Stop Buffer? Engine Stop Pitch? EPS?
Posted on Aug 19, 2021
What’s this called? The Audi parts diagrams call it a “stop buffer” but what does it stop? Engine pitch perhaps? Well, it’s probably important so we should have one, exactly like the works cars of course. Oh boy! We’ll call it an Engine Pitch Stop or EPS.
It sits in a receptacle on the bumper bar and presumably stops the engine from pitching back and forth. Subarus have one on the bulkhead. We bought a performance one from ECS because who doesn’t want a big red nob sticking out of the front of their engine, even if it is mounted on a piece of PVC conduit!
We did intend to mount ours on the right side of the engine like the factory cars and even designed a mounting plate for it but then we realized it might be a bit complicated to design an alternator bracket in combination with this so decided to put it on the left side instead. It helped that there were two threaded holes in exactly the right place.
The EPS fits in a cup welded to the bumper bar so we needed to mock that up. Fortunately, we discovered that most paint can lids are the right size so a can of Rustoleum Self Etching Primer donated its lid. This intersects with the bumper bar about half way so we had to shape it carefully with a file.
It also changed color during the process because of, well, fail. Undaunted we acquired some steel tubes in the appropriate diameters and proceeded to recreate our plastic EPS in metal. First attempt was a little long.
That’s much better.
Now for the tricky bit.
After about four days of filing, we had a fit. The cup fit on the bumper bar too.
Happy with the way it looked we cut it to length, welded it up, added a brace and stood back and admired it.
Can’t wait till its gold zinc plated.
It sits in a receptacle on the bumper bar and presumably stops the engine from pitching back and forth. Subarus have one on the bulkhead. We bought a performance one from ECS because who doesn’t want a big red nob sticking out of the front of their engine, even if it is mounted on a piece of PVC conduit!
We did intend to mount ours on the right side of the engine like the factory cars and even designed a mounting plate for it but then we realized it might be a bit complicated to design an alternator bracket in combination with this so decided to put it on the left side instead. It helped that there were two threaded holes in exactly the right place.
The EPS fits in a cup welded to the bumper bar so we needed to mock that up. Fortunately, we discovered that most paint can lids are the right size so a can of Rustoleum Self Etching Primer donated its lid. This intersects with the bumper bar about half way so we had to shape it carefully with a file.
It also changed color during the process because of, well, fail. Undaunted we acquired some steel tubes in the appropriate diameters and proceeded to recreate our plastic EPS in metal. First attempt was a little long.
That’s much better.
Now for the tricky bit.
After about four days of filing, we had a fit. The cup fit on the bumper bar too.
Happy with the way it looked we cut it to length, welded it up, added a brace and stood back and admired it.
Can’t wait till its gold zinc plated.