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DLC (Diamond-like Carbon) Coating could be very useful, but you can't simply coat your cylinder wall with it. The rings have to properly wear-in against the Nikasil in order to allow for good combustion pressure sealing. If you coat the cylinder with DLC you will not get that wearing-in to happen. The thickness of Nikasil if far more than the DLC coating that happens by Physical Vapor Deposition. This means that so if you removing the Nikasil and apply DLC directly to an aluminum cylinder wall, your cylinder will be too big for your pistons. There's no simple way to make up that thickness, which means that you'd have to get custom cylinders made ($$$$$!) And then you don't know if it'll even work. Also, if DLC gets too hot it will simply disappear. There are plenty of places in the engine where it can be applied, but you have to understand what it can and can't do. You will be experimenting with DLC, and if you get it wrong, you will get piston seizures that will put both you and your wallet in a world of hurt.
And the coatings themselves are not cheap. Sure, there are plenty of places that can do the DLC coating for you, but that doesn't mean that it'll work.
There are places in the engine where DLC can be very effective, but you have to do your homework.
Again, don't get me wrong, DLC is very cool. I've used it in a couple of applications and I think that it can do some amazing things in the right engine application. Experimentation is how we make progress but you should know the cost and the risks as much as possible before you do it.
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