GK Sigma SE Wagon
Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 11:25 pm
Hi All
I first joined Sigma-Galant about 4 (?) years ago, but drifted away when the new forum came along.
But now I'm back, to share what I'm doing.
Nothing spectacular, really - probably a little boring. I'll start with a summary.
I think it was August 2002 that I bought my Sigma Wagon. I don't have any photos of it back then, but after a few years of use and not much love it looked like this:
Not much to look at, really. Skyline rims, lowered suspension and some exhaust. There were also some Konis in there, and twin DCOEs under the bonnet. Handled well, sounded great, good torque, but you wouldn't say that it went hard.
When I moved to Adelaide I thought I'd have to put it through an inspection at Regency Park, so I began by having LOTS of rust removed, a respray, and it looked like this:
Some time later, I tracked down some 16" wheels, and it now looks like this:
I decided to swap the Webers for Magna EFI. Details can be found in the old forum here.
Ironically, I got the rego transferred without a Regency inspection, so I probably didn't need to do the EFI conversion, but it does start easier, run smoother & use less fuel. But it's not exactly a rocket.
After another couple of years of use as a daily driver, and not a lot of attention, I ended up taking it along to a dyno day - primarily because we needed to make up numbers, and partly because I was curious to find out what it's putting out.
Not that much, really.
Worse than I imagined. The power peak at 134km/h in 4th equates to about 4500rpm, and 63 kW is less than a stock TN Magna (I think), so the cam, headwork & exhaust aren't really doing much.
So. This is the kick I needed to sort out a few things. I did nothing to prepare the car for the dyno - only a wash & a vacuum. So this figure is a good indication of what I've been driving to and from work every day.
The car's going back to the dyno again on Wednesday, to play with the ignition timing a little, to see if peak power can be moved a little up the rev range. In the mean time, I'll check the timing (find out if it's where it should be), replace the plugs & air filter and probably the leads too. If I remember, I'll check for error codes.
If it looks like changing the ignition curve will help I'll look into aftermarket ECUs. I'm guessing that the camshaft isn't timed properly, as the head has been decked a few mm (stock bottom end with tired rings is producing 180 - 190 psi on WOT compression test.) The timing chain is getting noisey again too, so the timing cover should come off, at which time I'll eliminate the balance shafts.
And I'll post results as I go.
I first joined Sigma-Galant about 4 (?) years ago, but drifted away when the new forum came along.
But now I'm back, to share what I'm doing.
Nothing spectacular, really - probably a little boring. I'll start with a summary.
I think it was August 2002 that I bought my Sigma Wagon. I don't have any photos of it back then, but after a few years of use and not much love it looked like this:
Not much to look at, really. Skyline rims, lowered suspension and some exhaust. There were also some Konis in there, and twin DCOEs under the bonnet. Handled well, sounded great, good torque, but you wouldn't say that it went hard.
When I moved to Adelaide I thought I'd have to put it through an inspection at Regency Park, so I began by having LOTS of rust removed, a respray, and it looked like this:
Some time later, I tracked down some 16" wheels, and it now looks like this:
I decided to swap the Webers for Magna EFI. Details can be found in the old forum here.
Ironically, I got the rego transferred without a Regency inspection, so I probably didn't need to do the EFI conversion, but it does start easier, run smoother & use less fuel. But it's not exactly a rocket.
After another couple of years of use as a daily driver, and not a lot of attention, I ended up taking it along to a dyno day - primarily because we needed to make up numbers, and partly because I was curious to find out what it's putting out.
Not that much, really.
Worse than I imagined. The power peak at 134km/h in 4th equates to about 4500rpm, and 63 kW is less than a stock TN Magna (I think), so the cam, headwork & exhaust aren't really doing much.
So. This is the kick I needed to sort out a few things. I did nothing to prepare the car for the dyno - only a wash & a vacuum. So this figure is a good indication of what I've been driving to and from work every day.
The car's going back to the dyno again on Wednesday, to play with the ignition timing a little, to see if peak power can be moved a little up the rev range. In the mean time, I'll check the timing (find out if it's where it should be), replace the plugs & air filter and probably the leads too. If I remember, I'll check for error codes.
If it looks like changing the ignition curve will help I'll look into aftermarket ECUs. I'm guessing that the camshaft isn't timed properly, as the head has been decked a few mm (stock bottom end with tired rings is producing 180 - 190 psi on WOT compression test.) The timing chain is getting noisey again too, so the timing cover should come off, at which time I'll eliminate the balance shafts.
And I'll post results as I go.