homogenizer

[Barrett Nicholas]

In Hot Rod or some such magazine a few years back, Smokey Yurik (sp?)
of  Indy car engine fame had an article on a project he'd been working
on that intrigued me, but I've never heard anything more on the
project. His contention was that gasoline is usually burned below it's
optimum temperature, due to detonation caused by the uneven mixture of
the fuel charge entering the cylinder - the leaner parts of the
charger would ignite first, igniting the entire charge. If I remember
right, he was playing with the 1.9 liter engines from Fiero's, putting
a "homogenizer" in the intake, a device that supposedly produced a
very evenly mixed fuel-air mixture & also served as a check valve. The
device was a turbine type blade that spun to homogenize the mixture.
Then he was using engine coolant to heat the mixture to get it closer
to it's optimum burning temperature - then into the cylinder. He
claimed some outrageous mpg, hp, and torque numbers, but like I said,
I never heard anything more on the project. (Then again, I'm not a
regular Hot Rod reader either.)

Anyone know what happen to this project? (no, I don't think it was a
big 3 coverup) My guess is that you'd need a ceramic motor to handle
the higher heat, and that he was cooking engines - any other guesses?
Any other comments on either the basic premise or the implementation?

curious,

Barrett Nicholas