DIY Install Guide - Apexi Throttle Controller

[Peter P18]

Hi Chaps,

So I was asked to compile a DIY for the Apexi throttle controller.

Tools you will need:

- small flathead screwdriver

- medium Philips screwdriver

- Bojo trim removal tools (optional, but they will save your soft plastics from scratches). You can use a flathead screwdriver, but I suggest wrapping the tip in some electrical tape.

- 3M double sided tape

 

So, first things first, have you got the model specific wiring loom from Apexi? If not, you need it! Should look like this.

Here are my set of Bojo tools. These are made from hard plastic, but not too hard to scratch or damage your soft trim. You can grab a set from eBay for £30-40, but if you don't do much DIY stuff, might not be worth the investment.

Using the flat headed tool, carefully pry off this side panel. Note you don't need to remove it fully, just need access to the switch panel where we are using a blank switch to house the Apexi button, and feed the switches wire down towards the pedals.

See the blank on the far right beside the headlight washer switch, that's coming out.

You can push the entire switch panel from the back to make removing the blank switch much easier.

If you carefully release the switch panel, you'll see the tabs top and bottom on the blank you need to squeeze to release it.

Now pull it towards you to remove it completely. Should leave a hole like this.

Now feed the switch wire into the hole, guiding it down by looking at the open side panel we pried open at the beginning.

Next, below the knee airbag you will find the panel that contains the OBD2 port. This can be removed by undoing two Philips screws.

Now lower the panel to gain access to the pedals. I didn't undo the wiring etc for the OBD2 port, but it is fiddly if you leave it connected. 

You can now see to feed the wire down from the switch panel to the pedals.

Next, you need to look at the throttle pedal, follow up the pedal to the top, you'll see a plug at the top of the pedal. It has a tab to push in on the right side. You'll notice it's identical to the one on the end of your Apexi loom.

Connect the loom to the thick black wire from the black box.

This can only plug in one way. You'll see that for yourselves.

Unplug the one on the top of the throttle pedal. Clip the part that looks identical on to the pedal, now you need to fit the pin connector from the loom to the plug you removed. This bit is a 50/50 shot. Get it the right way round, you're golden. Get it wrong, you could see a lot of dash warning lights, and have the car start with a fast idle, and go into limp home mode! Be warned!! 

Saying that, if you do get this, unplug the pin connector, turn it around, plug back in, and make sure you can configure the switch per the instructions you get in the box. Provided the switch has no lights on, you can remove the negative Battery terminal, give it 5-10mins, now re-connect and try starting the car. It will probably not catch on the first push, that's normal. Push the ignition button again with the brake pedal depressed, and it should fire up without any warning lights etc.

Now here's my top tip to avoiding this hassle. There is a coloured blob on one side of the pin connector. This should face away from you when connected (so the side you see under the dash should be plain black). Also, when you first fire up the controller, don't start the engine! Just push the ignition button twice to operate all the electrics only.

Using some carefully placed double sided tape, locate the throttle controller button with the word 'APEXI' facing up in the hole we made by removing that blank.

Now clip the button harness into the main black box which is the controller itself.

Its the multi-coloured wire on the right of the picture above. Look at the pins as it only fits one way around.

The thicker black wire below my thumb should lead to the loom we fitted to the throttle pedal switch. 

You can ignore the white wire, that is for the reverse safeguard hardly anyone has connected up.

Now with the button located in the blank on the dash, the ignition on twice but without the engine running(just electrics working), the Apexi switch will be flashing constantly white. You now push the '.' bottom of the switch and hold it till the colour flashes blue. Once it has flashed blue, let go. Switch continues to flash white. Depress the accelerator fully to the floor. Now press the top of the switch '...' And hold it down with the accelerator pedal until the switch flashes red. Once it has flashed red, let go of the switch and pedal. If the switch is no longer flashing white, you are all set. 

If it continues flashing white, repeat the steps above. Note the installation guide from Apexi does detail this process if you want to double check it.

Try it a few times. If it is still flashing white, check your pin connector again. Dis-connect it, and turn the pins round. Push it back together carefully. 

Try the install process again. If the switch is no longer flashing white, you're ready to go.

You need to locate the black control box and excess wiring up inside the dash. There are some mini cable ties in the box to help with this. Once you have it safely tucked away from the pedals, push the panel back into place, and screw the two Philips screws back in.

Check no wires are showing near the pedals. If they are, you need to re-feed them up into the dash. Remember you don't want wires getting fouled up on your pedals mid-journey! It could be very dangerous! 

Now push/clip the side panel back into place.

Job done! 

Now go for a drive and try out the different modes. These are signified by different colours. All the info you need is in the user guide. 

Hope this helps. If you get stuck, PM or post here and I'll try to help get you sorted out. 

[GibletPH]

Nice writeup. I might get one soon as the dead pedal spot in regular mode is somewhat annoying and sports is too twitchy for my daily commute. 

[Peter P18]

Thanks. 

I probably need a couple more photos to cover the pin connector install. I'll hopefully get those when I do the next install.

Should add I'm happy to help fit these if people are worried about tackling it themselves. Just need to come see me in Kent. 

The throttle controller on red mode is a nice compromise between normal and sport mode. Highly recommend it. 

If anyone wants one installed, PM me.

Cheers guys. 

[mrfunex]

Great write-up! 

[DAW]

Nice job Peter and thanks for the info!!

[Peter P18]

Thanks guys.

Happy to try and help out my fellow 'F'er's!

Hopefully a mod will be along soon to validate my DIY thread and give me my second club contributor star!

Will then have a think about the next DIY guide I think will be useful for people.

If anyone needs anything, let me know.

[Mike Peter]

Pete, 

Thanks a lot for DIY! I got one question so far, I have a grey cabe with plastic at the end (see picture below), do I need to plug this anywhere? Am I right thinking this is reverse signal wire and I don't have to worry about it?

[Peter P18]

Hey Mike,

 

Correct. This is to wire in the reverse safety cut-off feature that hardly anyone bothers with! Lol.

I honestly think it's more for the guys in the States that might let the valet park their cars. I am now used to switching off the throttle controller when I pull up. That way it's never on when I select reverse gear.

You can discard the grey wire in my opinion, but it's ultimately up to you.

I should add the DIY is my interpretation of how to do the install. I can't be held liable if you don't wire up the cut-off, then crash into a load of parked Ferrari's! Lol.

 

[Mike Peter]

Lol, no worries!

Just plugged all in and will go for the drive later on!

Thanks for the DIY Pete, very handy.

 

 

[Peter P18]

Hey Mike,

How did the test drive go? All good I hope. 

Let me know if you feel any parts of my DIY guide could use extra detail. 

Hopefully you tried red mode? 

[BLKISF]

Hi Peter,

Just wanted to say what a great write up with pics to assist in a reasonably straight forward install.

Im based in Sydney, Aust and part of the forums here but wanted to sign in here to just say thanks.  Many on other forums have said yeah its easy, do this do that but i was slightly hesitant until i stumbled across your post which was a great assist.

I should of been smarter and not attempt it at 10pm and with the car in the garage with the drivers side so close to the wall i could barely manoeuvre.  i think i pulled a back muscle trying to stick my head and hands up under the dash but besides that no probs. 

Noticed with my purchase i didnt get the seperate grey reverse wire (not bothered as most dont install like you said).  Have to admit, with the limited testing i just did being so late and not wanting to annoy my neighbours, I can definitely feel the difference.  Sports mode is already responsive but normal mode has definitely throttle lag even with my exhaust etc and this brought it alive (with the softer suspension setup that normal mode delivers).  Havent tried the lower boost modes yet so just left it in red :-)

Anyways thanks again for the great write up, glad i stumbled upon your post :-)

[BLKISF]

Just found this on a US forum from someone who has this installed as well.  Silly me, never really read the paperwork that came with it (mostly japanese anyway) but i thought Red was the best mode for fun so to speak.  Never realised there was throttle and boost modes.  According to this guy, he believes the pink is the crazy setting as per below.....

Eco Mode 1 doesn't feel too different to standard. An ever so slight delay in power delivery. You could easily leave it in this mode every day and not notice the difference and you might actually save a little bit of fuel.

Eco Mode 2 was slightly more restrictive than 1, but still not too bad.

Eco Mode 3 again was a slightly longer delay but nothing bad enough to complain about.

Low Throttle mode was tested next, and boy could you feel it. The car felt like it was towing a tonne of bricks. Very slow off the mark and cushioned in the midrange, and power eventually came "normal" at the high end of the rev range. This mode is ideal if you want to let someone drive your car and not let them have any fun at all.

Hi Throttle mod was tested next. I wasn't overly happy with this mode. I thought there would be more punch considering the LED was glowing an evil red colour. Yes, the car felt a little bit quicker off the line but not as much as I'd hoped.

Now for the exciting modes. The controller is programmed to completely overshoot WOT commands to the ECU and get the car moving as quickly as possible.

Boost 1 felt impressive indeed. Very easy to chirp the rears and get TRC active. This would probably be the all-round mode you could use every day. Lovely accelerator response and a positive feeling that the car is faster off the mark.

Boost 2... where do I start? Perhaps with the black lines I've been leaving on my test track. This mode is absolutely ridiculous, and care should be taken when the car is in Sport mode and TRC turned off. You can easily get the car to light up the rears with the absolute minimum of effort. The first time I tested this I was genuinely surprised and had to tap the brakes and give out a sigh of shock. Amazing power delivery... it feels as though the car has been turbocharged and off the line performance is stellar.

Now cant wait to drive tomorrow (too late now) to test his view about pink being better than red lol

[Peter P18]

Glad you found the install guide useful mate.

It's only after I myself have benefited greatly from US forum members posting guides for work I have had to do on my car, that I appreciate the need for these things for other owners around the globe.

Knowing my guide helped you fit your controller down in Australia is great stuff!

Hopefully it's pitched at the level where it doesn't insult anyone by being too basic, but also won't confuse your average mechanic that has only basic skills and abilities.

Coming from other good forums for strong community spirit, it's not difficult to offer that here for people that need some help avoiding the potential pitfalls and costs associated with using garages that might try to milk them for every penny they can due to the rarity of the car/lack of familiarity with working on them.

The IS-F is by no means a simple car to work with, but a lot of the jobs can be done without using the main dealers/top end independents.

I was sure the red mode was the top one, but I'll have to try the pink mode again to see!

Just shows you are still learning even when you think you know how it works! Lol.

Do let us know how you get on with your car.

All the best,

 

Peter

[BLKISF]

Yep definitely useful.  It was just good confirmation i was doing the right thing regarding the install.  Agreed, im learning alot about the car having come from a WRX (very different) from UK, US and other forums.

Found this from another US post and he confirms purple is the way to go if you want fun....

No I mean purple! Everyone uses red assuming it's best.

Red mode is enhanced throttle output based on throttle position.
Purple mode is enhanced throttle output per unit of TIME.

So QUICKEST (time) throttle response is PURPLE. Most output vs throttle position is RED.
I've tried this a million times, purple hits HARDER AND KICKS DOWN MORE GEARS IN auto than RED mode.

I know some talk about eco modes, fuel consumption etc but fuel economy is not high on my important list when i purchased an ISF lol.  I didnt even think that when i purchased this unit so loving the purple mode at the moment :-)

[BLKISF]

It's been about 5 months now and it was working great until today. It's now flashing purple (last mode it was in) and won't stop flashing regardless. Also can't change modes.

Any one else experience this, know of a solution. Haven't had a chance to remove the unit yet as it just happened.

 

**never mind all fixed.  In case it happens to anyone else.  It was working fine, i leave it to the on position on startup so i hardly press it but for some reason it started flashing.  Couldnt calibrate it so took dash apart etc.  All was connected but after just pulling apart conenctions and reconnecting them, it allowed me to recalibrate (flashing blue) and then it started to work again.  Im sure all connections was good hence why it was flashing, had power etc so one of those weird ones but luckily the unit still works :-)

[Peter P18]

Glad to hear you got it sorted. 

Often unplugging the harness and re-connecting it will do the job. Not had this with mine, but the reset method works on most things electronic! 

Hopefully you'll have plenty of hassle free miles ahead to enjoy it.

Cheers.

 

Pete

[rumz82]

Hi all. Hope everyone is well. 

I know this is an old thread but just wanted to ask where can I purchase the Apexi system here in the UK? eBay detach results only show US, and for some reason can't find it on amazon. I went directly to their site but then was a little cinfused.....I thought it was just one system but do I need to buy something else separately like a harness? 

Looking to install it on my 2013 IS300h....will it be worth it on a hybrid? 

 

Thanks in advance. 

[rumz82]

Anyone able to provide a link please? 

[mrfunex]

Can’t you just buy from the US? 

[rumz82]

2 hours ago, mrfunex said:

Can’t you just buy from the US? 

Thanks for you reply buddy. 

I can....if there are deffo no options here in the UK. 

Also, exactly which parts do I need to buy? 

Thanks 

[mr2lad]

@rumz82I bought my apexi Smart accel controller from amber performance (uk) in Luton 
You need the controller and wiring harness..

was a 30min job to fit it, with the auto cancelling wire as well onto reverse light...stops you reversing at Mach 1 into a parking space 😂 

unsure if it’s compatible with your is300h tho

[Toothy]

Got mine from eBay, direct from Japan. Had to pay import duties on top, so bare that in mind.