25 replies to this topic

[BigWillieStyles]

Hello all,

I picked up an Apexi Boost EL2 gauge on ebay. Looks nice but not sure if its real or not. If its not real, they have gone to a lot of trouble to make it look authentic, the box even has a Japanese writing on the barcode. The needle also just zero properly though, sits just above 0. I have read conflicting opinions, some saying this has to do with sea level? Anyway, I am now trying to figure out how to install this. There are like a bizillion write ups on forums but can find many very helpful. Im interested in hearing from some other Subaru owners, preferably Liberty's that have done this.

Ok, well I thought I would just like to get it working boost wise and figure the electric stuff out later.

Heres a picture of my engine bay, which hose do I Tee into? I believe that one of the two I have pointed to may be appropriate but completely not sure?



I believe there is the grommet near the clutch pedal (inside) and Master cylinder (engine bay). Is this an appropiate way in? I was also thinking of threading it into the fender and hoping that there is a gromet behind the wheel arches into the footwell, which could be a cleaner way to go? Your thoughts would be much appreciated.

William

[Scott]

the arrow on the left is the line i taped into on the gtb motor

either run it through the grommet near the throttle cable or out through the fender and there is a grommet there to let you into the cabin

[aekOne]

willie i went through a grommet here (on a gen 2 that is. i'm assume the gen 3 has the same grommet?)

[BigWillieStyles]

the arrow on the left is the line i taped into on the gtb motor

either run it through the grommet near the throttle cable or out through the fender and there is a grommet there to let you into the cabin

willie i went through a grommet here (on a gen 2 that is. i'm assume the gen 3 has the same grommet?)

Thanks heaps guys, im going to give it a go tonight. I will update this thread with some more questions to do with the electrics next...hopefully

The kit seems to have three wires that need wiring into somewhere. I figured there would be a power and earth, but there is also a white one which Im not sure about.

[Start]

Probably easiest to tap into your headunit for power, accessory and ground =]

Thats how I did it.

[BigWillieStyles]

Probably easiest to tap into your headunit for power, accessory and ground =]

Thats how I did it.

I was thinking about the lighter plug as I thought that the stereo dims when I turn the lights on. Would this make my gauge dim?

Accessories lead? So it only lights up when the car is on?

Mmm.. not really sure. It came with instructions but they are that clear for me.

[Scott]

I was thinking about the lighter plug as I thought that the stereo dims when I turn the lights on. Would this make my gauge dim?

if you hook into the acc power it wont dim mate, there is a separate wire for dimming

i also hooked into the stereo power only because i have a power block in there

[BigWillieStyles]

Well the gauge is in, but doesnt have power yet and doesnt work yet

I made every attempt to get it to work and work out which wires to tap into but nothing went right. I purchased a test light that broke apart and I just couldnt manage to get those damn screws out from under the stereo. Very frustrating. I decided to just do all the pipe stuff and mount the gauge. The wiring is sitting under the dash just waiting for me to take it to someone who knows what they are doing. The gauge I got is a Mechanical gauge, but the sensor is located seperate to the gauge. And there is some wiring attached to from the sensor to the gauge. Kind of a hybrid between a electronic and mechanical.

I did have a couple of issues, the first is there is a slight kink where I attached the T connector to the vacuume line. I was a bit concerned that it may affect my sequential system. I took the car for a test drove and it seems to drive and boost fine. Does anyone know what the far left pipe is used for? Will the kink be bad?

I also wired the gauge up to the battery, nothing else connected, to see if it works and the gauge needle went straight to 2.0 bar and has stayed there. Hope I didnt **** it up

[BigWillieStyles]

hey guys, need some help. Still trying to wire this in. I have attached a picture of the lighter wiring. Seeing that some of you suggested wiring it up to this, I thought I might ask which wires? My gauge has a power, earth and an illumination wire. Now I guess that the black wires are the earths, which are the other ones I should use?


Yellow/orange - black and black - purple.

[CodeBurn3r]

Yellow will be ignition +

[Scott]

Yellow/red will be the power
Purple wire will be the illumination
black will be the ground

edit: as said above this will be ignition power so if your guage has a remember setting it wont remember

[CodeBurn3r]

but just what is the current draw from the gauge? if its only a small amount, should be good to grab it from the ciggy, but be careful if you end up using a lappy charger or something one day.. might blow a fuse, depends on how much current the gauge uses itself, but most should be fine.

[CodeBurn3r]

Scott, if its only got 1 power wire from the gauge, i would say it has to have some kinda way of keeping the memory intact otherwise it would never turn off if connected to full time +12v
gauge would prob have a small battery, Cap or similar to keep it going while off.

Gah, site used to auto append to last post if it was same user.. sorry for double post.

[Scott]

yeah your right mate if its only 1 power wire guage itd have no memory so would have too hook into the acc power

my old guage was like this ^^^ had no memory

the one i have now has constant power for peak and max boost memory and then acc for on and off power

[BigWillieStyles]

but just what is the current draw from the gauge? if its only a small amount, should be good to grab it from the ciggy, but be careful if you end up using a lappy charger or something one day.. might blow a fuse, depends on how much current the gauge uses itself, but most should be fine.

yeah your right mate if its only 1 power wire guage itd have no memory so would have too hook into the acc power

my old guage was like this ^^^ had no memory

the one i have now has constant power for peak and max boost memory and then acc for on and off power

Big thanks guys for the help,
Im not sure I want to wire it up to the ciggy now as I do use the cig port for quite a lot of stuff. I might give it a go to see if the gauge works. But in the longrun I am probably going to buy a male harness connector with the correct wires to connect to the spare female plug under the drivers foot well which will make it easier when I want to install some other gauges. Just a bit of a pain I have to import the plug from Japan though.

yahoo japan

When tapping into wires, do you guys have a special technique? I was thinking of tapping clips that just drill in if I can find some. Not keen on cutting anything.

[Scott]

ive hooked all of mine into the stereo wiring in the last 3 cars ive had all subaru's and have never had any blown fuses, if you hook up a multi meter to them they draw hardly anything at all


ive got a wiring terminal block behind my stereo works fine and easy to undo if you want to take stuff out

if i was hooking into something under the dash i would solder and heatshrink it,

if thats too hard get some scotch locks you wont need to cut or solder anything that way

[CodeBurn3r]

with that clip, you could do 1 of 2 things, unclip the wire from the back of the connector, "add in" your new wire and then push back into the plug
or
just use one of the crimping connectors that crimps onto both new and old wire.. like this >

[BigWillieStyles]

Big thanks to Codeburner and Scott for the help. I actually worked out that the boost gauge I had was a fake Apexi boost gauge and it didnt work. I purchased a genuine one from the Apexi distributer in Melbourne and the difference in quality is astounding. Much better item. Anyway, it got delivered this morning, and I had it all setup and wired in within an hour. I purchased a loom attachment that only needed to just click into the factory accessories plug under the dash. Very easy. So its all working and looks great. But I seem to have a boost issue now.....

I have felt that the car is a bit flat lately, but thought it was just all in my head. Now with the new boost gauge, I can see that the primary is only boosting about 8psi. I assume it should be a bit higher around 13psi (0.9bar)?

I have read on a few forums about restrictor pills and I have changed my vaccume line on my boost gauge and the line for my BOV. Now my question is, is there a restrictor pill in the B4/Legacy vacume line? Where is it? I may have it in some of the old piping.

Thanks, will

EDIT;

I also had a look at my vaccume line coming off my BOV and realised I used larger diameter piping as the stuff that came with the BOV was too short. Autobarn only had one size. Could this be causing lower boost?

[acres]

Restrictor pill is in the short length of hose between the T-piece and wastegate actuator for the primary.
Boost should be about 0.6 bar on primary and 1 bar on secondary.