[freebeard]

After reading the thread I went back to look at the Scuderi Split-cycle engine.

Scuderi engines have paired cylinders, each of which performs two of the tasks (strokes) of a conventional engine. The compression cylinder performs intake and compression. The power cylinder performs combustion and exhaust. Compressed air is transferred from the compression cylinder to the power cylinder through a crossover passage. Fuel is then injected and fired to produce the power stroke.

The power cylinder fires just after the piston has begun its downward motion ("after top dead center", or ATDC). The Scuderi Group says ATDC eliminates a thermal efficiency shortcoming seen in previous split-cycle engine designs. Firing ATDC in a split-cycle arrangement is claimed to eliminate the losses resulting from recompressing the gas.

On March 5, 2015, Hino Motors Ltd, a subsidiary of Toyota, filed suit against Scuderi Group in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts for breach of contract and other violations. Hino has accused the Scuderi Group of operating a Ponzi scheme by refusing to refund Hino's $150,000 investment and promising to repay it eventually with money they plan to receive from other investors... The Securities & Exchange Commission has also investigated the Scuderi Group for multi-million dollar payments to family members, and a separate investor has also filed federal suit against the Scuderi Group.

So that's how that one went.