davrian.net

Hey up chaps, as I will soon be an owner of a Davrian I thought I would put a post on here to introduce myself.

My username and nickname outside of the internet is Nugget so please use this.

20+ years ago I had an Imp for first car which back then as a budding apprentice engineer I duly modded IAW with Willy G book to about stage 2 ish, I sold the Imp after about 3 years, and left the world of Imping until about 2.5 years ago when I bought a G15 that had been laid up for 30 years, a genuine 1 owner car I restored it to factory condition drove it occasionally, was too precious about it to really enjoy it and then sold it this year to fund the latter stages of my self build house.

The house now finished and back to work I need a new project hence the Davrian, I have learnt my lesson with the G15 and will (or at least will try) not to go completely over the top with the finish to the point that I can't enjoy it, instead my plan is to get it running and have it as a running project that I will fettle into something that I don't mind throwing around the track.

With this in mind the car does come with a good Imp sport engine but I would like something a bit more potent and with tuning the Imp engine being prohibitively expensive, I've been looking into various engine options from a Suzuki Swift GTI engine mated to the Imp box, to a VMAX engine again on the Imp box (engine runs the wrong way), the usual other bike engined options using after market diffs etc, perhaps a complete Smart Car rear subframe, engine and box hubs et al (I don't like the gear shift on this) then I read the Dav to Darrian book and noted that some cars were manufactured with a Ford Crossflow and a VW gearbox, this seems like a very viable option and maintains some period originality in a way, the question I have with this is how the increase in weight of the cast iron engine and heavier box effects the balance of the Davrian.

Is there anyone who may have driven both (Imp and Ford engined) that could give me their perception or have any other ideas on how to skin this cat.

Would have thought that if you are changing the engine and not keeping original then there would be little point in keeping the transaxle.Most people would consider the transaxle as big a problem as the engine particularly when higher power outputs are used and jack knight or similar parts are expensive. Many would consider the iron block ford engine as not ideal and some used Ali blocks to help avoid the problem, Richard Atkinson being very successful with a BDA version hung out the back of his MK7 ( this car has now reverted to an Imp unit).
Also Renault engines and transmissions have been used, ask Tim at Darrian Cars!
This is a quandary that many have considered with many staying with the Imp unit

All of this depends on what mark you are getting?! not much else will fit in anything up to mk7 except an imp engine.

And if you don't want a Davrian with an Imp engine why buy this one? You could buy something else to play with and let this one go to someone who wants to stay Imp powered.

What Mk of Davrian have you bought? Do you have any photos you can post? Is it currently road registered?

The A-series was an option from the M6 onwards. (Fitted transversely as per the GTM cox.) so required a bit of cutting about and fitting of a small sub-frame to take the engine /gearbox.

I've raced Davrians with the imp engine / trans-axle as well as the Ford Kent engine / Hewland Mk9 trans-axle. If not set-up correctly, the later is not very nice as a race car at all. With a fair bit of work (and expense) we have a Kent engined car going a fair bit quicker than we ever got an imp engined car to go and it seems now to be reliable. Iain McBay has also raced both types of car, so will have an opinion on this too.

Thanks for the input regarding the Kent and A series engines, I'm not hard over on re-engining the Dav just exploring the options as there are more out there compared to when it was conceived.

I'm still yet to have the car delivered so am throwing ideas around in my head really not just about the propulsion but also the concept of whether it will be a tidy car well prepped for a bit of track day use or (and this is the path I have always taken in the past) a minty example restored back to original condition.

Clearly if I go for the latter it will be Imp engined but if I can resist doing this and go for something less pristine and a bit more functional then I will have to do a small cost benefit analysis (posh eh) on the various options because I think that if it looks favourable the Davrian is a fairly flexible platform for a bit of evolution.

I was thinking along similar lines recently (check my BMW K1200 thread)
The BMW K1200 "Brick" bike engine would seem to be quite a nice alternative to the Imp. This is the older 1990s inline 4 cylinder engine, not the similarly named more recent across the frame unit.
Although the crank runs the 'wrong way', the actual output flywheel runs the other way, so it may well be doable.

If it IS doable, its a very nice unit, 135bhp out of the box, very light, so shouldn't mess up the handling, and will lie in the same configuration as the Imp, only even more canted over, head with twin cams on the left side, like the Imp but even lower centre of gravity.

I may one day try this but don't really have the time at the moment, and anyway I have (theoretically) 3 Imp engines of 1040 to play with, only 2 are in bits and in the UK....long story.

Hi Hal. The k1200 looks light a good idea especially as its 135bhp, a slant 4 and light.

I've had a quick mooch on ebay and this came up: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301059773199? ... 1423.l2649

I'm not very clued up on bikes but this looks to be the engine/bike you were referring to Hal, am I right?

You mentioned that you may wish to use the car for competition so be aware that, if you are intending to sprint or hillclimb the car, fitting an engine not listed as originally fitted to the car will force you to run in Sports Libre, rather than the Modified Specialist Production Class so the car's competiveness may be reduced.