Garth

Hi Phil - may be a silly question - but new to thinking about upgrades - what sort of reliability would you expect from the sort of upgrade you are doing? I have enjoyed my sigma 125 for a year now, and am confident that when I go to start it it will do just that! Some of the threads I have read about upgrades seem to be full of issues that need to be continually sorted out? What made you stick with the Sigma rather than upgrading to a Duratec? Cheers Garth

When I fitted mine some of the holes did not line up correctly when it was in what looked like the correct position - I just re-drilled the holes that did not fit!?

Sounds impressive Phil. Does the dyno give you a torque output? Did you go for the light flywheel?

Have got a similar leak on my Sigma 125 with 5 speed box 1 year old - self build. CC's first response was to add some sealant around the gearbox/bell housing joint. When I queried this suggesting it would not sort out the real problem, their second response was to suggest getting it out over the winter and they will sort the leak out! Interesting comments about the cause here - will be quizzing them closely when the time comes!Feel rather aggrieved that I am going to have to spend a lot of time (or money!) sorting out something that is not my fault??

Look forward to see how you get on Phil

Car been with VW for a couple of days and they can find 'no fault' which I am not surprised about given my previous experience with them. Warranty runs out in 4 weeks. Have written to them about the problem so it is on record! Anything else I could do at this stage?? Cheers

It is booked in! The trick is going to be getting VW to accept there is a problem. It took 2 years of fighting with Audi before they accepted there was a problem with the multitronic gearbox on our A6! thanks for the comments Edited by - Garth on 27 May 2011 11:42:44

Thanks for the responses - it is a diesel - not sure what a dual mass flywheel is, but I guess I am about to find out!

Drove my wife's EOS today and the clutch was 'juddery' on take off (no discernible shudder between other gears), but after a few miles and gear changes the shuddering disappeared. Still under warranty so would want to get VW to look at it - any ideas what might be causing it? 15,000 miles and almost 3 years old Thanks

Not necessarily! My speed compared to my satnav varies by about 5% whereas my odometer readings vary about 40%! Am still trying to figure it all out. One year old standard gear on a Sigma 125

Mr Sigmasmith...I did exactly the same thing as Mike recently - R400 all aluminium with welded joints (not crimped like standard one) needed new fan and fan mounts and swapped over easily. Bit more tricky to bleed as no auto bleed, but it has been great - bigger radiator means fan does not kick in as often as it used to! good luck Garth Edited by - Garth on 18 May 2011 16:28:59

Noises are generally there to stay - try and identify what they are and as suggested only worry when you hear new ones!! Keep an eye on the gauges - my new radiator developed a leak and I was lucky to spot the rise in temperature before it got critical! Not sure what sort of vibrations you are getting - I had all my wheels re-balanced by a good tyre shop (3 of my wheels - supplied by CC) were way out of balance! - It transformed the drive and I can now see what is in my mirrors!

I recently got 30 mpg doing a reasonably steady 70 on the motorways in my Sigma 125. Was a little disappointed, but did not think this was too bad until I saw Martin's blog - was going to suggest Martin checked his figures again! As has been said on this thread - not worried as the thrills are worth it - just useful to have a rough idea of how far one can travel between fill ups!

I have no idea how the Steves access the software - a deal with CC? MBE is not a CC product it is an 'aftermarket' product, so I am not sure how CC would lock them down? I will ask the Steves!

I suspect it does, but the rolling road is a bit more tricky to sort out! Not to mention the years of experience the Two Steves have! How long would it take for a novice to get to grips with mapping even vaguely well?

Had the 'Two Steves' map my Sigma 125 yesterday. Was 'hugely' educational (and noisy!). I think it was well worth the cost. Car feels much nore lively and smooth - has lost a bit of the 'backfiring' under deceleration that I quite liked the sound of though! They have also managed - somehow - to give me slighly quicker throttle response from idle - it just feel great and better. It was interesting to see the standard map compared to the bespoke one they produced - initial 'power run' showed the power down a couple of BHP, the final power run on the revised map hit the quoted BHP of 125! Have not checked the quoted torque figures yet, but the final run showed slightly higher figures as well. The biggest change was in the fuel air mix figures, initial runs showed these varying hugely, the final run a much more consistent mix throughout the range! Thanks for the tip about hobnobs - they went down well as did the fig rolls that the chap with the appointment after me brought! The Steves said that the final drive ratio on my diff was far to long and that I would not get the most out of the car (acceleration or top speed) with the existing diff ratios - I will do a blatchat search about this soon - need to try and get my head around it!

I checked my odometer out this weekend after seeing this post and it is also under reading by a significant amount! Read 79 miles for a round trip to Goodwood which is 55 miles away and I took a few detours! Speed indication is about right. Has anyone spoken to CC about this? Good for the insurance I guess but not for the mpg calculations!? I am at the factory on Friday to swap over my exhaust - I will speak to them about it then. Edited by - Garth on 8 Mar 2011 20:13:42

Andy (?) I have sent you an e-mail. I have a copy of the CC pdf with the codes for different wheels I could forward to you - may be of some use? Garth

Toby - glad to hear your new radiator has now been fitted. I took my 7 for a blast down to Goodwood on Sunday and my new R400 rad is holding up very nicely and no leaks anywhere - at the moment - definetly runs a little cooler and the fan is does not kick in as much in traffic - hope your Radtec does the trick!

I think the rear brakes on my new build were not entirely new, it looked like the 'bodies' were reconditioned and reprayed (spring was badly sprayed!) - all the other bits I could see looked new! I assumed all the working parts/seals etc were new. I did not question it at the time! From memory I think all the bits are meant to be new - can one consider a completely re-conditioned unit to be new? I would have a chat to Caterham.

Just had my relatively new CR500 (1000 miles on the clock - CC supplied and 'balanced') balanced by a good local tyre shop - they were all out of balance, the worst by 50 grammes! Much more comfortable at speed now. Machine had a central spigot.

Rattie - will look into whether or not I can do the 19th - may not be able to get away with two track days in one month! Steve G has said that they can map my MBE ECU

Martin thanks for your helpful comments - I think I will go for a re-map. Will let you know what I think! I am keen to find out what effect it does have on the car and also just want to know that I am getting the best possible performance out of the engine. I think it runs quite well now, but I do not have anything to compare it to!? I was a little disappointed recently when I tried to see how fast it would go and It just got to about 101 on a long very slight downhill! It was shaking like crazy too! I have subsequently had the wheels balanced - 15" CR500 from CC and they were out by a fair amount so I am hoping that will help with smoothness - also need to check how the top speed has been effected by the change in wheel diameter! So much I do not understand! Garth

Thanks for all the advice guys - have fitted the new R400 rad - the small pipe outlet on the old radiator is so that the system will self bleed - not essential so just meant I had to adapt the plumbing slightly and bleed the new rad manually when I was filling the system. Car runs noticeably cooler with the larger radiator - hope this will not be a problem!?

I was wondering if you would get a power output reading before the mapping change and after to see what the difference - if any was. I am really more interested in the 'drivability'! Just want to try and get the best out of what I have!