What Fire Extinguisher

[cliveg]

I'm trying to decide whether to fit a mechanical or electrical fire extinguisher to my can-am, or stick with a hand-held one. I had pretty much decided on a hand-held one until I spotted the posts on the P4 replica on the Kit Car forum. I couldn't add anything that hadn't already been said, but I would be gutted if my can-am went up in smoke.
I see Stig and Steve have used the OMP mechanical extinguisher. Does anyone have any views, recommendations, things to avoid etc?

[BobM]

I've also fitted a mechanical one - the cylinder's mounted in the passenger luggage compartment as I had trouble fitting it anywhere else. Nozzles just in engine bay. Depends how much you want to spend, how much space you're prepared to lose and how much messing about you want to do to the car fitting it. I figured there's nothing much combustible (other than the dash wiring) in front of the engine bay bulkhead. Got mine for less than 100 quid at Autosport.

[phil.borden]

I fitted an electrical Zero 2000 4 litre system and followed the FIA installation guidelines. That is two nozzles in the engine bay and two pointing over the feet of me and any passenger. I seem to remember that sporting bodies prefer electrical rather than the equivalent mechanical systems.

I put the bottle behind the passenger seat, the control box on the rear bulkhead and the firing button just under the dash, in easy reach but not too noticeable that someone would want to push it out of interest.

I took the bold step of fitting this pre-SVA and it got through no questions asked, this after several people suggesting it was an SVA no-no.

[Stig]

I use both a mechanical OMP system (for a fuego grandé) and a smaller hand held mounted between the seats in case of a small fire. When a mechanical (or electrical) installation fires, that's it - you dump ALL the extinguisher medium. Not a great idea in a cockpit full of alcontara when you've got a small smouler somewhere else in teh car for instance!

The main system is in the passenger side pod, but depending on the bottle size, you may be able to put it into the passenger footwell (needs a very short bottle) or behind te passenger seat (needs a low diameter bottle). I have 2 nozzles in the engine bay and 2 in the cockpit, one points to the footwell and the other loops around the rollcage and points to the rear bulkhead.

At the end of the day, I fitted both so I had the potential to pass scrutineering for racing.

Personally, speaking, if the car were to get going fire wise it's usually better to just let the sucker burn. You can do enough damage to detroy a loom for instance without destroying the car, but the amount of work to rectify it (and ancilliary damage) means that a total loss claim would probably be a better bet not to mention your personal safety.

My father in law had a 911 which had a small electrical fire which he put out. The loom was deemed unusable and the insurance company wouldn't cough as it wasn't total loss - yet the price to replace the loom and associated bits was the equivalent of writing-off the car!

[davefiddes]

Stig said:

Personally, speaking, if the car were to get going fire wise it's usually better to just let the sucker burn.

The P4 in the kit car forum was on the track when it caught fire...with no insurance.

I'm seriously thinking of bringing forward my purchase of a plumbed in fire extinguisher as a result of reading that thread too. I looked at a 4 litre electrical Lifeline AFF system a while back. From the drawings it looked like it would fit fine in the footwell (with a footrest to protect it). Did wonder whether it would be possible to fit an anti-tamper switch to stop some oik from setting it off when stopped at traffic lights but still allow marshalls to trigger the system on track.

I've got a 2 litre Lifeline AFF handheld as well.

[cliveg]

Thanks lots. I won't be racing so meeting regs isn't a concern for me. Bob's approach of fitting nozzles in the engine bay coupled with having a hand-held between the seats looks like a good approach to me, limiting the mess in case of fire under the dash while being able to dump extinguishant in the engine bay without lifting the rear clip etc.

[Alan 2]

I've just trial fitted a 4 litre SPA "Slimline" extinguisher in the GTR I am building. I have mounted it on the rear bulkhead (which is panelled in aluminium) so that it just fits between the seats. It's out of the way here and doesn't take up any luggage box space. It's a mechanical system and all of the contents will be discharged into the engine bay. If anyone else is thinking of doing something similar, check the diameter of the bottle carefully as it will be a tight fit. The 4 litre "Slimline" bottle is 132mmm in diameter and will fit, the standard bottle is, IIRC, 150mm and won't. I will also fit a small hand held extinguisher in the cockpit to cope with any possible fire in the dash area. I've got the same set up in my "Sports" but can't tell you if it's any good as I haven't tried it out.