Basically i have about 1000 to spend on my cinq and ideally want a bit quicker.

I dont need the car for a year until i buy a house so will need it reliable by then. I think turbo is going to be out of the question really.

I already have:

1242 spi
4-2-1 manifold
powerflow exhaust with cat
40mm TB
GSR induction
MkCrich chip
75 cam with vernier pulley
upper strutbrace
Fueling increased slightly
Gt Brakes (well marea actually)
Apex full kit
Poly bushes all round
Stripped out interior
Battery in bootwell
All maintainence is up to date really
Head gasket done, filters are all new, cambelts new, water pumps new, coolant is fresh, oil is fresh, gearbox oil is fresh,
The bottom half of the engine has not been touched, such as oil pump and crank.

Im extremely daunted by a 1386 as the megasquirt really puts me off and the budget will not cover somebody fitting/ building. Never played around with any wiring and never done any solderng etc. I also dont have an engine hoist.

I know i will get a fair bit of money if i was to sell the parts i do not use on the new engine, but...

What should i do as i love my cento and will never sell it. Do i carry on and port/polish, inlet, flywheel and then remap

or Somehow make reliable turbo

or something else, such as mpi this...?

I think you might as well go for broke with the 1.4 16v. Engine hoists are pretty cheap to hire. The fold up ones will probably even fit in a Cinq if you remove the passenger seat!

As long as you practice your soldering (and buy a decent small soldering iron) I doubt you'll have any real probles with Megasquirt.

I have read stupid amounts of pages on megasquirt and i dont understand a thing. Ive just found out that the trigger wheel is the crank pulley.
I know i need the MS2 with version 3 and MSExtra but thats it. Looking at arcs threads regarding checking for continuity between 2 connetions to check for errors. Its not fair.

So you think i should jump in the deep end and buy the Megasquirt. Is it more obvious with it in front of you? Just dont want to be one of these people stuck with an unfinished project because it costs too much. Dan

Yep.

An alternative would be to get hold of a 1242 16v ecu, virginise it (get the immob stuff removed) and get it remapped.

Ive read in one of the threads that this would work out a similar price though?

Would i still need to cut into/ rewire the loom or does the connection fit? Sorry i havent come across much more info other than saying it is possible?

Dan

It'll probably cost much the same, just thought I'd mention it (it's a favourite ECU of Oldschool).

Don't be worried about cutting harnesses and whatnot -- it's all been done so many times and all the pin-out information (what wire goes where) is out there.

I highly recomend port grind and polish. Don't know if my head was a one off but the casting is horrible.

Thanks

It's the shape that's important -- a clean up won't give you a lot, polishing won't give you anything.

I reached this point with my old NA Cinq, my solution in the end was to sell it and buy something faster

allanhelen said:

I reached this point with my old NA Cinq, my solution in the end was to sell it and buy something faster

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i'd def give that consideration.

if you want to go 1368cc and not use MS, then look in the panda section - it's been done in a classic panda, retaining the 1368cc OE loom, ECU, dash etc

you have a good set up, go on holiday!!

allanhelen said:

I reached this point with my old NA Cinq, my solution in the end was to sell it and buy something faster

Click to expand...

That's what I did too.

Sorry cant sell, wont sell. Have had faster cars but its the surprise element i love. Nobody expects a fast cinq. Have decided to go for 1.4. A year should be plenty to get this completed and should be a very reliable car once completed as i plan to replace all servicable items before fitting. Can see it going over budget but you only live once.


Oh and ill definately make a step by step guide, as at the mo i cant beleve im going to do this. Sure that would make somebody happy.

D4NS said:

Sorry cant sell, wont sell. Have had faster cars but its the surprise element i love. Nobody expects a fast cinq.

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I'm not anti Cento, far from it but there are lots of cars that people don't expect to be fast that make a better starting point and have easier upgrade paths if you want a sleeper project, give it some thought before ploughing a fortune into a cento that you can never hope to get back and ending up with a car that is still slower than a modern day family car.

allanhelen said:

I'm not anti Cento, far from it but there are lots of cars that people don't expect to be fast that make a better starting point and have easier upgrade paths if you want a sleeper project, give it some thought before ploughing a fortune into a cento that you can never hope to get back and ending up with a car that is still slower than a modern day family car.

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Very sound advice IMO. £1500-2000 can get you a belting car as stock.

i cant remember who it was who said this a few years back in a turbo thread IIRC but it was words to the same effect as:-

"if you want a fast cinq then spend the money, if you want a fast car then dont"

All good advise definately and i will consider a different car. Plans will not progress until i dont need the car in a month so have a bit of contemplation to do.

"if you want a fast cinq then spend the money, if you want a fast car then dont"

Fast cinq it is then,

Somewhere J333EVO has posted a pic of Emma driving the 1.4 16v with a huge grin on her face. This should settle all arguments.

I can't find anything I actually like for less than £1500 apart from the odd Sud and 325i turning to iron oxide and a few Alfa 155s with dinged sumps and imminent piston to valve contact. Would I like one as well as a fast Cento? Sure. Would I like one instead of? Nope.

fingers99 said:

Somewhere J333EVO has posted a pic of Emma driving the 1.4 16v with a huge grin on her face. This should settle all arguments.

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Yet both of them own a Jap car each and the Sei is not the daily drive AFAIK.

I think the Sei is a daily driver now, although GTO took over for a while. IIRC, Aaron sold the Toyota -- dunno about the Suzuki. That a household which has an Integrale Evo and a GTO also has 2 Centos certainly indicates something.........