Caterham Sigma Engine Upgrade
Caterham Sigma Engine Upgrade
Guide to performance tuning the Duratec engine from Ford
"Thanks for reading my Ford Duratec Tuning tips."
Tuning the Ford Duratec and best Duratec performance parts.
The Duratec was born. A solid flexible range of 4 5 and 6 cylinder engines with inline and V configuration units among the lineup.
Originally the V6 Duratec engine was a collaboration between Ford and Porsche.
It was offered on many different setups and states of tune, proving the flexibility and solidity of the original block design.
We consider Duratec tuning and highlight the ultimate upgrades. Ford Duratecs make awesome project cars and with the right uprated modifications you can greatly improve your driving enjoyment.
History, Power & Specs of the Duratec Engine
- Duratec 8v 60 PS Kent (Endura-E)
1.3 L OHV i4 1995–present - Duratec 8v 70 PS Ford Sigma engine (Zetec RoCam)
1.3 L SOHC i4 2000–2014
1.6 L - Duratec Ford Sigma engine
1.25 L 2002–present
1.4 L
1.6 L - Duratec Ti-VCT Ford Sigma engine 1.5 L 2013–present
- Duratec Ti-VCT Ford Sigma engine 1.6 L 2004–present
- Duratec-ST Ford Zeta engine DOHC i4 1998–2004
- Duratec RS Volvo Modular engine 2.5 L turbocharged DOHC I5 2003–2010
- Duratec Mazda L engine
1.8 L DOHC i4 2001–present
2.0 L
2.3 L
2.5 L - Duratec SCi Mazda L engine
1.8 L DOHC GDI I4 Ti-VCT 2003–2007 - Duratec-HE 1.8 L
- Duratec FFV Mazda L engine 2.0 L DOHC i4 2005–present
- Duratec-HE Ti-VCT Mazda L engine 2.0 L DOHC GDI i4 2010–present
- Duratec V6/VE/25 Ford Duratec V6 engine 2.5 L DOHC V6 1993–2002
- Duratec 30 Ford Duratec V6 engine 3.0 L DOHC V6 1996–2012
- Duratec 33 Ford Cyclone V6 Engine 3.3 L DOHC V6 2018–present
- Duratec 35 Ford Cyclone V6 Engine 3.5 L DOHC V6 2006–present
- Duratec 37 Ford Cyclone V6 Engine 3.7 L DOHC V6 2008–present
Best Duratec mods
The best tuning mods on an engine are in our opinion the ones that give the best value for money.
We won't be swayed by popular Duratec tuning mods, they need to be cost effective.
The camshaft profile plays a big part in the engines power output so camshaft upgrades make quite a large difference. The intake and exhaust durations will alter depending on the chosen camshaft profile, so large bhp gains are on offer for camshaft upgrades.
As the Duratec is an OHC design, the camshaft directly. Focus more on lift than duration on the Duratec engine for maximising your power mods, modern fuel injection systems can deliver a precisely measured amount of fuel and time the ignition spot on.
Fast road camshafts usually increase the bhp and torque across the rev band, you might lose a little low end power but your high end rpm power will be better.
Motorsport camshafts, increase the high end rpm power band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.
On a car driven daily you need to optimize your power band to your cars usage.
I'd be surprised if you find a Race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when driving around busy urban areas. This is because a competition cam causes a very lumpy idle, and makes the car more prone to stall or jerk along in stop start traffic, sadly though many ignore this and end up ruining a perfectly good car and having to revert back to a fast road, or OEM cam profile.
Some Duratec engines respond better to mild camshaft durations with higher lift, thanks to the large port sizes, but we suggest you set your engine up on a rolling road tweaking the camprofile and mapping to suit your requirements.
Duratec power limits for a 2.0 liter unit seems to be around 235bhp whereat you should strengthen the pistons rods and possible even the already strong crank. The 1.8 liter units, need stronger parts around the 200bhp mark.
The ecu map and fuelling also will make differences on the torque gains you'll achieve.
A longer valve duration can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations but on the Duratec units, focus on lift, to get as much work out of those valves as possible.
Typical stage 1 mods often include:Intake headers, Fast road camshaft, drilled & smoothed airbox, Panel air filters, Sports exhaust manifold, Remaps/piggy back ECU.
Typical stage 2 mods often include:induction kit, Fast road cam, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, high flow fuel injectors, Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades.
Typical stage 3 mods often include:Competition cam, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions.
The Duratec engine blocks are great to work on and we see that there is an increase of upgrades and performance parts about.
Remaps allows a tuner to fully realize the full potential of all the tuning mods you've fitted to your Duratec.
(In some cases, as the factory ECU is locked flashing is not an option, so an aftermarket ECU is the route to take, and many of these will outperform factory ECU's but make sure it has knock protection and that you get it setup properly.)
It will usually give you around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and 15% on NASP engines, but you mileage will vary depending on the tuning mods you've done and the condition of your engine.
It is the whole point to any engine modification project to force more fuel and air into your Duratec
Intake manifold carry the air from the filter and allow it to be drawn into the engine and mixed with fuel.
The size of bore and shape and flow rate of the Intake manifold can make a substantial effect on to fuel atomisation on the Duratec.
It's not uncommon that plenum chambers are crying out for motorsport parts, although a few OEM provide fairly well optimized plenum chambers.
Big valve conversions on the Duratec, doing a bit of port matching and head flowing will also increase torque, & importantly will raise potential for raising the torque increase on other upgrades.
Duratec Turbo upgrades
The more air to get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes massive power gains.
NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your Duratec
If your motor has a turbocharger parts are giving better power gains and turbo charged engines are built using many forged and stronger components.
There are tuning limits for every engine, with some being incredibly solid and some only able to handle stock power
It is important to find these limitations and install better pistons and crank to survive the power.
There are many people spending a a stack of money on turbo upgrades on the Duratec only to experience the engine literally blow up just after it's been completed.
Large turbos tend to suffer a bottom end lag, and little turbos spool up quickly but won't have the high rpm bhp gains.
Thankfully the selection of turbochargers is always moving on and we are seeing variable vane turbochargers, where the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end bhp.
Twin scroll turbochargers divert the exhaust gases into two channels and direct these at differently angled vanes in the turbocharger. They also help the scavenging effect of the engine.
You'll commonly see there is a limitation in the air flow sensor (AFM/MAF/MAP) on these engines when a lot more air is being sucked into the engine.
We see 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited performance at a much lower level.
Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large power gains, although more difficult to configure. We have a twincharger power adding guide if you want to read more.
Fuelling
You will need to ensure that the engine is not starved of fuel so should look at the fuelling when you start exceeding 20% of a bhp increase.
We would recommend you to over specify your injectors flow rate.
The accepted safe increase is to add 20% capacity when fitting an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and affords some spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.
Duratec Exhaust
You only need to upgrade your exhaust if the current exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.
On most factory exhausts you should find that the exhaust flow rate is still fine even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.
Sports exhausts can help increase the flow of air through the engine.
But if the exhaust pipe is too large, ie: over 2.5 inches bore, you will lose a lot of the flow rate and end up losing power and torque.
Common exhaust restrictions can be traced to the emissions filters installed, so adding a freer flowing race alternative such as a sports catalyst pretty much removes this restriction, thanks to it's larger size and surface area, and will effectively raise the performance to levels you would expect without having a catalyst installed, but keeps the car road legal.
Weak spots Issues & problem areas on the Duratec
The Duratec engines are generally reliable and solid units, as long as you follow the manufacturers service schedules, and use a good quality oil to ensure longevity. Few problems should happen as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained.
Carbon build up in the head, particularly around the valves which will sap power or create flat spots, this is a larger issue on direct injection engines but should be looked out for on all engines. We have tips on removing carbon build up.
Some of our members have had issues with flat spots or glitches after applying mods and upgrades or tuning, this is not usually related to this engines design, so instead see our article on diagnosing flat spots and problems after tuning which should help you get the bottom of this issue.
Regular oil changes are vital on the Duratec, especially when tuned and will help extend the life and reliability of the engine.
The Aluminum and Tin bearings don't like high RPM or big power, so upgrade these with larger power gains.
If you would like to know more, or just get some friendly advice on Tuning your Ford engine please join us in ourfriendly forum where you can discuss Duratec tuning options in more detail with our Duratec owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiasedFord tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.
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