Revolutionary New Inline 4 - Alfadan Big Block i4 Engine

YES! Exactly what we need, more moving parts!

Gotta be Porsche.

Not just Porsche, Toyota has a patent on this also, and there's one for diesel engines as well...probably others...mostly used for turbo boosted engines to increase compression ratio before boost kicks in reducing turbo lag... but also results in better gas mileage, cleaner burning engine, more power....s'all good...

What is your guess for the new rod design.....?

It could be offset where it connects to the crankshaft...maybe

With a swivel joint in the middle and the top one fixed....maybe

not to scale

..."Porsche and Hilite conceived a way to adjust the apparent length of the connecting rods, the metal arms that connect to the crankshaft and drive the pistons up and down. A solenoid allows small oil-pressure-driven rods and an eccentric adjuster to raise or lower the bearing supporting the piston. The patent diagram appears to show a high and low position currently, not a variable height.

The car starts off with the piston in the high position. When the turbo begins injecting pressurized air, the piston drops to the low position. That reduces the compression ratio momentarily, allowing for more turbocharger boost and more power. The Porsche-Hilite design appears to be comparatively simple, at least compared to other variable-compression-ratio efforts that date back a century."...

So some minor tweaks and this would work...maybe

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/204531-porsche-patents-a-variable-compression-ratio-engine-to-boost-power-and-fuel-efficiency

https://crcao.org/AFEE/2014AFEE/Final%20Presentations/Day%201%20Session%201%20SI-Octane%20Presentations/1-2%20Kleeberg,%20Henning_20140225.pdf

https://www.dieselworldmag.com/diesel-technology/inside-look/

Wow. As someone who routinely expects more than 200,000 miles out of an engine with little more than oil changes and a plug change or two, I can't see myself buying into this level of antitheKISS.

My '02 Suburban is getting ready to tick over 300K. It does 'tick' a little on start-up, especially on cold mornings with a lazy lifter in there.

"lazy Lifter" I haven't heard that one in years.

Is my age showing?

Well if it's purely mechanical you want, you can go with Hyundai's CVVD(continuously variable valve duration) engine, with a 10 year warranty or 100,000 miles...

More power, cleaner burning, better mileage....

I somehow think it still won't be as impressive as the Beast of Turin, Fiat's 28 litre straight four.