gfelber

Anyone counting? A friend of mine (will remain anonymous for now) had his Apexi WG stick on him at the track last weekend (road racing/driver's school). Boost hit 20 PSI.

Gene

1FooknTiteFD

One morning when I started my car up, I heard a big popping noise and the wastegate started to stick open. At that point my car because super loud and I didn't know what was going on. The wastegate stuck open but didn't close down. I then took off the wastegate too see if it was stuck, but it wasn't. And then after putting the wastegate back on, the car started up fine. What the hell went on?

Does anyone know of a wastegate that is a direct bolt on to the apex'i kit? I want to replace mine because I hear of all the horror stories associated with this wastegate.

the_glass_man

iTrader: (2)

Talk to Max, I believe he is using an HKS Racing wastegate, and its a pretty straight foward install onto the Apex kit.

gfelber

Max sent me the following in a previous e-mail:

"I got the "HKS Stainless Steel Racing" wastegate with a 10 psi-ish spring (0.8, I think). Note that the Stainless Steel Racing wastegate is different from the Racing wastegate. It uses a different flange to mount to the
manifold. I have not tried to install it yet ... but it is supposed to bolt right to the manifold and require some minor fitting on the dump tube side. The report that I got was that the bolts/studs for the dump tube are about 1mm off from the A'PEXi bolt pattern. Hopefully I can just slot the holes to make it fit. If not, the wastegate comes with a dump tube flange, so I could just have a shop weld it on when they do the dump-tube re-route (back into the downpipe) that I want. "

Gene

AJatx

iTrader: (1)

If you need an HKS SS Racing W/G (4-bolt inlet flange and 4-bolt outlet flange), let me know.

My buddy has it for sale.

J

soul assassin

again i say
APEXI=CRAP

Cheuk in Seoul

I thought it was

APEXi=gay

Anyways, the wastegate does leave a lot to be desired.
I haven't had mine stick... cross my fingers... but I have had the allen bolts fall off. They should consider a voluntary recall of these things. Anybody want to start a petition?

94SR2

I've heard of all the problems with this wastegate and will opt. for the HKS unit soon...when I get some cash together. 'till then I'll be installing a pop=off valve this weekend..$100 insurance policy for my new motor.

-ed

gfelber

Will do Gordon!

Gene

1FooknTiteFD

Hurry up and put it on max!!! Us fellow RX6 owners are all anxious and in desperate need of your opinions and analysis of the installation

But seriously, out of all the apex'i rx6 owners out there, how many of them had their wastegate fail? Won't a pop off valve help save your motor in case it does? Why doesn't anyone just use that?

XSPOWER

To fix the Apexi wastegate, simply take it apart and go to a machineshop that assembles heads. Yes, that's right, heads from piston engines. Most automotive machine shops have the tools to hone valve guides. Have the machinist hone the valve guide .003-.004" larger. You shouldn't have anymore problems afterwards.

gfelber

I think that'd probably work fine. The guy that had this recent failure took the WG apart and noticed that it was binding in the guide.


Gene

sub-zero

XSPower, is your above post all I will need when taking the WG to a machine shop. If so, and this works I will have it done ASAP. I am tired of taking it off and sick of it getting stuck.

sub-zero

Another ? for XS. I dont even think my WG has a valve guide? Sorry for being ignorant but are you talking about where the plunger fastens to the aluminum plate/diaphram assembly. I have thought there is something missing in my WG I think this is where my problem could be. The *** holes at Apex USA wont even give Me a parts list for this because I did not buy at an authorized dealer. Are you able to post a parts list? That is why if I dont get off the gas and keep my eyes on my boost gauge I can boost over 20 PSI like nothing. I have taken the POS apart a few times to see if there is anything wrong and I can never find what the problem is.

XSPOWER

Yes, your W/G has a valve guide. Its the bronze looking cylinder that's pressed into the cast iron base that the valve stem goes through. The machine shop has to hone that part. Otherwise the Apex W/G isn't a bad piece.

sub-zero

Thanks for the reply. But I think you are going to **** yourself. I am going to take it apart again and post some pics. You are not talking about the brass spacer that sits between the cast body and the mani where the valve seats against are you? I don`t think there is a brass sleeve in my WG that the valve stem goes through, just a wide open hole. What is the purpose of this sleeve?This is where I thought i was missing a piece. There is no way I should be boosting as much as I do with or without my boost controller.

Cheuk in Seoul

XSPOWER, Thanks for the tip.

sub-zero, check you pm.

1FooknTiteFD

XSPower, do you know if anyone has done this before with success? It would save me a lo of trouble and money to just do what you just said. Thanks for the info. BTW, when are you guys going to start tuning again? I'm itching to take my car down there

XSPOWER

We've had a some road racing customers that have had this problem and honing the valve guide has fixed the problem for us. Of course it has to be honed damn near perfectly straight as any valve guide should. It all started when we presented Apex with the problem and they offered us new W/Gs. That wasn't going to fix anything so we tried this fix and we haven't had any problems since.

As for tuning, we are accepting appointments once again. Our dyno is up and running once again. Call the shop for an appointment; it's actually quite open right now.

1FooknTiteFD

I took XSPower's suggestion and had the valve guide honed .003''. So far so good, I will be going to the track next tuesday and let everyone knows how it runs.