(T) How to increase power?

Sorry if this has already been asked, I'm new on here!

I have a 99 899cc Sei, is there any easy ways (i.e. clipping stuff on) of improving performance. I was thinking about:

1) Spark plugs
2) HT leads
3) Air Filter (which type)
4) Induction kit? (which type is it easy)
5) Any other ideas?
I love the car, the performance around town is great, but it's a bit lacking on the motorway.

Also, I can get hold of some sporting seats, do these just bolt on, and would that invalidate the insurance?

One last question, is it possible to fit an aftermarket airbag to the sei?


Thanks

i dont think any insurance company would pull you up on having Sporting seats in a standard cinq.

induction kit probably easiest way to get a power boost, dont think to difficult to fit either

thanks for the reply, am just struggling to find an induction kit for the 899, they all seem to be for 1.1

make your own induction kit, do a search on it through the forum, many have already done it. all you do is get some pipe coming from the black bit on top of the throttle body lead it to a nic cone near the front of the bumper where all the air comes in, job done

IMO an induction kit is a bit OTT for a 899 (might be pushing a 1108 come to think of it......). The reason I say this is because the airflow is so dramatically increased that it confuses the fuelling of the ECU, giving rougher running. IMO a high flow filter (K&N element or similar) with a couple of drilled holes in the airbox would be better (and cheaper! ). All this has come from tuning Minis.

The problem is that noone produces off the shelf tuning parts for a 899 AFAIK. I think the TBs are the same on the 1108 and 899, but I'm not 100% sure. Tricker produces 40mm throttle bodies, so you could change that if they are the same.
Changing the HT leads is generally pointless unless you need to change them...you may get 1 bhp extra by uprating the sparks, but you may not notice it.
If you want more serious performance, then you're looking at head work, uprated cams, lightening, boring/stroking (if you can find suitable parts), a custom turbo should be a possibility. Depends how much more performance you want. Air filter and sparks wouldn't add all that much, but you should notice a difference in the drivability of the car.

Hope this helps

EDIT: I forgot exhausts! Smoothing the inlet/exhaust manifolds and matching the ports on the cylinder head to the manifolds would improve the engine, as would a free flow exhaust - but don't go mad with the bore size - you might lose power due to a lack of backpressure and the exhaust gases slowing down too much.

I had a K+N and a Group N backbox on my 899cc...Twas much better!

The GrpN would need to be obtained from Demon Tweeks, Id think, as the supplier I used have stopped making them..

thanks for all the help!

The ecu is a semi-adaptive closed loop system - after a short while the ecu will learn and adjust the fuelling to suit the new filter.

On an 1108, the problem with drilling the airbox is that it puts the intake right over the exhaust manifold so might sound wild but will draw in hot air by the bucketful, but agree it might be useful on an 899 as the box is more remote.

Right. My mistake. Good thing I have a 899 then! Would probably be best to have an induction kit for an 1108 then.

Pete would the ECU learn the engine characteristics well enough if you bored/stroked the block, increased the comp. ratio, etc.? Most of my tuning ideas come from tuning A series engines in Minis, and a hike of 30bhp for a 1275cc is the max possible on the standard ECU. I don't think its a 'learning' ECU like on a cinq.

I like the idea of having a modded 899 engine, but was wondering bout the ECU.

Yeah...would presume so..

This is me having said that, running an unmodded 1242 on the 1108 ECU, thats basically the same as stroking the block.

I would presume it has limits, but some form of ECU analysis / tech document on the ECU would yield this info.

There's no knock sensor on the cento engines, so I don't think it's too clever on optimising the ignition timing, it almost certainly just reads the values from a table in the ecu. The fuelling will adjust to within a certain amount from standard, but to be honest if you're going as far as you suggest with the 899 you'd benefit from a superchip or even better, a custom remap.

The 899 is a very old design, only a 3 bearing crank jobby a bit like the A series, and will need the full lightening and balancing treatment if you want to use revs and have power. In all honesty, it'd probably be cheaper to stick a 1242 8v in.

Probably yeah. But if I did the 899, I wouldn't have to mess with rewiring a new ECU, new mounts etc. Also it'd be pretty unique! Perhaps I'll just do a port n polish (stage 2 tune in the mini world) on the head, Sei 899 gearbox (I understand they are tons better than the cinq 899 jobby), uprated manifolds, exhaust and air intake (not an induction kit though). Should be good for 55 odd bhp (I hope!).

I've got the same car. I've got Champion EON plugs, and I didn't notice a difference when I got them. I replaced the leads with Magnecor ones, and there was a small difference in the sound, after about 3000rpm. The leads didn't really effect the engine below 2000rpm though. I'm not certain that they've improved performance either, it just seems to sound quieter, and sounds great after about 4000rpm. I don't know much about air filters, but an induction kit is likely to effect your insurance.

It isn't great on the m/way lol I did 280 miles on Sunday, and I found that I had to change down for the slightest slope on the m/way. There was one part of the m/way where I couldn't even do 70mph flat out in 4th gear lol.