Garth Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Starting to make serious enquiries about upgrading my Sigma 125 to something approaching 200bhp. Have read various posts and will be talking to Jeff Wilson of HWR Motorsport on Phil Morris' recommendation. Also want to go and see the set up at Premier Power. Keen to keep the reliability?! Is there anyone else I should speak to? - am in London, so close by would be good! Also any other suggestions as to what I should do to my car would be great - basically do a few track days a year and enjoy blatting. Have a standard Roadsport with adjustable shocks. Thanks in advance! Edited by - Garth on 5 Feb 2013 22:48:09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martin J Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Here is one that has been upgraded already here seems a fair price for a 09 sigma with that engine I will be interested to hear how you get on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dignity Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Quoting Martin Jeffrey: Here is one that has been upgraded already here seems a fair price for a 09 sigma with that engine I will be interested to hear how you get on. That one belongs to Phil Morris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TobyCoulson Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 Ratrace have a good reputation for that kind of work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 What are your reasons for upgrading? Normally cheaper in the long run to sell yours and buy one with the spec you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Few reasons...Emotional as I built mine and so want to try and keep it. Also jointly owned and other owners will probably not want to buy again as they hardly use the car! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 Martin - I will let you know how I get on. Have spoken to Phil and he is very positive about what he has done - hoping to pay him a visit soon, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 Martin, totally fair enough - just checking you had considered it. I chose not to sell and re-buy for emotional reasons and also because I wanted to do it myself. Gotta do something for entertainment here over the long winter evenings - we don't have a telly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchasey Posted June 15, 2012 Share Posted June 15, 2012 I used Ratrace for my upgrade, based in Potters Bar, worth having a chat to Rob there. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted June 15, 2012 Author Share Posted June 15, 2012 What did Raceline do for you John? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchasey Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 From memory, apologies if I miss anything, but: Ported head Balanced & polished crank new pistons New cams Lightened flywheel 5.25" Race clutch (Superclutch) Verniers Dry sump (plus reworking engine mounts to fit - Pace dry sump bolts to same place where Caterham engine mounts go on the Sigma) New Emerald ECU (also combined with switching to DASH2 and entirely reworked dash which I did myself) I kept the standard Caterham throttle bodies (39mm) which I already had, but likely to switch to Jenveys (42mm) next year. RR at Emerald gives 188bhp In terms of road use with hindsight I wouldn't go for an (as extreme) race clutch, I had to switch to smaller bore hydraulic master cylinder and I moved the pivot point on the clutch pedal in order to avoid stalling all the time. The dry sump you could probably do without if not racing too. (There are lots of race sigmas without dry dumps and I havn't heard of any problems in this area). Plus it could be made to work with the existing MBE I expect rather than switching to Emerald which would save money and keep the loom changes much simpler. Finally it was RatRace rather than RaceLine. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie_pank Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 As on the other similar post about this recently, I recommend starting with the ECU upgrade and a wideband lambda probe. I went with an Emerald and an Innovate LC-1. If you do load of other stuff before the ECU, then you'll not be getting the full advantage of the upgrades you're making, and could actually be damaging stuff. Eg. If you port the head to increase gas-flow then there'll be more air rushing into the cylinder, but the same amount of fuel as before so it'll burn hotter, increasing the risk of detonation and head-gasket problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchasey Posted June 17, 2012 Share Posted June 17, 2012 Also to add post upgrade I have a bunch of Sigma engine parts (dry sump etc) and dash gauges/switches available. If anyone needs anything in this area BM me and I can give you a fuller list. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted June 18, 2012 Author Share Posted June 18, 2012 Thanks for the advice so far - will go for a new appropriate ECU with the upgrade and will probably not worry about a dry sump as I only do a few track days! John - when did you do your upgrade? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jchasey Posted June 18, 2012 Share Posted June 18, 2012 Was finished in March this year. Regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garth Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 HWR just told me my little Sigma 125 is now a Sigma 202 😬with 138 torques(lb/ft) 😬 after his rebuild. Cannot wait to see how it feels to drive! *wink*. Peak power and torque at 7800. Peak power used to be at about 5500 rpm! Lots of oil changes coming up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AMMO Posted February 6, 2013 Share Posted February 6, 2013 Interesting stuff. Jeff Wilson has a good reputation. Never heard a bad word said about him. 190-200 bhp out of a 1600 cc engine should be good fun to drive. My old 1800 Zetec had 189bhp and in retrospect for a general purpose, do everything, car it was the best I had. The obsession with Duratecs made me change, but 190 bhp is the start of the fun zone in Caterhams in my opinion. Look forward to hearing your driving impressions Garth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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