Welcome to the Step-By-Step Tuning Guide. The information on this page has been given to me by Simon and Bruce Denton. They both own (or have owned) Cinqs, and have both been involved in modifications. The information provided below, is the result of plenty of hard work and experience.
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This information comes from hands-on experience tuning the Cinq. Sporting. The opinions are just that - opinions from trial & error tests and modifications. The recommendations are products used and this doesn't mean that the other parts are therefore unworthy of gracing your pride and joy, there is no connection to any companies or anything of that sort, just pure advice from Cinq. fans who have been there and fitted that!! Additionally, what follows below is restricted to "bolt-on" goodies, the vast majority of which can be fitted yourself.
However, when tuning this little pocket rocket you need to keep certain things in mind. Firstly, many manufacturers claims as regards the benefit of their particular item can often be somewhat of an over-estimate. Also, the car has a 1.1 engine with 54 bhp as standard so massive gains are not really that accessible especially as it is naturally aspirated. The steps below are meant as a guide with a few helpful hints that have been discovered by 'giving it a go.' Likewise, it is good to keep in mind that although the gains may sound small these can be noticed out on the road.
STEP 1
Even the most biased Cinq. Sporting owner will have to concede and acknowledge that when accelerating hard in either 2nd or 3rd gear, there is a distinct flat spot at around 3000 rpm mark or just over. This can be particularly frustrating as this is when the power is just coming on tap. So what can be done about this?
The answer is the first step in engine modification. Even if you were to make only one change this is the one to go for. Yes, an air filter swap. There are 3 routes you can take and they will depend on budget, look, performance and the future mod's you may be considering.
The easiest and cheapest is a straightforward swap of the air filter element, housed within the original air box.
A rough guide in price for these items would be the £30. mark. The variety of manufacturers making these filters is massive, the most popular being the likes of K&N and Jetex. The benefits of these filters is threefold. First up is the fact that they do not need to be constantly replaced, just cleaned around every 50k and then re-used. This saves money in the long term. Another benefit is the elimination of that flat spot spoken of. Yes a smoother, free revving engine! Finally a small power gain will be added, somewhere around 1 or 2 bhp, not a lot but it all helps. All this for 5 minutes fitting, just 3 clips to undo!
The next option would be that of an air box replacement or modification. This will release slightly more power than the previous option but not as much as the following one. A replacement air box can be purchased from people such as Novitec and both look good and because they are combined with a replacement element as mentioned above can improve breathing further. However, these can be somewhat expensive, often costing around £100.
The alternative would be to modify your original air box. The simplest route being drilling holes on the air intake side and combining this with a replacement panel filter will have a similar effect. However this hasn't been tried by ourselves on the Cinq. but it has proved successful on other cars. You could also just undo the rubber sleeve attached to the front of the air box allowing cold air into the filter. This works very well and you can easily clip it back if Winter dictates the need for warmer air. The reason being, cold air is denser than hot, therefore increasing power. All of the above only change the engines soundtrack very slightly.
Your 3rd option when it comes to the air intake involves doing away with the air box assembly altogether. Replacing it with a cone type filter and using a flexible hose to direct cold air from the behind the front bumper onto the filter. This gives a lovely roar under hard acceleration and supplies the greatest power gain, at around 3 - 5 bhp. Kits can be purchased from K&N at around £50. or from Green for the sum of £75. The downside is that these are not always recommended with certain other mod's so read on if you plan other tuning upgrades.
STEP 2
Now you have the air flowing into the engine faster you will want to get rid of it quicker too. This requires a freerer flowing exhaust. This is often a tricky subject as there are two very distinct negative areas. One such area is that there are many large power gains quoted for exhausts, however, in reality the majority (which are a half system, running from a split that sits around the back seats) give a fairly small gain of 2 or 3 horsepower. The other area is that of noise. Some are very loud with Peco and Ashley springing to mind. Quieter exhausts are that of the Ansa and Supersprint. With so many on the market often it is a case of choosing a tailpipe design you like. The options are single round, twin round and DTM to name but a few. Check if you either have or will be fitting bodykit as cutting the bumper may be needed for some tailpipes, others may not even fit. Prices range from £100 - £250. At the lower end of this price range the Ansa is excellent value compared to the alternatives at this price, it costs just £5. more than the Ashley item yet will last much longer.
STEP 3
A chip is the next step, enhancing the fuelling and giving a quicker throttle response. The 2 main players in this area are BBR, who make the Starchip and then there is Superchip's. The Starchip costs a mere £125. and is of DIY fitment, this is not as bad as it sounds, with a basic knowledge it can be done. The manufacturers of this chip, BBR, recommend that you stick to a performance panel filter and the standard air box rather than an induction kit for the chip to work at it's best.
A Superchip will work just fine with an induction kit however and has to fitted for you, the fitting cost is included it's £225 price tag. So, what sort of power do these give? Well, both increase throttle response but the Superchip is far more noticeably in this regard. BBR claim a 7 bhp gain for their chip. While Superchip's are more conservative with a claim of 5 bhp, however some have seen gains nearer 10 bhp, so an average of around 7 bhp can be expected.
STEP 4
With all the above fitted you may want just a little more pep and plugs are great for doing this. You may feel it is worthwhile looking at some plug leads at the same time, however these can be mighty expensive for what they are. The SplitFire offering can cost up to £50 for a set and only give a small / hardly evident gain at the top end. However, if you are not going to fit a chip but have already gone down the air filter and exhaust route, plugs and plug leads may be the only way for you to go.
Plugs, though, are a different matter. The most power supplying are the original SplitFires giving a power gain in the region of 1 - 3 bhp. The downside is that when coupled with a Superchip the power delivery becomes very erratic. The better option in this instance would be to opt for the less powerful but smoother Bosch Super 4 plugs, they cost just under £20. Compared to nearly £30. They also still add to the power, although only by about 1 bhp.
Summary
The following combination of Superchip, K&N 57i induction kit, Bosch Super 4 plugs and Supersprint exhaust hoisted power output (rolling road tested) from 54 to 67 bhp with torque (pulling power) 63lb ft to 79 lb ft. The overall feeling of the whole car reflected this improvement.
This has been obviously about engine tuning and can truly enhance your Cinq. Sporting. Of course, to get an even greater benefit a set of lowering springs will give you even more access to the additional power, etc. Once you have gone this far you are likely to be so hooked on tuning you'll no doubt have a certain end target in mind, with strong ideas of what you want to achieve. Just remember - Enjoy it!
