There are few factors to why you might feel you are missing that something special from this car, vs your older Mini. These cars are a lot heavier, have rubber mounted subframes and big, heavy wheels/tires. Right off the bat, those things are going to make for a "different" experience. So, 75hp in an older car is going to feel A LOT quicker. As a means to make these car a bit more civilized, they fitted the tallest final drive in any Mini. Gives them less revs on the motorway but really hurts them on B-roads. I mention the rubber mounted subframe as I have heard that this made a huge difference to the way the car felt, adding another level that dampened that amazing connection Minis have to the road.
As for the motor, they are right. With the fuel injected cars, 85hp is about all you can expect if sticking with the original injection fueling/ECU. The ECU can not handle any fueling above that. They're a few work arounds but they are really just that. Upping the fuel pressure might give you a bit more HP at the very top but could hurt you down low. Tuning is a series of compromises really. You always will have to give up something (other than money, of course. ha) to see gains. MPG, noise levels, reliability, etc.
So, with all that, the single biggest thing you can do to these cars is a properly sorted cylinder head. That should be top on the list for sure. The rest will add bits here and there, but mostly to the way the power comes in. You want to make use you are picking parts that are meant to work with the MPI motor though, especially the cam. It's not worth going too hot as the ECU can only handle so much. MED sells some nice stuff though. I would recommend going with their 1.3 rockers over the 1.5s, especially with the cam. They claim the stock rockers are 1.3 but most test show they are usually less. The 1.3 with a cam would be great. The 1.5s are just torturing metal and you will not see/feel any gains on the road vs the stress it puts on components.
The final drive will go a long way to give this car more pep. Originally, Minis had a 3.44 final. I nearly went that route but I ended up keeping the SPI FD drive as I feel it offers a great middle of the road. The X-dif is a nice option to ensure strength and durability and makes sense while you are in there.
To do the above, the motor will have to come up. The cam dictates that really. It is also the reason the John Coopers Garage Si cars did not have one in the standard kit and they put a set of 1.5 rockers in. Meant the motor could stay in the car. But, since you have the motor out, there are a LOT of other things you should be looking at. How is the gearbox? Any oil leaks? How many miles are on everything. Anything you want to do while you have it out that you don't want to have to pull the motor out again. It's a slippery slope, of course. Just me, I know!! ha. MED's lightened flywheels are wonderful and could be something to help get the motor to spin up just a bit faster.
Lost to think about but your list above has nearly all the right parts. I am running variations of the above on my SPi. Added to the above is the lighted flywheel and clutch plate, Maniflow LCB injection header, Maniflow twin box system. no cat (doest add any power), K&N drop in filter, and a fully adjustable alloy timing gear set as you really need to dial the cam in to exactly what the manufacture lists its angle be.
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