Tuning my 1400 turbo engine for my X - post also under uno section

I recently purchased a mk2 Uno Turbo from Avanti Motorsport in standard form with a completely rebuilt engine and turbo. I am breaking the car as the engine is a conversion for my X1/9 that already has its suspension and wheels uprated - I think its going to make a nice car.

Upon purchasing the Uno I decided to MOT the car (it hasn’t been on the road for a few years so needed some welding and brake work etc) to run the engine in gently and get to know the car. I have since put over 1000 miles on the clock using it as my daily driver for work.

I now want to get a bit more bhp out of it and since it’s a nice new lump I want to do it without damaging its reliability. Frank from avanti tried to see if a chip was available from Italy that alters the ignition timing and fuelling when the boost is turned up, but it was no longer available. He said it was essential to avoid melting pistons from a weak mixture with a boost set to 1 bar.

A guy up the road from me has an X1/9 with a 1400 turbo in and he said that he had to get an aftermarket ECU in order to get it tuned safely. However I have since contacted unichip and they informed me of the following:

Thank you for your interest in the Dastek Unichip, which is indeed compatible with your car.
As for power gains it is very hard to say as no two petrol engine are the same. If you want a rough guide then For a Turbo depending on how much you can turn the boost up by you should see a gain of 15-20% more power but a massive increase in torque.
I've taken the liberty of pasting in a semi-standard response, which may help you to learn more about the Unichip & its lesser known functions.
As you are probably already aware the Unichip is a piggy back computer, that works in harmony with your standard ECU, it is mapped specifically to your car, and allows the operator to program it exactly to suit the thousands of differences from one car to next, that pre-programmed chips can't take into account, such as cam timing, manufacturing tolerances, different fuel qualities and pressures, and any aftermarket components.
Therefore we don't really go in for saying what power increase you will get, instead what we do promise is that at full throttle you will have the maximum power available safely, and at part throttle the car will be as economical as possible. At the end of the day, all any chip or engine management system is doing is to provide the correct amount of fuel in relationship to the amount of air being consumed, and ignite it at the correct time, so provided that they are equally accurate, they should all come out with the same result, providing they are mapped to the individual engine in question by a competent tuner on an accurate dyno.
This is where the Unichip wins, as they are not for sale pre-programmed, but mapped to each car by a skilled tuner on a dynamometer, we don't supply Unichips to anyone who doesn't own their own dyno. If at any time in the future, any changes are made i.e. cams, headwork etc. simply pop back into any authorised Unichip dealer, where the Unichip can be remapped to suit.
The Unichip offers more than just timing and fuel adjustments, we can do more than most sub £1000 race ecu's (this is ECU only, not including mapping costs!), such as launch control, shift lights, variable cam control, full throttle gear changes, nitrous control, ignition correction when nitrous is activated, etc..
The UNICHIP can be used for the following functions:

Alter ignition timing in a 3D map down to 0.1degree resolution.
Alter fuel mixture in a 3D map by +-50%.
Control variable valve timing.
Control variable induction systems.
Control turbo wastegate solenoid systems.
Record maximum boost pressure.
Record maximum RPM.
Water injection control.
Nitrous oxide control.
Automatic secondary map when water or nitrous is active.
Automatic switch back to primary map when water or nitrous is low or de-activated
Road speed governor delimiting.
Calibration of electronic speedometers.
Conversion of electronic speedometers from KMH to MPH.
Drive additional fuel injectors, with variable blend control.
Launch control.
Full throttle gear changes.
Idle speed stabilization.
Conversion to individual throttle bodies on certain cars.
Conversion of mechanical injection systems to full 3D fuel & ignition control.
Conversion from flap type Air Flow meters to less restrictive Hot Film meters.
Multiple maps to suit different fuels.
Shift lights
Alter or implement rev limits
Alter or implement boost limits.

So guys, can anyone out there with some knowledge on the subject point me in the right direction? Once in the X19, the engine will be charged cooled due to restricted airflow. I have a Pipercross induction kit that will be facing one vent and the oil cooler will be facing the other. I want to achieve around the 150 – 170 bhp mark. Many thanks

Rob Warren–

Julian if you read this I saw your turbo exxie when you were loading it off the trailer at the NEC some years back – Very nice and sounded great

Ironically that was one of the last times that engine ran in my car (I still have the engine though)! The car was totalled at Cadwell Park a few races later and just after I got the cooling fully sorted too....

Tuning these engines is both simple and difficult. Simple in that you don't have to do much to them, difficult to get right.

First of all you need to have the block checked for straightness - from experience over 50% are distorted and if that is the case no amount of tuning is ever going to release much power.

Second you need some head work - classic NA porting with enlarged inlet valves (leave the exhaust alone). With this done you will get more power at the same boost level and that means you are not creating a heating problem for yourself and in an X1/9 that is critical.

You'll need a good camshaft too - stock is pretty good to start with but you need one with more overlap and lift to really get what you want. I strongly recommend contacting wolf direct racing for this as they have developed some exceptional cam profiles for my car in the last three years (plus I might get some royalties on it as technically I am part owner of the profile design).

You'll need a decent intercooler and air flow through it (tricky in an X1/9). I used a Delta HF Turbo standard item for a long time but even that is a bit small. The airflow is the critical bit, you have to find lots of it!

Oil cooler needs to be bigger than standard as you have restricted airflow (unless you can find lots more as above).

The side vents need opening up as much as possible to help - if you retain the standard plastic scoops you should remove the vertical part of the lattice and retain the horizontal part to maximise flow. You'll need to ensure the ducting behind them is clean too - as standard it is very mickey mouse and you can do an awful lot better!

The Mk2 turbo is pretty good and should be fine for your purposes so no real need to mess there. The injectors should also be able to cope with your needs.

The engine management is your big headache. Two years ago I would have said invest in a DTA ECU but their new design is proving unpopular and problematic so I would say go with an Omex who have completely reversed their problems and now have one of the easiest to work with systems that is both reliable and fully featured.

The important thing is that as soon as you step outside of standard equipment and hardware the stock ECU will suffer and "premapped" chips can't cope. From personal experience you do not want to burn the engine out - it cost me a small forture while I had my old car with rebuilds after every race because nothing seemed to work quite right.

I won't make any predictions about power from such an engine, if you stick to the standard rev limit and utilise the fantastic boost response on such an engine you'll find it very satisfactory on the road and it makes for an exceptionally quick car.