Hi, all.
I had an idea just now, I don't know, it might be crazy...
As background, I'll be reworking my engine. Ceramic coating on piston crown, valves, head and intake/exhaust ports, hybrid ceramic bearings, roller lifters to replace the flat tappet lifters (and a new cam with faster lift and seat, and slightly longer open duration), and hopefully (eventually) a Desmodromic valve actuation setup to get rid of the power waste of having to compress those valve springs 4600 times per minute at WOT, with the Desmo cam grind using the parameters of the new roller lifter cam grind.
So, how does one find the perfect cam grind to maximize fuel efficiency? For such a small engine, it'd be pretty hit-or-miss (pardon the engine pun).
Unless... if one were to remove the camshaft entirely, and mount a modified valve cover on the engine with large solenoids that would actuate the valves. The solenoids would be driven by control circuitry that would let one vary the intake and exhaust valve opening and closing to achieve maximum fuel efficiency as the engine ran in a test stand.
Likewise, the spark would be controlled such that one could advance / retard the spark timing.
The rear drive axle would be coupled to an alternator that would act as load (so the entire drive train including the CVT is included in the tweaking, for maximum realistic effect), feeding a large resistor-based load bank. An Arduino controller would automatically vary throttle position, valve timing, spark timing, fuel injector duty cycle and alternator load while monitoring power output and fuel consumption to achieve maximum power output with minimum fuel consumption.
This wouldn't be a permanent setup... just to tweak the valve timing and spark timing so the new ECU could be properly programmed and the new cam ground.
So, the Arduino would start the engine, tweak for maximum fuel efficiency at idle, then step up to the engine RPM to where the clutch engages, do the same, step up 500 RPM, etc., etc., all the while compiling the results into a database so the data can be transplanted into a permanent setup later.
What do you think? Doable?
