i have seen this induction kit on ebay. it claims its for the 1.1 mpi sporting that will give the car 5-10 xtra bhp for £39.99 with 12.99 p&p. Is this real or another ebay rip off like those 20bhp mod chips on there?

shall i scour ebay or perhaps post a link?

Hello mate !
I have seen the one you mean on ebay (it has a polished alloy intake pipe and a cone filter?)
The kit itself looks to be quite good value for money for what you get - the elbow into the TB, the alloy pipe with breather hose take off and, of course, the filter itself (although I can't comment on the quality of the filtration material used as I've not seen it in the flesh but it looks like a cotton one similar to K&N and GREEN.)
On the power gains it claims, there is no way it will give 5-10 bhp on a Seicento engine. That would be about a 15% gain over standard and to expect any kind of 'bolt on' engine tuning part to give a 15% increase on its own is stretching it a bit!
I've been modifying my cars for 15 years and have designed and built a number of induction systems on various different cars and there are 2 elements to a good induction system - 1) increasing the flow and volume of air. and 2) keeping it as cold as posible.
This ebay kit only performs the first function - it has no cold air supply and is an 'open' system which will draw in hot air from the engine bay (and let's be honest Cinq / Sei engines are not the coolest running due to the size of the bay etc..) Simply increasing the flow rate and not reducing the temperature of the intake air can negate any horsepower gains you might have made.
My advice would be to either look at a 'sealed' induction system (all the top-of-the-range systems from Pipercross, Quikshift, BMC, K&N etc.. all used some kind of 'sealed' system but are expensive).
The alternative would be to get the ebay system but think about a way of, at the very least, ducting some cold air to the filter and placing some sort of shield between it and sources of high heat like the exhaust manifold.
If you have a look at my gallery page you will see the 'Quikshift Racing' system I have is entirely sealed from the engine bay and has a large intake duct taking up the whole of the passenger side grill which collects the air hitting the front of the car and forces it directly into the airbox under pressure creating a 'ram' effect. (I was thinking about doing a guide on induction systems for the forum in the future so I won't go into any more detail now).
The performance gains I have with my set up are amazing.
Sorry for the long reply, but to sum up - on the face of it, the value for money aspect looks good but the system in 'incomplete'.
Hope some of this helped.

rossoschumi said:

My advice would be to either look at a 'sealed' induction system (all the top-of-the-range systems from Pipercross, Quikshift, BMC, K&N etc.. all used

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K+N no good for the cento

GSR for the MPI

I would agree that the standard K&N 57i is no good due to the positioning of it but their 'Apollo' universal closed system looks good but it's expensive and obviously doesn't include an intake tube or elbow connector into the TB because it's not car specific.
This ebay seller's shop has loads of kits and induction parts (tubing, elbows, connectors etc..) so you could select parts and build your own system if you wanted, also I heard that the Ford Focus kit fits but don't quote me on that. I got my 90 degree elbow into the TB from this seller.

Focus kit has been done on the sei so you would be correct in assuming that, however i think it was very similar situation with the K+N as the posistioning wasnt the best

I bought one but cannot fit it without modification due having ABS.
Good value for the money and works in exactly the same principle as the proven GSR kit.
The filter is near the front of the car but could do with a 'cold air' feed to it.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/01-04-FIAT-SE...1588223QQihZ007QQcategoryZ36680QQcmdZViewItem

^^^^ that is the focus one IIRC

I'm interested in how it performs so if someone is local then they can have mine to try out and if they like it buy it.

The focus kit sits in almost exactly the same position as my GSR induction kit just with the cone turned 90 deg. It's not the best place for it but it works quite well, I really noticed how much less torque I had when I took it off my Cinq.

To be honest, All the air filters do the same. I've not used one, I'm goin uprated panel filter myself BUT! I know people who've bought the cheapo ones from Ebay and they do the job! Might be different for the Cento, But Dirty Micras are where my knowledge is atm!

If you know someone with a pipe bender, Make your own kit!! Modification is all about bein origional!

Chris

K&N's that sit directly on the throttle body work very well when raised up enough to go through a hole in the bonnet.
Not too good when it rains though..

Nothing wrong with the K&N filter it's self, it's more it's sucking in air that recently just came through the rad then over the exhaust manifold. This is why on rolling road runs you often won't see a performence impact, as runs are done bonnet up to aid cooling the filter can suck in relitivly cool air.

the kit on ebay which is labeled for the MPI is exactly the same as the focus kit. i recon someone read this forum and saw the thread on the focus kit and reselling it.

Great idea cc1 !!
One of those stubby K&N cones directly on the throttle body with a Scooby Impreza style air scoop on the bonnet directly over it would be very effective system, but like you say, it would let a lot of water into the engine bay .

Thanks for all your help guys I think i might avoid that one on ebay after what you guys have said. Not too sure though...see the thing is all i really want one for is so it makes a noticable difference when im driving it. I'm not that bothered about getting the absolute most bhp gain out of it etc, i just want it to make the car faster so i can actually overtake other cars on the road, oh and to stop my engine sounding like a diesel lol

I cant really spend more than £50-£70 on an air filter/induction as im on a tight budget at the moment

You can pick the focus kit up for less than that, just search for a focus kit and youll find it for under 30 quid delivered.

I've just had another look at the ebay kit from seller 'tuningpartsbay' and they actually do 2 systems - a specific one for the Mpi with a cotton cone filter and also a cinq/sei system with a blue 'mushroom' foam filter. Both are the same price, so you choose which you like best.
I still think that they are both good value for money (as they have a breather hose attachment and tubing included, so you do don't have to buy these seperately or get a breather filter), and as your budget is only £50-70 you could get either and still have some change. I would then advise using this change to get a decent diameter flexible alloy tubing for a cold air supply from your front bumper up the filter - Surprisingly, Halfrauds do a good quality alloy flexi tube in their Ripspeed range for £7.99. I have got these and they are a good, strong, well made bit of kit.
If you do decide to buy from this ebay seller, as I said in a previous post, I bought my throttle body elbow from him and can vouch for the quality and delivery speed etc..

Sonic74205 said:

I'm not that bothered about getting the absolute most bhp gain out of it etc, i just want it to make the car faster so i can actually overtake other cars on the road

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Isnt this technically wanting the same thing???

lol, i guess. what i meant was i wasnt that interested in hardcore tuning. just something to make every day driving better