SEM manifold works better at higher boost/power.
- Thread starter RobDon
- Start date
Due to some personal issues I may have to sell my SEM manifold anyway. BDM 400 kits works just fine at nearly 400bhp on the stock manifold:
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The deal is done. Due to personal financial issues I have had to sell the SEM and go back to a standard Audi S3 inlet manifold. We'll see how it affects performance but money is more important right now.
looking forward to how you get on Rob, i was in the same position myself and had to sell it on. A well engineered piece of kit that certainly looks the part but my 300 bhp power and K04 wasn't getting much from it. This kit needs to be tested by the manufacturer using smaller turbo's and not using bigger turbo's running lower boost to mimic how the smaller turbos may react. It is sorely missed form my bay though.
16valver
Guest
Hi Rob,
I take it the SEM is already sold?
I have a large port AGU manifold and am looking to buy an SEM at the moment (although the TB for the AGU mani is on the other side to your S3 manifold...)
Think this is my first post on here and so do not have permission to pm!
Cheers,
Ali
16valver
Guest
Wish I had looked over here more recently. I am only about an hour and a half from Edinburgh as well!
Thanks for the quick reply.
Don R
Guest
Well I had my car out for a run today after fitting the S3 manifold and TB ... and in all honesty I felt very little if any difference at all, even on full boost. Still feels the same as before so I don't think I have lost anything by going back to the OE setup.
I think Steve's point is that you can run big power through the stock manifold and TB without spending £750 on a new manifold and TB. I really doubt the SEM was giving me very much if anything at 350bhp or below, maybe 5hp or less, can't feel a difference that's for sure.
No doubt the more bhp you have the better gains you'd get but it's not a 'must have' mod.
No doubt the more bhp you have the better gains you'd get but it's not a 'must have' mod.
Saw an article in this month's Performance Ford magazine, they were testing Sitech inlet manifolds against the stock one on a 300bhp Focus ST and a 325+bhp Focus RS ... the Focus ST lost 4bhp and the RS gained 0bhp!
http://www.performancefordmag.com/thismonth.asp
I'm not saying this is comparable to the SEM, but it does give some indication that bigger intake manifolds don't really do anything much on under 400bhp.
http://www.performancefordmag.com/thismonth.asp
I'm not saying this is comparable to the SEM, but it does give some indication that bigger intake manifolds don't really do anything much on under 400bhp.
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I read exactly the same article this month and thought the same. As Awesome GTI are distributers for the SEM i hope in the future we can see some before and after runs of the SEM in action on the smaller sized turbo's. I genuinely hope it does well and if i upgrade to a true big turbo in the future in will be back on my list for sure. It would be good also to see what could be gained from it on a truely custom remap too.
lol - define any mod which is must have..
on higher powered cars, they can and will make more power on things like SEM and larger tbody over stock.. Thats not in doubt, its fact. the discussion is whether or not someone feels its worth it on a bang for buck position.. Thats obviously a personal decision. Same car as Steve's example, could have made more power from same boost with a SEM+tbody or made the same power from less boost depending on what was being asked of the spec.
It does. Thats not in question.
However......... those selling them to folks on k0x sized turbos' and smaller GT units will get less/any gains than those running bigger setups.. Gains are proportional to flow/power.
If sellers make this clear then its simple. Some are just happy shifting boxes.
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