Hi guys looking for some help or insight.

So I have finally got my "ex-racing engine" de-bugged and running in good form but I am hating it!  When I bought this engine (an ex racing engine; 1380cc, twin HS6 carbs, very lumpy cam, ported big valve head, headers, and close ratio gear box) I thought I would have a fire breathing monster that would go by scaring little childern.  This being said I did swap the gearbox out from my standard 998 gearbox as there was a crack in the C/R box that I needed to attend to.  So base comments below on standard 998 gear ratios and 3.44 final drive.

The reality is that I got a very tweaky set-up that has little to no low end grunt (my old 998 might have had more) and once I hit 3k all hell breaks loose with a kick in your ass burst of power.  This is making city driving a bit of a chore (especially from a stop) as the engine struggles up to the 3k rpm limit.

If I am cruising down the street in 4th gear at around 2k RPM and I hit the gas to increase speed I will basically be matting the gas peddle with no increase to either power or RPM (just I would assume burning fuel).  Also when it is struggling in this power band the engine undergoes a bit of a weird oscillation shaking the whole car.

After reading others comments on how fast their 1380 engine upgrades are I still am not that impressed with mine.  On highway I have maxed out (pedal to the floor) at 5500 RPM doing 125km and no more.  I would have expected more even though this is certainly fast enough for a mini.

So now I am asking myself where I go next and where will be my biggest performance gains versus drivability for this engine.  I am thinking a new more broad based cam would help, but how much??  I also would like to replace the dual HS6 setup and go with a single hif6 1-7/5" as per more "standard" setups.  Will this reduce my power?  Also, do you think re-installing the C/R gearbox would help?  The engine seems happy below 6k but I am not sure if I should be pushing it harder 7-8k instead?  My ears might bleed if this is the case.

I certainly appreciate any comments as this re-powering really hasn't provided the joy I thought it would.

Regards Christian in Sarnia