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There are two types of Atkinson. The Atkinson engine with the odd crank and extra linkages is an old design and not even a 4-cycle engine. The 4-cycle Atkinson found in cars today is just as you asked, a valve timing change. You should be able to apply it to any engine if you can figure out the cam design and ECU tuning. You will lose a lot of power, though, which is why they're used in conjunction with an electric motor. The Miller cycle is the forced induction version that makes up for some of the power loss without losing all the efficiency gains, but Mazda's the only production one I know of and I don't know much else about how well they worked or their reliability, but it's also the only 4-cycle Atkinson-cycle engine I know of that isn't combined with an electric motor. I guess with Atkinson, you pick your poison: electric motor or supercharger (a turbo would probably not work as well as the exhaust energy would be really low).
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