Tuning Getting more power and torgue out of the 100hp

[DaveMcT]

Way back in the 1970s, David Vizard was getting 100 bhp from the Austin Mini A Series 1275 engine running twin SU carburettors. His single carb version was not far behind. Not bad for a five port iron engine with fat road cam and performance exhaust. With are cams he was getting 120bhp though that was pretty much unusable on the road.

The 100HP with twin cams and crossflow head should be capable of considerably more power. It will need different cams, fancy exhaust and a non standard ECU but there's no way it should cost £10,000.

 

[koalar]

Way back in the 1970s, David Vizard was getting 100 bhp from the Austin Mini A Series 1275 engine running twin SU carburettors. His single carb version was not far behind. Not bad for a five port iron engine with fat road cam and performance exhaust. With are cams he was getting 120bhp though that was pretty much unusable on the road.

Only @ 7500 rpm plus
And undrivable below 3000 rpm.

The 100HP with twin cams and crossflow head should be capable of considerably more power. It will need different cams, fancy exhaust and a non standard ECU but there's no way it should cost £10,000.

Apples and pears

A series 1275 was available

from 42 hp (31 kW) at 5250 rpm
To 77 hp (57 kW) at 5800 rpm

So if you start at the basic you can bolt on cheap parts and nearly double the BHP

Where as bespoke fast road cams for the Fiat FIRE 16V cost £800 and rolling road £200 assuming the 100HP is re-mappable some Fiat ECUs are locked.

Depending how far you want to go engine rebuild with forged parts, balanced and turbo are seeing over 320HP on the rolling road

I posted some rolling road figures awhile back for the 1.2 with a racing exhaust manifold over the top of a standard exhaust and the gains were very small, same rolling road, same day and the gains were only at the top end. The exhaust IMO isn’t a bottle neck until you substantially increase the power

 

[porta]

For performance camshafts for the P100hp try https://www.gazzellaracing.com/cart.php?target=category&category_id=1788
The usual air induction and exhaust mods seem to be for making noise and have negligible effects unless doing all the mods you can throw at the car…and, as previously mentioned, the ecu is a bugger to get into (software wise) so current remapping involves either piggybacking off the existing or sending to Italy to be done properly…

 

[porta]

This company claim to do remaps rather than piggybacking…there seems to be a higher percentage of remaps and chipping companies in Yorkshire, I know it’s the best county by far, but are fiats closer to god?

https://hyperchips.co.uk/fiat-ecu-remapping-chip-tuning/

 

[DaveMcT]

In the old days the map chip was replaced. I had it done on a 1997 VW TDI. The 100HP ECU cannot be remapped but it might be possible to replace the map chip. Not a cheap fix and a big chance of bricking it and an even bigger chance it won’t make much difference.
By the way an Austin 1275 is a four banger engine. The Fiat 1400 is just a more modern version of the same thing. Having 16 valves, it should be capable of at least 120 bhp without major mods. Cams and exhaust should be enough. The restrictions will be electronic.