Infinity VC-Turbo

[JFL Live]

This is pretty cool.

Infiniti's new VC-T Engine can change it's compression ratio from 8:1 all the way to 14:1. Powerful turbo AND fuel efficient...


LA Auto Show: The 2019 Infiniti QX50 debuts with radical new engine design

[RoadKing]

This is pretty cool.

Infiniti's new VC-T Engine can change it's compression ratio from 8:1 all the way to 14:1. Powerful turbo AND fuel efficient...


LA Auto Show: The 2019 Infiniti QX50 debuts with radical new engine design

Looks like one of those Suzuki robots in the other thread!

[jeffcoslacker]

I saw this quite a while ago when it was in prototype...and my impression at the time was "twice the reciprocating weight and complexity for a moderate performance/fuel efficiency bump. "

I'll have to read what they say now. I didn't look at the link yet. The idea is actually quite old, just not as applied to a gas engine.

Kinda makes me think of the very klunky first gen VTEC mechanisms. And they got way better. So maybe it's a means to an end.

[Suzuki Johnny]

Is that engine small enough to integrate that system and make it twice as fuel efficient on my Harley Limited??? [emoji106]

[Forge]

Interesting!

[jeffcoslacker]

SAAB had a variable displacement motor prototype in the late 80's that actually reduced the volume of the combustion chamber to alter compression, via some really sketchy hydraulic shenanigans. It looked about as reliable as a first gen Cadillac V8-6-4 but with more chance of total spontaneous self-destruction.

Remember the V8-6-4? It would deactivate cylinders 2 at a time as they were not needed? Cruise on 4 for efficiency on the highway? Had fun quirks like when on cruise control, if you got near the back of a semi, the control system would switch from 4 to 8 just as the cruise dug in to fight the buffeting, and it would suddenly go beast mode and lunge forward and try to "mate" with the back of the truck?

Good times...

[HARRIS]

GOTTA LOVE THE NEW IDEA FOR CARS, THE STOP/ START AT STANDSTILL IDLE. AND WHEN SECONDS REALLY COUNT, IT JUST MAY NOT START WHEN IT'S REALLY NEEDED FOR AN INSTANT GETTAWAY .


AH, ADVANCED ENGINEERING ....

[jeffcoslacker]

GOTTA LOVE THE NEW IDEA FOR CARS, THE STOP/ START AT STANDSTILL IDLE. AND WHEN SECONDS REALLY COUNT, IT JUST MAY NOT START WHEN IT'S REALLY NEEDED FOR AN INSTANT GETTAWAY .

AH, ADVANCED ENGINEERING ....

I'm not sure how that played out. i know there was a number of them a few years back, I moved many. But I don't notice it being touted much anymore. It was probably a PITA. But a lotta stuff does get better...the Honda VTEC paved the way and now pretty much everybody uses some form or another of cam profile/timing ajustment on the fly, and it's seamless...same with Caddy's ill-fated cylinder deactivation tech...if you drive anything made in the last 10 years, it probably does this...and it's seamless, you don't even feel it happening...

[MadCow]

GOTTA LOVE THE NEW IDEA FOR CARS, THE STOP/ START AT STANDSTILL IDLE. AND WHEN SECONDS REALLY COUNT, IT JUST MAY NOT START WHEN IT'S REALLY NEEDED FOR AN INSTANT GETTAWAY .


AH, ADVANCED ENGINEERING ....

My 2017 Chevy Cruze does this...doesn't bother me...

[JFL Live]

This is pretty cool.

Infiniti's new VC-T Engine can change it's compression ratio from 8:1 all the way to 14:1. Powerful turbo AND fuel efficient...

On the other hand I have to wonder what effect this would have on the cylinder ridge. A normal piston stops at the same place every time. This one would be moving around...

[jeffcoslacker]

This is pretty cool.

Infiniti's new VC-T Engine can change it's compression ratio from 8:1 all the way to 14:1. Powerful turbo AND fuel efficient...

On the other hand I have to wonder what effect this would have on the cylinder ridge. A normal piston stops at the same place every time. This one would be moving around...

Good thinking, but I'm guessing it's not an issue. Between oil improvements, cylinder coatings and ring materials, they don't seem to ridge much anymore. I had the heads off of a 2006 Ford Vulcan 3.0 with 220,000 miles on it not long ago, i could see the discolor where a ridge would normally start, but couldn't feel it at all.

Japanese engines started using Nikasil cylinder coating after Yamaha kinda perfected it on bike engines, now I think everybody uses it or a similar process. It just doesn't wear...

[JFL Live]

Japanese engines started using Nikasil cylinder coating after Yamaha kinda perfected it on bike engines, now I think everybody uses it. It just doesn't wear...

That makes sense to me. I was telling someone the other day, back in the 80s and 90s about every third car had smoke coming out of the tail pipe. Now you almost never see that.

[jeffcoslacker]

Japanese engines started using Nikasil cylinder coating after Yamaha kinda perfected it on bike engines, now I think everybody uses it. It just doesn't wear...

That makes sense to me. I was telling someone the other day, back in the 80s and 90s about every third car had smoke coming out of the tail pipe. Now you almost never see that.

I found a lot of those to be valve seal/guide problems...used to see it a lot on Mitsubishi engines and early Ford 4.6's in particular...they were all puffing blue smoke by 80,000 miles...both had issues with oil control around the valves.

There were impurities in gas up to the 90's that tended to break down cylinder liner coatings, which didn't help either. That seems to have been addressed too. [emoji106]

[lonerider]

Went through scores of old beaters back in the 60s and 70s that ran good but smoked like a battleship. A good running car could be had for cheap because it was a smoker. The cure was a can of STP "honey" at every gas fillup. The smoking was reduced to zero and a good driver was had for a giveaway price. [emoji2] Early 50's Chevys were favorites of mine.

[jeffcoslacker]

Went through scores of old beaters back in the 60s and 70s that ran good but smoked like a battleship. A good running car could be had for cheap because it was a smoker. The cure was a can of STP "honey" at every gas fillup. The smoking was reduced to zero and a good driver was had for a giveaway price. [emoji2] Early 50's Chevys were favorites of mine.

Yup. I had a '58 Chevy Del Ray. Inline 6 so loose you could hear the pistons slap and no rings to speak of...looked like a poorly tuned two stroke running. 3 on the column. Compression was so bad it could hardly hold 55 mph if the highway started to rise. I ran straight 50 weight in it. Used to keep a case in the trunk. [emoji106]

Looked very much like this one. Good looking car, but paint gone to patina on all the flats.

[lonerider]

Reminds me of the time I got orders to ship out. But first I had to drive my old 52 Chevy home for storage, about a 150 mile trip. Its straight 6 was so worn and used so much oil I was afraid to turn it off when I periodically stopped to top off the crankcase. I had a 1 gal. can of heavy weight oil from which I poured about a quart while the engine was still running. Made it home cruising at 45 mph on the 70 mph interstate. But it was almost out of gas, so I pulled in to a station about a block from my parents home, turned it off, and filled the tank. Got in to crank it over, and it wouldn't start. DANG. I asked the guy pumping gas if he wanted to buy an old Chevy with a full tank of gas.
He said How Much. I said $20 bucks. He said Sold, and I walked home to get the title and I never saw that car again.