Apex Elbow Fitting Guide

[Mr G]

After this thread I thought I'd write up a little guide to help people in future.

1. Get the car on axel stands (ramps if poss). The more room underneath the better.

2. Take out the front pipe off. This will involve the removal of three bolts at the front which connect it to the elbow and two bolts at the rear connecting it to the de/cat. All pretty standard stuff really. If you can't manage this don't bother carrying on!!

3. Remove the elbow support bar (only applies to S14a) that connects the elbow to the gearbox (see pic_01a). From underneath remove the nearside half of the turbo assembly heatshield. This is not to be confused with the heatshield that covers the manifold. The turbo heatshield is held on by 4 x 10mm bolts (see pic_01).





4. At this point it's a good idea to remove the lambda connector. On S14a's the connector is located near the plenum. On s14's the lambda connector is above the exhaust manifold .If you pull it up it will come off it's bracket (see pic_02). Then disconnect it so it can hang loose underneath the car from the elbow.



5. If you don't have access to a vice, it's advisable to remove the lambda sensor now while the elbow is still bolted to the car. Next unbolt the elbow from the turbo by undoing the 5 x 13mm nuts (see pic_03). In the pic only four of the bolts are visible. The other one is on the top near the engine block.



6. With the elbow removed, clamp it in a vise and remove the lambda sensor. You will need a 22mm spanner (see pic_04). Then fit the lambda sensor to the new elbow.



7 Now the fun starts. Before fitting the elbow the bottom middle stud has to be shortened by about 5mm so the elbow does not foul it (see pic_05). You can do this by whatever means necesary. Because I already screwed the stud in I had to use a junior hacksaw followed by a file to round the edges. Better to cut it down before you screw it in though. (see pic_06). Also because of the design of the new elbow, the top two 13mm nuts that hold it on cannot be tightened due to there not being enough clearance to get a spanner/socket on. For this reason I fitted M8 40mm Allen/Hex bolts in the top two holes. The bottom three bolts are ok though - you can tighten them up fine with a ring/ratchet spanner.

[Mr G]

8. Put the gasket in place ready for the elbow. When fitting the elbow the first nut to go on needs to be the one that goes on the stud that needed shortening (see pic_07). As you may have noticed when removing the elbow there are two brackets which support the heatshield. Only the one nearest the engine block can be retained with the new elbow. The other one cannot be fitted due to there not being enough room for the bracket and the nut on the bottom middle hole because the elbow pipe is in the way (see pic_07).



9. At this point you need to put on the other two bottom 13mm nuts on (use exhaust gasket paste). Now you need to put the top two Allen bolts in (threadlock). The one nearest the engine block can be secured by using a universal joint and extension and from underneath (see pic_08). Don't forget exhaust gasket paste. The other Allen bolt can be inserted by hand from the top and tightened with a regular ratchet or Allen key with a bit of pipe on the end (see pic_09)!





10. Hopefully the elbow should now be secure. Now you need to refit the heatshield. Because we couldn't retain one of the brackets for it, we will have to secure it using the two bolts at the other end (exhaust gasket paste)(See pic_10).



11. All that remains is to plug the lambda connector in and connect the front pipe.

Just reading that back makes it sound so straight forward! If you use this as a guide it actually will be. All in all the removal of the old elbow was straight forward and easy. The problems started when I couldn't get a spanner or socket over certain bolts/nuts. Then I had to use the Allen bolts.

Cheers,

Graham

[alexjj]

Is it really that badly designed - what would you have done differently?

Also - what difference does it make or has made to your engine/car?

[Mr G]

Yes, it is designed that badly. If I'd have known it would be this much bother I wouldn't have bought one.

It'd be nice to see what elbows are like from other companies; HKS, Blitz, etc...

I cannot believe that the fact that spanners/sockets would not not fit over bolts wsn't picked up during designing. I thought the process of design would go something like:

1. Company makes prototype,
2. Prototype sent to Bren to test on car,
3. Bren sends prototype back so slight problems can be ironed out,
4. Company modifies original and sends to Bren to test again... and repeat.....

But as I said, if I were to do it all again, I could do it in a fraction of the time. The messing about I had to do buying/modifying different bolts has been a piss take. Haven't had chance to put the foot down yet so can't really tell if it's been worth it. The turbo spinning up is a lot louder than before though.

[cHiL]

OK some of this is wrong. The elbow is supposed to only have 2 studs (the bottom 2) and the rest are supposed to be bolts, so nothing has "fallen out" and been replaced.
The best way to fit it is to have the 2 studs in the turbo (as they are when you remove the standard elbow), shorten the one that needs shortening, then fit the elbow to the turbo with the studs already on the turbo (not on the elbow). When you fit the new elbow you hold a nut ready by the elbow so that when the stud comes through the difficult hole on the elbow's flange the nut can be done up gradually until the stud is right through the flange and is on finger tight. Then do the other stud/nut combo. When you have done those two it's just a case of putting in the remaining elbow bolts (3 IIRC) and then doing the whole lot up tight
Does that make sense?
edit: you have to use open ended spanners to tighten the stud nuts up
Also, I wouldn't bother fitting the heatshields back on, they're a waste of effort tbh.

[cHiL]

BTW the elbow is definately NOT designed badly, it's designed to allow maximum flow and if that means it's more difficult to fit then so-be-it. By the way, I am in no way connected to Apex performance either but I can tell you these elbows fit really well and I've now fitted 3 different types to my car, not including the standard one.

[cHiL]

If you iron these out of your guide though it will be a great addition to the useful threads great pics

[Mr G]

Ok my bad on the studs/bolts. I will change that above. Thanks for pointing that out.

And yes, re the designing of it, I suppose as soon as you start looking at increasing performance you've got to make a compromise elsewhere. I just don't think it would been much to ask for to allow ring spanners/sockets on the top two bolts.

[alexjj]

yeah the pics and descriptions are pretty clear - its a good guide

[cHiL]

Ok my bad on the studs/bolts. I will change that above. Thanks for pointing that out.

And yes, re the designing of it, I suppose as soon as you start looking at increasing performance you've got to make a compromise elsewhere. I just don't think it would been much to ask for to allow ring spanners/sockets on the top two bolts.



You can get a ring spanner on the bottom three so why not use those?

yeah sorry, I'm just talking about the awkward elbow nuts on the bottom where the flange is tight against those studs It's only tight 'cos the elbow is so big, which is good.
It's ok though, so you have to use open ended spanners, it's not the end of the world. i wished I could've used ratchet spanners myself

[cHiL]

good for you, for doing the guide anyway

[Mr G]

good for you, for doing the guide anyway

Cheers Phil

Considering how much the forum has helped me in the past I thought I'd try and give a little something back!!!!!

Do you think it might be worth adding to the list of useful threads then? Oh and I've made some amendments to the guide. Better now?

Ideally I wanted to add the pictures as attachments, I just couldn't see a way of displaying them mid post though. They would just appear all bunched up together at the bottom.

[mike_bristol83]

Regarding pic #3 . The bolt at the bottom right , against the gearbox, what did you use to undo it ??

[blue boy]

Good guide. Think i have decided not to bother with a new elbow but this does make it look not as bad as first though.

[Mr G]

Regarding pic #3 . The bolt at the bottom right , against the gearbox, what did you use to undo it ??

You mean the one that goes into the gearbox? Or the bottom right elbow bolt? For the elbow bolt it was either a ring spanner or ratchet spanner, can't remember which. Deffo no room for a socket though. For the elbow support, it was a socket. Lots of room to get to that one. Have you had a bash at yours today?

[Mr G]

Thought I'd post this to show the difference in bore size between the stock item and the Apex item. It's nice to know there's absolutely no restriction in the exhaust system now. 3" all the way!!!

[mike_bristol83]

You mean the one that goes into the gearbox? Or the bottom right elbow bolt? For the elbow bolt it was either a ring spanner or ratchet spanner, can't remember which. Deffo no room for a socket though. For the elbow support, it was a socket. Lots of room to get to that one. Have you had a bash at yours today?

Nope im waiting until i have a spare elbow to go on, then it will be done soon as,
The bottom right elbow bolt thats hard to get to !
Well have a set of ratchet spanners so who knows may be quite simple

[Mark]

A couple of points where the S14 is different.

1) It doesnt have the gearbox bracket

2) The lambda connector is not by the plenum but above the exhaust manifold


I would also remove the lambda sensor first whilst the elbow is in situ if you dont have a vice handy.



I also hope the quality of these elbows is better than the original Apex elbows as to be frank they was shockingly bad and I have seen a handful fail in my local area alone

[Mr G]

A couple of points where the S14 is different.

1) It doesnt have the gearbox bracket

2) The lambda connector is not by the plenum but above the exhaust manifold

Cheers for pointing that out. I'll amend it.

[Chem200]

Nice work with the guide Mr G