haha, I get it, "Saab story". What a terrible car company with really strange followers.

So here is a question - anyone done the math for the actual advantage of the freevalve. As in, what is the theoretical graph for torque/hp with ideal cam angle at all RPMs?

 

Imagine having the benefits of every imaginable variable valve technology and aftermarket cam at your disposal. Worried about not having an efficient intake manifold to take advantage of it? I’ve started BMW’s n52 valvetronic engine with the intake manifold removed, idled smoothly.

 

Saab = Some Are Always Broken...

 

Eh, I've had two. A '94 900, mostly GM, with a peppy V6 and 5spd manual. It was cheap ($6000) and fully loaded for a high schooler's car back in 2003 (heated seats, leather), had enough quirks to land me a girlfriend (center ignition, hubba hubba), and very versatile with it's giant hatch and 60/40 fold down rear seats. Smashed that thing into a giant tree after rounding a corner at 100mph, walked away with a sore neck and bent glasses.

Parents replaced that with a '93 9000, and although the auto transmission failed multiple times (all but the first time covered under warranty), it was also an amazing car. What's not to love about a 2.0 turbo, the most comfortable seating you've ever experienced, and quiet european interior that's comfortable at an indicated 155mph.

I will say, in 2021, I wouldn't suggest buying either of these models unless you want a project, but when I drove them they were ~15 years younger.

 

Saabs were the WRXs of the world before the WRX existed.
Very different but pretty cool.
Bad to the bone on improved surfaces; dirt and gravel "roads" was their playground.

We owned two as well, both older 99s no turbos. "Beaters" that we beat the **** out of...
Was always fun to give someone the keys and say "start it up".
People NEVER look at the center console for the ignition switch!

Also fun to tell some newbie mechanic to "go change the belts" and watch them go berserk trying to find the belts...
Easiest car in the word to replace clutches on. Both of ours were manuals.

Water pumps sucked the big donkey dick...

Curly, your shop looks NICE.
I have shop envy now ...

 

I haven't posted any pictures of my shop here? This is my shop:

https://www.ar-motorsports.com/motorsports

 

Sorry, saw internal pics on the current 6 speed repair thread.
Mixed threads up.
Still bad *** shop.
Sorry for the thread drift...
Back to "free valve"!

 

14 years ago, when I'd just gotten my driver's license and was still living at home, my parents bought a cheap car for me to dent and not kill myself in - and they thought a Saab 9000 would be a good choice for that. Really not a bad car, albeit a bit quirky looking. Amazing seats, pretty decent handling and as you said the 2.0T engines are really quite good.

 

I'm contributing to massive thread drift, but this is great man! Is this YOUR shop, or a place you work at? Looks like you've come a long way from CSTG. Congrats!

 

I’m a technician there, had a full time job while working on miatas out of my garage at “CSTG”, this saved a LOT of time. Still work on a few hundred miatas a year, they’re not often featured on our social media pages though sadly.

 

I can't believe no one has posted his latest video yet:

 

tldr i'mma punt this to 'open source' cuz that clearly makes everything automatically feasible

 

I facepalmed when he said that it's difficult to add a 36-2 to the crank blah blah blah and literally stopped watching.

 

Curly's being too modest. Josh (Curly) is a terrific technician and AR is a terrific shop for all things performance. This shop has saved me a ton of $ by recommending robust performance upgrades to my MSM and steering me away from other less robust solutions that were popular at the time.

 

I was kinda skipping around the video, but that whole thing stood out to me as pretty strange. With everything this guy has built, how is a crank trigger remotely difficult?

I for one would get a kick out of seeing this thing run with an open intake manifold. Just straight runners, no throttles.

 

When I did that on an x3, it was trippy. You see valves opening and injectors spraying. Super cool. TONS of MILs afterwords.

Thanks for the compliments Scott!

this guys system is definitely low tech, gotta think there’s a way to make the ICE be the pneumatic pump too.

 

It's smart to use a non-interference engine and not rev it too high.
It would not be that low tech to match the timing of high lift/duration cams, dome pistons and high revs.

Wonder if he have higher efficiency than a Brigg&Stratton as that POC?
But it's cool to have made it run&drive at all.

 

I think the whole interference / non-interference thing all goes out the window with this system. Maybe i'm wrong, but if something in this system fails the valve drops.

 

Non-interference in my mind means when the piston is at TDC, you can rotate the cams to their highest (lowest?) lift point without any contact. Valves dropping from failed keepers or similar failure is a different problem, however even the early NA engines can become interference engines if you put different (higher lift) cams in. So if his solenoids created more lift than stock, then it becomes an interference engine, but thats the point.

 

My point was that if he lifts the same amount as stock, he can lift and close the valves at any rate without the risk of contacting the piston (e.g. the impossible shift from full open exhaust to full open intake in 1 nanosecons at TDC).
When it gets tight the ramps on the cams is a mechanical way to ensure the opening and closing of valves are controlled (including not slamming/bouncing the valves into the seats).

The timing of a solonoid is not in nanoseconds, but it will be hard to make it dynamic with the revs, far from easy stuff (unless you have things that weigh nothing and react at the speed of light).
Mechainical control is not exact at high revs either, it's dance.