3800 Whats the next big thing for engine development???

[98 TGP TOY]

So yea, I want to see if anyone has opinions for the next big thing in engine development.


I havent read anything good in a while. Last year i read about ceramic engines:


No coolant system needed
No oiling system needed
2-4 times the gas mileage
2-4 times the hp per liter
1,000,000 miles maintanence free

just to name a few. The old problem with these is speed bumps. Shake the engine to hard suddenly and it would break, because of ceramics brittleness. Whats keeping it down now? No oil, less gas, no maintanence.....what do you think?



The other thing I read about is the CSRV engines.

No cam
No rockers
No valves
No springs
No pushrods
No oil needed in the top end of the motor
Higher gas mileage
Three dozen other advangates


The latest thing i read about was the new head design from the guy in india. I beleive Ron Vogel posted a thread on this board about it. Very interesting.

So does anyone else have anything? None of the electric engine garbage either....

Click to read more...

 

[xttc2000]

electric engine garbage?
do you know exactly what defines a hybrid? its actually a badass setup.
a car with an integrated starter alternator is a "hybrid"
the corvette has plans to eventually be a hybrid.
instant torque, 300+ft/lbs of torque at 200 RPMS, the car shuts off at idle and the ISA instantly starts up the engine and provies electric torque to the motor, no gas engine can compete with this. awesome gas mileage too. when you engine brake the isa reverses itself and sends the power to the battery to keep a charge.

other than that, i beleive the new 7 series BMW is a camless motor, its an electric cam type deal.

combine that with a hybrid and that is the most realistic expectation for the near future. you're looking at 40+mpg out of a car that can produce 500hp and 700+ft/lbs of torque. the ceramic motors sound pretty sweet, but the only way to do it would be with some sort of crazy motor mount setup that wouldnt be very ideal for transfering torque to the wheels. i could definitely see it in an economy car tho- also there would need to be some sort of lubrication- doesnt matter what material you are using, if you have a good enough seal for combustion to properly take place you WILL need some sort of lubrication.

 

[98 TGP TOY]

No, I didnt mean the hybrid. I meant the pure electric. The hybrid stuff is cool. Honda had a 400hp hybrid concept.

Does the BMW use solenoids to control the valves? I know for a while, people were talking about variable valve ratios. They had solenoids that controlled each of the valves. So going to WOT they could open the valves to max lift and make the overlap aggressive. But for cruising it could go back to stock lift. I just remembered this.

also there would need to be some sort of lubrication

Nope that was the beauty of it. The ceramic was made from silicon, but anyways, its extremely extremely low friction. Also, the entire block could be machined in under an hour, if i remember it correctly. The ceramic is extremely easy to machine with very tight tolerances. And because they are extremely poor at trasnfering heat, they wont expand or contract. Its the poor heat transfering that gives them the huge boost in mpg and power. Because almost all of the combustion heat goes straight into pushing the piston, not heating the block. Because of this factor, the pistons didnt even have rings. They machined the pistons to fit right into the cylinder bore, and because of the low friction, no lubrication would be needed. They had one on on the street for 1,000,000 miles without problems. But under what conditions and all the other info, i dont know.

 

[iliveonnitro]

Ford is working on an electric valvetrain for their mustang line, and soon all other cars. I think you mentioned it.

I heard that they took a stock 302 block, put on the electric valvetrain and spun it up to 15,000 RPM. They could have kept going, but their fuel/electrical system couldn't keep up or whatever.

400hp+ from a hybrid is just nuts, torque would be even crazier since it all happens off of idle, and electric is a torque monster to begin with.

 

[imported_Theautoguy]

Originally posted by iliveonnitro@Jan 16 2005, 01:59 PM
Ford is working on an electric valvetrain for their mustang line, and soon all other cars.  I think you mentioned it.

I heard that they took a stock 302 block, put on the electric valvetrain and spun it up to 15,000 RPM.  They could have kept going, but their fuel/electrical system couldn't keep up or whatever.

400hp+ from a hybrid is just nuts, torque would be even crazier since it all happens off of idle, and electric is a torque monster to begin with.

[snapback]67767[/snapback]​

I see the electric solenoid valvetrain as the next step. They would not be able to run on 12 volts as the accessories do as it would be too much of a draw on a 12 volts system. They may be able to adapt multiple 12 volt batteries or an upgrade to a complete 24 or 36 volt system.

I say why not, who'd of thought they could get this "multiple displacement" V-8 stuff working well.

 

[98 TGP TOY]

Yea im leaning towards electric valve-train also.

They may be able to set the electric valve-train up with a distributor type of system, like the spark plugs use. Possibly.

Of course, Honda said they had no plans to move forward with their 400hp concept that got 40+ mpg.

 

[imported_Ron Vogel]

aren't current indy cars running solenoid intake/exhaust valves? I know BMW was going to have a production model over the next few years, but can't remember when. If we could get rid of our cam/rockers/valvetrain, we could increase output by over 100 hp w/o extra strain to the motor other than a bigger alternator.

 

[sgtp]

Ok, this is not engine specific, but....


Lately I've been fasinated with the Continuosly Variable Transmisions (CVT) a few current cars have. I belive theres a Nissan and a Saturn model with them. I never rode in or driven a car with one, but the thought of flooring it and the engine reving up to peak HP/TQ and staying there as the trans does the rest while you fly down the road that seems so cool to me. I dont know too much about them, but it seems that this trans would make any car noticeablely faster...............

 

[imported_Ron Vogel]

Originally posted by sgtp@Jan 18 2005, 12:08 AM
Ok, this is not engine specific, but....


Lately I've been fasinated with the Continuosly Variable Transmisions (CVT) a few current cars have.  I belive theres a Nissan and a Saturn model with them.  I never rode in or driven a car with one, but the thought of flooring it and the engine reving up to peak HP/TQ and staying there as the trans does the rest while you fly down the road that seems so cool to me.  I dont know too much about them, but it seems that this trans would make any car noticeablely faster...............

[snapback]67947[/snapback]​

Not really, the CVT uses bands that are allowed to slip to keep the car in it's rev range. They have gone through many decades of development, but the emphasis has been on economy; not performance. I don't think it would withstand the power a performance motor can put out yet. The weak link has been a ribbed metal belt that is the main part of the design, and creating that part as a performance upgrade would be next to impossible for most all of even the largest aftermarket manufacturer.