 3D Models




Setting the Scene…

The early summer sun hangs low and cool against the rolling American meadows, lazily beginning to cast its gaze over another serene, newborn morning. Delicate but unwavering, it brings the landscape to life, painting the valley in amber shades so warm they can practically be felt. The depth and flowing continuity in these endless fields, draped in their clementine pallet, remains mostly unbroken but for a neat, dark ribbon of tarmac, slicing back and forth as if laid down by the hawk gliding soundlessly above.

Like an incoming storm, an imposing, thunderous tone bellows distantly above the hills, cutting through the picturesque still-life and growing louder as it echoes, following the zig-zagging vein of asphalt, ever-aggressively surging forward and inhaling the scene’s serenity only to expel it rearward in an affront to all things understated. Contrasting though it may seem, the proprietor of this sound is just as quintessentially American as the gentle landscape through which it unashamedly perpetuates its eight-cylinder bravado.

This, ladies and gentleman, is the sound of a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro SS on the way to Cars and Coffee on a beautiful July Saturday.


But ay, there’s the rub…

Anyone familiar with this car is surely acquainted with its iconic sound and the slick aesthetic of its retro-futuristic styling. This car gives off an aggressive, muscular aura, but nothing is without flaws. Take a look at this, for example – the 2016 Camaro induction hose:


The 2016 Camaro induction hose – these Camaro parts are not winning any beauty contests.

When you pop your hood at Cars and Coffee, do you want people to drool enviously over your LT1 and your other 2016 Camaro parts, or do you want them to look at your induction hose, get hungry, and head off to the nearest Waffle House?

Perhaps, they might instead head to the mall for a pair of treaded L.L. Bean Duck Boots, unless, of course, they brought a marker to the show and are already too invested in their game of tic-tac-toe to leave. The likenesses continue, but we are here to put an end to them: Mishimoto is developing a 2016+ Camaro SS silicone induction hose to bring some style to your Camaro’s engine bay with some new 2016 Camaro parts.


Flaws from the Factory


I think I saw someone playing “That’s Amore” on one of these on a street in Paris.

The 2016 Camaro induction hose serves as a thoroughfare for intake air from the filter assembly to the throttle body on the manifold.

The stock piece, in addition to having a face only a mother could love, also has some other issues. Due to its rubber construction, it will likely be a fail point down the road once these cars have seen some serious miles. While that may not be a direct concern right now, we know many of you are in this for the long haul.


The CCV hose is on the left, and the sound symposer is on the right.

Additionally, the factory Camaro induction hose features textured surfaces that save GM some coin on tooling and materials, but certainly aren’t conducive to smooth internal airflow. Some people opt to replace this entire assembly with a 2016 Camaro intake, but we know that others like the OEM appearance of the airbox and would rather not remove it.

The 2016 Camaro induction hose also features a sound symposer that pipes engine noise into the cabin (as if you need one to hear this thing roar!).


Sound symposer hose. Notice the pollen, left by bees, blind to the differences between the Camaro induction hose and their honeycombs.


Extreme Hose Makeover: Mishimoto Edition

Check out some 3D models of the Mishimoto induction hose. Notice that, while the stock hose incorporates a bung for the sound symposer tube, we will be deleting that system for a more cohesive, tidy look. If you want to add some authentic volume to your LT1, there are always other ways of doing that with some of our other 2016 Camaro parts.



The stock system features a tube for the CCV system. We will be retaining that attachment. To learn more about that system and how it can be improved, check out our Camaro SS Oil Catch Can R&D blog.




Coming Soon...

Next up, we’ll be doing some 3D printing and getting ready for a test fit. Stay tuned for that, as well as some dyno testing.


Thanks for reading,
-Gardiner

[62nalide]

Are these out yet?

[Mishimoto]

Originally Posted by 62nalide

Are these out yet?

Not as of yet, but I will be posting here with any new updates. When the hose is released, we will be releasing it to the forums first with a discounted pre-sale price.

Stay tuned to this thread for info on when that will occur.

Thanks!
-Gardiner

[Mishimoto]

Gettin close to making an announcement on this one! Stay tune everyone.

-Gardiner

[TSloper]

You guys are joke. If you want to develop a new piece for aesthetics then great. But I read your post looking for one thing and sure as shit you did it yet again... spreading FUD. Whether the factory elbow looks good or not it will NOT LIKELY BE A FAIL POINT DOWN THE ROAD. Stop with the BS marketing already. You pulled the same crap with the thermostat housing. The factory elbow will outlive Mishimoto.

[Mishimoto]

Originally Posted by TSloper

You guys are joke. If you want to develop a new piece for aesthetics then great. But I read your post looking for one thing and sure as shit you did it yet again... spreading FUD. Whether the factory elbow looks good or not it will NOT LIKELY BE A FAIL POINT DOWN THE ROAD. Stop with the BS marketing already. You pulled the same crap with the thermostat housing. The factory elbow will outlive Mishimoto.

Hey TSloper,

Thanks for your input; I'm sorry to have offended you with this post, but I certainly appreciate your keeping me honest!

That said, having re-read the post, I think I was straightforward in representing the primary benefit of this hose to be aesthetic, but apologies if I wasn't clear enough! Next time, I'll try to make even more jokes about the stock hose's likeness to various other waffle-textured items .

You're correct in that I did make one mention of the stock materials' durability, but if you read the rest of the sentence, you'll see that I clarified any such issues as happening to cars with "serious miles" that are around for the "long haul". As the owner of two older cars, I can tell you firsthand that these things do go (and they tend to pick the most inconvenient opportunities at which to do so - there is nothing less desirable than a coolant hose ripping open on the way to pick up a date; ask me how I know). Silicone is a more durable material in the long-term.

I, like you I'm sure, am a major car enthusiast and I love to be able to share my enthusiasm for our projects with this community. No deceit or trickery intended, so I hope that clears things up!

Thanks for your comments,
-Gardiner

[Darth Martel]

Hi Mishi,

I'm wondering if you are considering heatsoak in your testing? I had your CAI, which you graciously refunded me for, and a concern I had with the silicone elbow supplied with the CAI was heatsoak. I'd be interested in knowing if you did any thermal testing of the air flowing through the stock system and compared it to the silicone elbow supplied with the CAI. If so, what numbers did you get? Are you considering air temperature in your development of this product?

thanks very much

[Mishimoto]

Originally Posted by Darth Martel

Hi Mishi,

I'm wondering if you are considering heatsoak in your testing? I had your CAI, which you graciously refunded me for, and a concern I had with the silicone elbow supplied with the CAI was heatsoak. I'd be interested in knowing if you did any thermal testing of the air flowing through the stock system and compared it to the silicone elbow supplied with the CAI. If so, what numbers did you get? Are you considering air temperature in your development of this product?

thanks very much

Hey, Darth Martel -

Thanks for your question. So we have not done any specific thermal testing with this product, but I will pass that request along to the engineers. Heat and temperature are major considerations in every product we develop, especially with anything intake-air related.

That said, silicone is a synthetic elastomer with heat-resistance properties that are much more favorable than rubber. This is why you see silicone used so commonly in applications like this. Thermal conductivity is similar between the two materials, but during our final testing, we will be monitoring intake air temperatures closely to ensure that temperatures are not rising.

May the force be with you,
-Gardiner

[Darth Martel]

Thanks very much for your reply Mishi. I look forward to your results. My gut feeling on this is that the air is warmer than anticipated due to heatsoak. I understand the thermal properties of silicone but, at least in the case of the CAI, I just don't think the silicone is thick enough to prevent the air from heating up. Food for thought anyhow... good luck guys.

Originally Posted by Mishimoto

Hey, Darth Martel -

Thanks for your question. So we have not done any specific thermal testing with this product, but I will pass that request along to the engineers. Heat and temperature are major considerations in every product we develop, especially with anything intake-air related.

That said, silicone is a synthetic elastomer with heat-resistance properties that are much more favorable than rubber. This is why you see silicone used so commonly in applications like this. Thermal conductivity is similar between the two materials, but during our final testing, we will be monitoring intake air temperatures closely to ensure that temperatures are not rising.

May the force be with you,
-Gardiner

[Mishimoto]

Originally Posted by Darth Martel

Thanks very much for your reply Mishi. I look forward to your results. My gut feeling on this is that the air is warmer than anticipated due to heatsoak. I understand the thermal properties of silicone but, at least in the case of the CAI, I just don't think the silicone is thick enough to prevent the air from heating up. Food for thought anyhow... good luck guys.

Thanks! Certainly stay tuned - we will monitor the temps and as I mentioned, I'll post everything we find up here for you to evaluate.

- Gardiner

[Mishimoto]

Removing the Rubber – 2016+ Camaro SS Silicone Induction Hose R&D, Part 2: 3D Print and Pre-Sale!



Just the other week, we all went to sleep with an extra hour on our hands, and now we rise each morning only to find that the rest of the world has beaten us to the punch. Early-morning sun shines through blinds where only darkness fell at the same hour, merely a couple weeks ago. It’s a bit of a shame that the day’s light departs early in the evening, but there’s something energizing and uplifting about waking up to sunlight.

Mornings like these pair well with a nice breakfast to begin the day. For this reason, it’s probably a good call to keep the waffles in the kitchen, and rid them from under the hood of your 2016 Camaro SS. We’re here to help with that – you’ve already seen our Camaro induction hose 3D models, so let’s take a look at how we brought them to life.


Part of this not-so-balanced breakfast


3D Printing a Better Breakfast for your SS

The world is arguably witnessing an unprecedented age of technological innovation. We are living in a time when I can literally ask my phone if it knows what song I’m listening to, and it will respond by actually telling me: “Yes Gardiner, you’re listening to You’ve Got a Friend by James Taylor”. Thanks, Siri; I can always count on you.

Also, this section’s title is not just a continuation of my little meme regarding the stock hose’s likeness to a waffle. In the break room, we briefly had a device whose sole purpose was to 3D print pancakes of any shape directly onto the skillet. Have I told you that I love my job?

So, with all this tech, it makes sense that we also have the capability of printing out a plastic prototype of our Camaro induction hose for testing. I’m not just talking using this for test-fitting, either. We can use a 3D printed model to test actual performance on the dyno for induction-related parts like hoses and intakes. What a time to be alive! Check out a shot of our first model installed on our SS.


The first iteration of our prototype Camaro induction hose

You’ll notice that this model features a port to attach the “sound symposer tube”, which pipes induction noise into the cabin. After receiving some helpful feedback from all of you on the forums, we’ve decided to eliminate the sound symposer tube connection on this hose, making for a cleaner, more authentic appearance. Here’s the new model after that update.


The final design of the Camaro induction hose. The rubber hose in the foreground is the sound symposer tube, and this induction hose allows you to remove that.


Silicone Samples

Once we ironed out any necessary updates and adjustments through our iterative 3D printing prototyping process, we could move on to the real deal. After some extensive dyno testing, we were unable to achieve any power gains with just the induction hose. However, we believe that the stock air box is the bottleneck in this system. Our induction hose increases internal volume by 35% over stock, and It’s possible that one might see more noticeable gains by pairing this Camaro induction hose with a drop-in filter.

This induction hose is perfect for those of you who want to retain the stock air box while still improving appearance and long-run durability. Also, the sound-symposer delete makes the engine bay look less cluttered, and removes a feature that many people fault for being inauthentic.

Check out some photos of the production-ready samples.






Now what?

Thanks for following along in this R&D process! For those of you who have been with us from the get-go, you’ve seen our gripes about the appearance of the stock hose, you got a chance to check out our 3D models. Now that we’ve brought the models to life with 3D printed versions and silicone samples, we have finally got the final product nailed down, which means it’s time for a pre-sale!

As our way of thanking you for your suggestions and participation, we are offering a nicely discounted price that will be around during the pre-sale only. If you have any further questions, find us on the forums or drop a comment on this post!

2016 Camaro Induction Hose Pre-Sale!

Thanks again,
-Gardiner

[Megahurtz]

I have to admit, while I love your blogs, it's a real stretch for me to purchase anything like this. If I were to replace anything I would just buy the whole intake system. The hose also reminds me of turbo inlet hoses on Subaru's. Very odd thing to try and take to market IMO. But good luck none the less.

[Mishimoto]

Originally Posted by Megahurtz

I have to admit, while I love your blogs, it's a real stretch for me to purchase anything like this. If I were to replace anything I would just buy the whole intake system. The hose also reminds me of turbo inlet hoses on Subaru's. Very odd thing to try and take to market IMO. But good luck none the less.

No problem! We understand that this product isn't for everyone, but for those who want to retain the stock airbox, this provides a nice aesthetic upgrade over the stock hose. I can definitely see the resemblance, visually, to a turbo inlet hose on a Subaru.

Thanks for the feedback!
-Gardiner

[SS 1LE]

I would buy one of they were under $100. Since it is just aesthetic, and under the hood, that would IMO be a nice price point.