DVA K05 upgrade feedback

[skydragon]

I've recently had my Seven upgraded by DVA to K05 spec and mapped at Emerald.

 

Please note - I've no commercial connection with either company, but want to let other BC members know of my upgrade experience, as it might assist others trying to make an informed upgrade choice (as it did me, by learning of DVA and Emerald by reading Blatchat).

 

My car was an ex-supergrad 1600cc K-Series EU3 car, giving somewhere around 118-120bhp (I guess). Wanting more power for Hillclimb/sprint competitions, I looked around at as many upgrade choices as i could. One key factor was that the car had to stay under 1700cc and be road legal in order to stay in a specific MSA Hillclimb and Sprint class - as well as being reliable long term.

 

The engine already had forged pistons fitted, so I finally went for a K05 upgrade from DVA, which consisted of head porting, bigger inlet valves, Piper 285H cams, Jenvey throttle bodies and composite inlet trumpets, larger injectors, Auto-teknix air box, new cambelt and manual belt tensioner, plus an Emerald ECU.

 

The K05 upgrade seemed to be a good compromise between power, cost and reliablity.

 

(as an aside I've also fitted a Powerspeed 4-2-1 exhaust system, a CC dry sump system, a Titan LSD and new wheels/tyres)

 

The DVA work was carried out in just a single day and Dave Andrews was extremely professional to deal with. Importantly he was also very patient with me as I initially struggled to choose the exact spec I wanted. He offered good sensible advice at all times and guided me where necessary.

 

Emerald carried out the mapping and Dave Walker and his team again were very professional and pleasant to deal with.

 

In both cases the level of attention and care to detail was impressive to say the least.

 

Result...? 182bhp at 7850rpm (power still climbing but that's where we've set the soft rev limiter). Torque was 130.2 Lb/ft at just over 6000rpm

 

Cost..? don't ask It wasn't cheap, but the result is arse clenchingly fast, but still with great driveability and worth it IMHO 😬

 

 

 

 

1.6 K Series EU3, 2003, with DVA K05 and a few other goodies...

website here

[Carl]

You must be very happy with those results and I bet your engine revs towards the top end like mad now.Dave is a top bloke and his advice, patience and attention to detail is so refreshing.

 

My engine has been refreshed and upgraded by Dave twice now and I am looking forward to getting it on the rollers next Thursday to see the fruits of his latest work.

 

 

[Geoff Wilcx]

I'm a year ahead of you and went the same route - I agree with all you say.

 

If you're like me then be warned in a year you'll want even more.

 

 

 

Winter '08 Upgrade was a screaming DVA K05.

 

Winter '09 Upgrade was a Radical

www.geoffwilcoxphotography.co.uk

[peter clarke]

Went the same route apart from using van Kronenburg management system with wide band as I live in Benelux and they set it up for me. Approx 180 bhp and 135 torque. Great pulling power with the 4-2-1 exhaust from 2000 rpm.

Would recommend anyone to go thru Dave, friendly, realistic and very professional at realistic prices.

 

PJ

[charlie_pank]

Surely it's a given that the higher you rev, the more power will be produced until the engine is outside its operating parameters (valve hits piston)?

mode>

 

Happy to be corrected on this.

 

back here because I want to be.

[skydragon]

Have a look at this graph.

 

You'll see that the power output is drastically increased accross the whole rpm band (compared to a stock engine).

[charlie_pank]

Yes, I'm sure that power is up in general and I'm very jealous, esp as I'm doing a similar jump in power upgrade myself and Kermit's in many bits in my garage for the foreseeable future.

 

I'm trying to point out that by the very nature of the internal combustion engine and power, the higher you rev, the more power is output hence the statement 'Result...? 182bhp at 7850rpm (power still climbing but that's where we've set the soft rev limiter)' is extraneous.

 

Yes, very pedantic!

 

back here because I want to be.

[oilyhands]

Charlie,

 

You are way off beam.

 

Given that logic every engine would continue to have rising power ad infinitum as revs rose, in practice volumetric efficiency and hence torqure drops off rapidly once you move out of the engine's effective operating range. Do you think that power would still be climbing if you revved a stock engine to 8000? I think not, it would plummet at around 6200 simply because torque is falling faster then revs are rising.

 

The comment made was to show that the peak power was likely to be higher if the engine was allowed to rev out. That wont always be the case.

 

oily

[ric355]

I'm trying to point out that by the very nature of the internal combustion engine and power, the higher you rev, the more power is output hence the statement 'Result...? 182bhp at 7850rpm (power still climbing but that's where we've set the soft rev limiter)' is extraneous.

 

The fact that the power is still climbing with revs is testament to a nicely modified engine. The key is ability to breathe, which is determined by the amount of air the modified head can flow. If the head can't flow the air necessary to feed the engine at higher RPM, the power will not continue to rise. So there is a point to saying as such in my opinion

 

[ric355]

Beaten by an expert again!

[charlie_pank]

Fair enough - guess I hadn't thought about the engine not being able to breathe and I assumed that the rev limit was imposed to keep valves away from pistons.

 

What determines where the fall in torque outweighs the rise in revs?

 

What would you do to rev higher - (genuine question BTW)?

 

More cam overlap, forged pistons, crank & conrods, stronger gudgeon pins, lightweight valves and stiffer springs?

 

 

 

back here because I want to be.

 

Edited by - charlie_pank on 25 Mar 2010 11:25:56

[oilyhands]

Primarily the cam profile dtermines the theoretical operating range, obviously if this is very high then induction, head airflow exhaust ETC have to be commensurate.

 

The rev limit isnt to prevent valves and pistons coming together, if the springs and cam profile are correct then valve bounce will not occur anywhere inside the operating envelope, infact it will only occur weel outside of it. The rev limit on that particular engine is there to protect the rods which are vulnerable above 7800.

 

The drop off in volumetrics determines where torque falls, peak power is generally made when torque is around 90% of peak, the trick is to sustain torque as near as possible to peak as long as possible.

 

Oily

[Richard Price]

Oily,

If the rods are the weak link, what is the next weak link?

I'm guessing the crank? What revs is a stock 1600 crank safe to?

 

If this engine did have the parts to rev safely, how much further up the rev range is it likely to make peak power?

 

 

[oilyhands]

Rods first, then crank.. It is likely to peaqk at around 7900-8000, maybe a tiny bit higher. Gnerally 7800 ish is about as high as you would want to go on stock crank and rods, maybe 8000 on steel rods and stock crank.

 

Oily