Link G4X with carburetor?

[tzikis]

Hi everyone,

I'm considering buying a G4X ECU for a carbureted engine, and I was wondering if that is even possible.

I know there will be questions as to why I would want to do this in the first place, so I may as well explain my situation. I work at a company that's building a new general-purpose engine prototype, based on an existing 1st-gen carbureted engine prototype. Our long-term goal is to convert this to a port-injected version, but for now, we need to be able to run the existing carbed version, control ignition, and of course log all the various environmental parameters so that we can then compare them with the next version.

So essentially my question is, can I run the G4X with the EFI subsystem disabled, and use the ECU only to control timing based on RPM & MAP/MAF?

 

Thanks

[Adamw]

Yes it is relatively common practice to do ECU controlled ignition only in forms of racing such as oval track and classic cars where regulations restrict you to carburetors only for induction.   Advantages over conventional ignition systems are numerous, 3D, 4D or 5D mapped advance, idle ignition control, functions like engine protection, launch control, RPM limiting, logging, CAN to dashes etc...

I suggest a crank trigger for best performance increase. 

[tzikis]

Thanks for the help! Much appreciated.

Btw, here's what we're working on https://less-engineering.com/

[Adamw]

Interesting concept, In my previous life as a materials engineer I consulted to a company many years ago building an engine that from memory used a similar concept.  Called the Shepherd Engine.  It was a 2 stroke diesel and used a 240 deg sin wave cam to convert motion from the cylinders which oscillated back and forth over a stationary piston.  

https://youtu.be/PuT7d5oW5wc

 

[tzikis]

Ah, interesting idea. I wonder what kind of applications they were targeting and what happened to them

[Adamw]

On 9/1/2020 at 11:46 PM, tzikis said:

I wonder what kind of applications they were targeting and what happened to them

As you probably know its pretty hard to fund development of an engine yourself and equally hard to find people will to invest in an unproven engine idea.  I was involved in some other very innovative engine ideas, some that progressed much further and where quite professionally managed but all I remember eventually faded away due to lack of funding.  The coolest one I remember from an engineering perspective was a Z crank axial engine called Duke, lots of engineering challenges in that one, but it was working very well towards the end and met all their objectives, just no one wanted it.