DVA Power & K-series tuning kits

[Martin_S]

Since I've nothing better to do with it at the moment, I'm toying with the idea of throwing some money into my Elise's engine bay.

Since a) I don't consider myself to be an 'engine man' and, b) I'm bloody lazy, I'm thinking of buying an upgrade 'kit' rather than mixing and matching components myself.

DVA's packages seem absurdly cheap, for the amount of power being claimed - does anyone have experience of them, or views/experience of other tuners?

At the moment, my Elise is standard apart from sports exhaust, de-cat, air filter and big throttle body. At DVA's prices, I'm tempted to go for the 175bhp spec. with throttle bodies etc. Does anyone have experience of the tractability of this unit for road use?

[bogie]

DVA is probably the best independant K series tuner in the country

Hes 'cheap' because he works from a workshop at his home (less overheads) and he only charges enough for himself to make a living (IMHO) with little overheads other than his own time.

His work on the K series is more reknowned than any other big name tuner in the UK that you will find offering 'kits'...it also happens to be well tested

DVA is also in the habit of being quite modest with his power claims - he always sets client expectation at the *minimum* of what a particular configuration has given in his own experience - rather than some tuners who quote the max, with a tail wind, on a good day...and then come up with excuses when youve paid £3K on your own car and its 10bhp down on their quoted figures......

My friends DVA175bhp S1 made 180bhp on the rollers - it ticks over and drives like a std car...until you floor it

cant go wrong really - I had a DVA kitted car but then decided to superrcharge it as I was after torque etc ..for normally aspirated conversions and top quality work with no bullshit Id go to DVA anytime


cheers

bogie

[karlosfandango]

Definately second Bogie's comments. Dave is a top bloke, knows what he's doing and will really look after you.

[tortoise]

Had a very interesting chat with Dave at DVA today. As a VVC (S2 111s) driver, engine upgrades are bit more limited and in fact DVA's main upgrade option basically blanks out the VVC gear and returns the engine to non-VVC mode (albeit with much modified valve/cam/throttle kit).

However Dave tells me that Emerald are running an experimental VVC based Engine Management System which produces a big power pick up (from 156 to 185+) with a pretty limited mechanical requirement (replaced throttle bodies, not sure about the exhaust cams).

He said he thought this was already on a couple of Elises for testing purposes.

This might all be old news for you experienced PHers but it was certainly news to me. Anyone able to add to this cos a 30 bhp upgrade for a new ECU and throttle bodies sounds a deal to me.

[bogie]

yep - its being tested at the moment...one is actually on Glugs TT215 supercharged car....it made 231bhp on the rollers.

Id wait a little while then stick one on with some DTHTBs

[tonytubi]

there's a few of us in Hong Kong waiting for it too.

[tortoise]

Got the following from Emerald today (Saturday!)which sounds hopeful. I had e-mailed a question about progress on a VVC compatible ECU.

"Yes, there is a revised version of the ECU that includes the VVC control. This is being tested on a few cars at the moment but they are all supercharged VVC engines so we have no idea the gain that we may or may not get with an ECU change on the aspirated engines.
We do have an ECU being installed on a modified VVC engine at the moment (ported head, exhaust cam, big throttle body, air filter / exhaust). I think it will be a few weeks before we know the out come of this - if all goes well it'll also give us another base map to offer for the VVC engines. We'll have news of this on our website as soon as we have this info...Best regards,Karl"

[tonytubi]

Any idea if it's safe to raise the rev limit on the vvc but another 500-1000?

[Martin_S]

Thanks for that, chaps - sounds like DVA is the place to go, then.

Unfortunately, after a long bank holiday weekend in the Elise, my g/f (older than me!) is complaining of backache and difficulties getting in and out.

Might have to put the mods on hold, and if she doesn't improve it's looking like I might have to trade it in for a Griff.

[tortoise]

I think DVA seems to think circa 7,500 is tops for revs on a standard K series (VVC or not). Beyond that I believe its forged pistons and other upgraded bits.