Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
While we're [not] on the subject, what benefit would accrue to a freevalve conversion on a VW boxer four head?
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I was somewhat familiar with the concept of electronically actuated cylinder valves, but I had never heard of
Freevalve. I had to look it up. It seems only
Koenigsegg is using it in production. I know BMW (and probably other OEMs) looked into it in the past. There was one
article I found where it looked like a hobbiest was able to fab up something and control it with an Arduino.
One thing is highly probably; if you have the know-how to make your own, mount it into a VW head, create an appropriate controller, with an HID (USB connected to a laptop?), AND program the software/tune it, it will definitely help. However, it is currently still out of the reach of average folks. The same energy invested into a Freevalve conversion would more likely than not deliver much greater gains invested elsewhere (in my opinion).
I've never played with electronically actuated valves, but did have the opportunity to play with Omni Valves. An internet search will turn up the wrong company. It was a 2-piece intake valve with a slider ring that interfaced with the valve seat. It worked on the principle of pressure differential. If you still had more pressure in the cylinder than the intake manifold, the ring would be forced closed. Once the pressure in the cylinder was lower than the manifold, it would pull the ring up and allow the intake charge to start flowing. When I played with them, they were marketing primarily to off-road engines for rock crawling. Engines could be idled down to <400 RPM, and the low-end torque was off-the-charts due to eliminating reversion.
