A novel fully hydraulic variable valve system is described in this paper, which achieves continuous variations in maximum valve lift, valve opening duration, and the timing of valve closing. The load of the unthrottled spark ignition engine with fully hydraulic variable valve system is controlled by using an early intake valve closing rather than the conventional throttle valve. The experiments were carried out on BJ486EQ spark ignition engine with fully hydraulic variable valve system. Pumping losses of the throttled and unthrottled spark ignition engines at low-to-medium loads are compared and the reason of it decreasing significantly in the unthrottled spark igntion engine is analyzed. The combustion characteristic parameters, such as cyclic variation, CA50, and heat release rate, were analyzed. The primary reasons for the lower combustion rate in the unthrottled spark ignition engines are discussed. In order to improve the evaporation of fuel and mix with air in an unthrottled spark ignition engine, the in-cylinder swirl is organized with a helical intake valve, which can generate a strong intake swirl at low intake valve lifts. The effects of the intake swirl on combustion performance are investigated. Compared with the throttled spark ignition engine, the brake specific fuel consumption of the improved unthrottled spark ignition engine is reduced by 4.1% to 11.2%.