Inliners International Forums General Discussion Hi Performance Next tech

cam free engine

Of all the flim-flamin' hornswoggling gobble-gook yahoolery dad-bern new-fangeldness!!!!!!

Well, carbs were replaced with electronic fuel injection, distributors with computer controlled ignition.....actually seems rather late to just finally be getting to electronic valves. Makes a whole hell of a lot of sense.....everything being directly actuated on the cylinder. Without all the mechanicals to drive those functions, shaves a lot of weight off. A lot less moving parts too. Plus all the parameters are adjustable straight from the computer, so you can just make performance adjustments right on your laptop from the passenger seat. Set the whole thing for maximum econ or max performance right from the dash display. Grease monkey hot rodders become nice and clean hackers.........nnnaaaaaahhhhhhhh.......

Looks like a pretty slick package. The actuator is riding on the guide so a retrofit to a vintage engine seems plausible . . .

My first question is how to cool the exhaust valve? The test mule mentioned on the site had these VVT units on just the intakes. The second is how to lube the valve guides?

Also it would seem that the area under the valve cover would need to be kept dry - absent crankcase vent gases and no oil splashing about . . .

I had thought about this concept when in college and having to come up with a senior project. Was going to use servo type action. And do it to a Briggs. Made a agricultural acre counter to apply to existing tractors instead. I did have success and it worked.

They are just adapting technology that Formula 1 race engine builders have been doing for close to 45 years now with their pneumatic valve opening and closing systems. Because of the extreme high RPM's seen in Formula 1 engines(often above 17,000 RPM), valve springs can't be used and pneumatic actuators are used to open and close the valves. They have just added computers to define when the valves open and close to replace the camshafts. That would be cool to program whatever cam profile you wanted to from your laptop without having to open the hood or get your hands greasy.

F1 engines have used pneumatic valve closure for quite some time due to extremely high revs - which in the past had them revving as high as 20K (but now limited to 15K)
Pneumatic Valve Actuation in F1

F1 cars are still using camshafts DOHC 4 valves per cylinder by regulation:
"5.1.8 Engines must have two inlet and two exhaust valves per cylinder.
Only reciprocating poppet valves with axial displacement are permitted"

And F1 technical regulations continue to ban VVT/VVL:
"5.9.2 Variable valve timing and variable valve lift profile systems are not permitted"
F1-TechnischesReglement

The technology has been around for quite some time in experimental trials. I recall a tour of a GM plant back in the early nineties where they were experimenting with servo driven valve trains. A Caddy 4100 style engine with a dummy camshaft installed to distribute oil and drive a cam/crank timing apparatus.