fire extinguisher placement

funny I just ordered one too, we must be reading the same threads I got a 2.5lbs one from Griot's instead of the one from Ricambi, mostly because I liked the look of the chrome extinguisher vs red. I'll mount it under the front seat somehow. Lots of info on this if you do a search

 

Eric -

We used to carry the full Halon 1211 cylinders in chrome, but they got so expensive I felt bad passing on the price increase to customers and simply dropped them from the product line.

Halon-1211 is so damn expensive already, it's just about priced out of our market and going to be left for the aviation industry.

 

yeah and its bound to get more expensive since it can't be made anymore in the US. Halotron seems to be a cheaper substitute and is what griots uses. I found this info on halotron vs halon at H3R.

http://www.h3r.com/products/halotron_properties.htm

Since they offer both products it seems like they don't have a reason for a bias. Makes it seem like halotron is reasonably comparable to halon.

In my case, mostly I want it to give me and my passenger sometime to get out in case of a fire and also to meet track regulations at summit point. For any damage, that is what insurance is for. So I figure halotron is good enough for me.

 

I think that it makes sense to have a handheld unit in the cockpit as well as an automatic fire extinguisher in the engine bay.

For one thing, you may not be able to manually trigger either the engine bay or handheld cockpit extinguisher (e.g. unconscious from a wreck, or from not watching the engine bay for smoke as you drive, or you might not be in the car after you've parked it for the night).

So an automatic fire extinguisher in the engine bay just seems prudent...and they can be cheap. I paid about $130 for each of mine (Fire Foe units from West Marine via special order).

If you can find a better engine bay fire extinguisher, then buy it...but have *something* back there where a fire is most likely. Anything.

Even a cheap extinguisher is better than nothing, which is what most folks tool around with (or without as the case may be).
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I got around to trying to make a bracket and install it today. It worked out well with using only simple hand tools. I got 2 6" L shaped brackets from Lowes, dremmeled and bent the end so that they could fit behind the screws holding the seats down and then drilled holes to mount the extinguisher bracket. I painted the whole thing rustoleum black. All in all it was not too hard except for the frickin 6mm hex bolts that are horizontal to the floor board. I *highly* recommend getting a ball ended hex screw driver as opposed to using an L shaped hex key which is what I used and took me forever, especially with the brackets in the way.

Here are some pics to show what I am talking about. 1st is the dremmel cut used to slide in the bracket. Make the cut out wide since the screw is big, and I had to go do it again. Second is using a vise to bend the bracket. 3rd is the brackets partially bent so that I could screw the hex bolt back in. 4th is final product. Just ordered a nice sticker off of ebay to put on the fire extinguisher
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I carry a 2.5lb Halon extinguisher in my front trunk. I think regular maintenance and inspection of your car by an experienced technician is your best investment. Prevention is way important than what to do AFTER the fire starts.

 

yeah agree. Like I said above, a fire extinguisher in the cockpit seems to be one of the rules to get on the local track so that is 99% of the reason I put it in there.

 

Very nice Eric--Looks wonderful.

 

Daniel, What is generally used as a bracket for an extinguisher near the passenger floorboard? Does Ferrari have some kind of bracket or design?

 

The Charness Harness (www.tradetutor.com/raceprep) I think is one of the best designs thus far. I have some billet aluminum prototypes coming in the next week from a different supplier, so those might work well -- but we'll see. They weren't designed with the Ferrari in mind, so I'll have to look carefully at whether those would work.

 

Very nice and simple design. Many including myself have used similar. I do not know how secure the slot is in the L bracket assuming it is bolted onto the front seat anchor hexbolt. I do not know if it is. With a slot if the bolt comes loose you loose retention. With a hole you have retention. One reason for having the 2 L's typically constructed as a U shaped loop with drilled attachement point holes to the seat anchor is because a crash can easily be a 20g pulse or more. This means a 6 lb extinguisher now weights 120lbs. You do not want to be hit by a projectile in your car. Also, some extinguishers come with plastic brackets for holding the unit on a wall. Plastic is not good for a car because it can break = projectile again. Obviously this also means no zipties! If your unit comes with plastic, commercial fire extnguisher companies that supply local business have the metal quick release brackets since they are code in many commercial settings.

 

+1

Ours come with metal strap mounts, and the billet accessories we'll be testing are NHRA approved already.

 

Keep us updated when those come in--Would love to see them. I think I am going to add an extinguisher soon..

 

This is what I used to get the general idea. The problem with the 348 is that the bolts go in parallel to the floor board, not down down vertically so you need the bend.

fbb, I hear you about the retaining. Perhaps v 2.0 I can make again with a hole instead of the slot. My extinguisher did come with a full metal bracket.

 

The challenge extinguishers were mounted to the floor in front of the passenger seat. The brackets above will not work. The 348 front seat mount is horizontal not vertical like the 308/328. I know plastic zippies are not good, but it works. I got mine from H3R.
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There is was a challenge fire "system" mounted to the front floor but that is a different animal to the handheld fire extinguisher. I don't think there was a hand held unit for challenge was there? Any by the way all fire systems have expiration dates and if someone with a 348 or even a 355 still has an old one it may not even work. There are several parts that can go bad in them where you can't even tell if you have a fault until it fails to go off when you want it to.

 

Here's what we're working with.

These look like they'll work fantastically for mounting on a parcel shelf, rear wall, luggage compartment, etc. Still need to play with it, as I pretty much scuffed/scratched one brand new cylinder trying to get the proper fit. (If anybody wants a Halon 1211 2.5# cheaply, PM me... scuffs/scratches are no additional charge!!)

The band is held into the mounting brace with a quick release pin. The whole assembly is billet aluminum, and not for the faint of heart. It is extremely solid, and the appearance is dead sexy. The stain/brushed aluminum matches a Ferrari gear gate beautifully. These have an NHRA approval already from the manufacturer. Pricing TBD.
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I would like to find the old system. Can't they be recharged? It's got to be easier than a hand held.

 

Sure they can be charged. Were you on Halon or powder originally? 10#?

 

If what you are looking for is a billet bracket for a fire extinguisher that bolts to something and requires drilling to do so, then breykrause already has a really nice one for a 2.5lbs extinguisher:

http://www.bkauto.com/porsche/r9520.php

I'm with 285Ferrari, I'd like something that is made specifically for the 348 that attaches to existing bolts, either the seat bolts or the bolts under the passenger dash. My solution is OK, but it is kind of cheapie...

 

Well Many years ago when looking for the OMP knockoff of the 348C fires system there was no OMP to be had in the USA. Importers quietly stopped importing them. Rumor, right or wrong, was that the flop tube was either hardening or falling off. This ment that if you were upside down and hit the trigger you got no suppressant to the spray nozzles. There was a claimed lawsuit on this from a burnt racer. If you take a fire bottle and turn it upside down you can hear the metal weight at the end of the flop tube "tink" the metal case. This action should be part of your semi annual check of the fire system. Also, once I had a failure with a safecraft AFFF system where the pressure guage would not move when the outside air temps moved up from the low 70's to 100+ on a hot day at WSIR. I plugged my N2 tank into the shadervalve port and set my regulator to about 200psi or so only to hear the N2 going in but the guage not move. After depressurizing my system I found the guage had failed but I had the correct pressure in my tank. So you see these systems are far from fool proof and the bad guage could have lured me into a false sence of safety that I had a properly pressurized system. You need to check these things because your life could depend on it. This is why if you have a commercial busines the fire department comes by annually for inspections and make sure your extinguishers are recharged yearly because they know these things fail. I would never rely on the pressure guage in a hand held or fire system but I would if I checked pressure occasionally (when possible), checked flop tube action, monitored expiration dates. All systems have issues. The CO2 EES firecharger system for example makes great sence until you realize that you could damage the CO2 canister attached to the tank and then get no pressure to the tank. They have since tried to protect against this happening with a modified CO2 cover. Then there is the issue of how your sactioning body looks at Firechargers since they are a substitute for the typical pressurized fire system tank of halon or AFFF foam. You can recharge the old tanks as long as you find a guy who will re-cert them and make sure all parts internally are to factory spec. . Recharging is easy I can do that but it does take a brain to make sure the rest of the parts work properly and you will never know because all you see is the pressure guage. Also, you really want to think long and hard do I want a Fire system or hand heldextinguisher because Foam makes a mess over all the exit spray nozzes and perhaps you only need a spray on some wires under your bonnet and a hand held would do fine. Systems are really made more for racing. I think hand helds are a better compromise for street. I do not think a hand held should ever be mounted where you could hit it from a crash or above the level of your waist when seated. Projectiles happen and behind the seats or in the passenger footwell is the most ideal place. Metal mountings only...no zipties!

 

Daniel--Is there a way to mount that in a 355 w/o drilling any holes--Somehow use an existing mounting point? Seat bracket? Looks great. Will they do one in black?

 

They make one for a TR, but that is it..Looks nice and uses the stock seat bracket assembly..No drilling extra holes...
http://www.bkauto.com/ferrari/index.php

 

that design would work quite well on a 348 due to the bolt placement. Not sure about a 355. Does anyone one know if the bolt to bolt width on the 348 is the same as the TR? If so, it might just work for us. Nice find....