silver-7 Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Seeing the toasted 7 on ebay got me thinking about fitting an extinguisher ! Am I right.... did i see someone with what looks like a flexible plastic tube, obviously filled with a "fluid" that can be fitted in the engine bay ? Anyone with experience of this system ? are they any good ? where can i get one ect. cheers Alex. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Support Team Shaun_E Posted December 1, 2004 Support Team Share Posted December 1, 2004 You can get "plumbed in" fire extinguisher systems from most motorsport suppliers (e.g. Demon Tweeks). The extinguisher is normally sited in the passenger footwell just in front of the seat, and pipes run to various places e.g. engine bay (perhaps more than one position), driver's footwell, etc. The extinguisher is activated by a handle mounted on the dash. An example can be found here. Yellow SL #32 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chelspeed Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Silver 7 - You're right such a device does exist. Don't know anyone who has one or where they come from. But I have seen adverts, I think in classic car magazines, Practical Classics or Practical Mechanics perhaps. Not sure what the extinguishant is but the concepts good. Sealed plastic pipe wrapped round the engine bay and the fire melts the plastic in one place so the extinguishant all p*sses out exactly where the fire is and nowhere else. How good it is will depend on the extinguishant, if it's water then pretty ineffectual in the quantities you could store I would think, if it's CO2 then not sure, if it's a halon then it'll work really well but not be legal to sell.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheds Moderator Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 I have a (now redundant) plumbed in fire ex in my ex race 1.4kss. There's a nozzle in the footwell and another by the fuel pump which were linked to a big 40cmx15cm dia AFFF extinguisher with a release on the dash and the bulkhead. I keep thinking about plumbing it with a smaller bottle, placed crossways in front of the passy seat. Ideally you'd also want a nozzle by the injectors under the bonnet. A better solution for the road might be a normal handheld job, fires are pretty rare in road cars and a plumbed job won't help a dash fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Drawmer Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 A fireman gave me some advice about cockpit mounted fire extinguishers (not plumbed in type) "If you've got time to get to the hand held fire extinguisher - you've also got time to get out. Do that FIRST!!" He then asked me to consider how I would feel, standing by the car; about then reaching in to unclip and get the extinguisher. The next advice was: "That's right, run like fcuk!" Edited by - Paul Drawmer on 1 Dec 2004 09:42:21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen grant Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 My 1.6 roadster has a plumbed in extinguisher - i'm sure it's standard for all the race cars; the bottle is in the boot, there's a handle on the dash which pulls on the handle on the bottle, and there's a small network of pipes which terminate on nossles (why can't I spell that word??) that point at the footwell, the engine and something else under the bonnet (can't remember). I'm sure it all works fine, but I haven't tried it, for obvious reasons, and actually, to be honest, unless on track days, I unclip the cable at the bottle end, in case someone reaches in and pulls the handle. stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver-7 Posted December 1, 2004 Author Share Posted December 1, 2004 Found this web page ...... anyone know who's car is this ?? see www.clik.co.uk page 3 picture 113 R400 has the system Im thinking of thought it was a neat idea and a lot less hassle to plumb in cheers Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Stephen, I am with you and have plumbed in, plus one in the cockpit. I am nervous about leaving the pin in, but rather have it opperational when using the car ( one day it will happen 0 My release is just by the seat, but it is all personnal preference really Good point about standing next to a car on fire ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 My ex-Academy car has a plumbed-in extinguisher. Can confirm that there are three nozzles - one pointing at the tank (not the pump, as far as I can remember*), one downwards into the pedal-box and one forwards, underneath the k's air-filter (thus pointing at the injectors etc.). *why would you want it pointing at the pump? If you've got the mobility to fire the extinguisher, you've also (with luck) got the mobility to kill the FIA switch. You *do* have an FIA switch, don't you.....? Bottle in the boot. Pin only comes out for trackdays. This gives me the potential to ignore the pain of burning-feet by cursing myself roundly... I wonder if it is worth rigging-up a second pull-handle through the rear-bulkhead, attached to the pin. I'd need to rotate the bottle (not sure if this is possible - the manual handle might foul the floor if the pin was pointing towards the front of the car...) Project Scope-Creep is underway... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Reminds me... ...not had the bottle checked since I got the car - I know it's past its last 'check-by' date. Pressure looks OK, but I don't take it out and shake it to loosen up the powder (assuming it is powder and not foam....) Is a fire-extinguisher check non-destructive? Anywhere in particular I'd need to take it? Are they going to do any more than I have (check to see the dial shows some pressure, check that it's not a dummy bottle...)??? Project Scope-Creep is underway... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephen grant Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 are they refillable? And on that subject...how come my harness says "Not FIA approved if used after 2005" or words to that effect? Is there really a best before for harnesses???? stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Myles Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 yes and yes Project Scope-Creep is underway... Alcester Racing 7's Equipe - 🙆🏻™ Alcester-Racing-Sevens.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomB Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 I recall seeing Fred's flourescent red car at a track day with the flexible plastic tube thing. I havent seen Fred posting here recently, but it might be worth searching for one of his old posts & emailing him. Id also be interested in finding out more about this system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V7 SLR Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 Alex, I can probably do you a good deal on a hand held extinguisher if you're interested. Haven't got any prices yet, but I've just asked for a bulk purchase price. It'll include an extinguisher with a clip for mounting on the floor of the car, a warning triangle and a little first aid box, all in a bag (which you won't want once you've mounted the extinguiser properly). I'm going to try and offer them to Se7eners too... once I've got the price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bafty Crastard Posted December 1, 2004 Share Posted December 1, 2004 The clik web site is Fred Mitchell's... The car was Freds, he's now sold it R300 NUT'errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver-7 Posted December 1, 2004 Author Share Posted December 1, 2004 Thanks Guys...... TomB thats right i remember seeing it first on freds car at curbrough Ill send him an email and post where you can get them but them when i find out. V7 I have a small hand held one in the passenger foot well, just didn't fancy removing the bonnet if the car had already started to burn Did you see the pictures of Freds Striker ? it went up so quickly all he could do is watch, his hand held extinguiser was next to worthless ☹️ plumbed in off ANY type must be the way to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor Newman Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 mmmmmmm food for thought i had an engine fire earlier this year and no fire extinguisher open pedalbox so burnt trainers and laces and a lung full of black smoke plus daughter in the car jumped out pulled the 2 offside bonnet catches and launched the bonnet thus releasing the other 2 catches slowed the spread of fire considerably rather than let it continue in an enclosed space, when its your car on fire you dont run. a builder in an astra van stopped, opened the back of his van produced 1 bucket and ran round the back of the nearest house and returned with 2 (a magician i guess) full buckets of water. passed me the first one which did little (possibly because my aim was crap) he threw the second and out it went. car was running a mechanical fuel pump on the side of the crossflow block, the brass ferule that you attach your flexible pipe to managed to seperate itself from the pump body (quite common i was told) not sure how it ignited as it was on a cold engine that had been running for 2 minutes. made a nice mess as it melted the foam filter and sucked the mess through the 45's and melted about 18" of wiring together, a couple of hours rewiring , cleaning the carbs and fitting a new pump it was back to normal. an extinguisher gives peace of mind even as a handheld. but glad my new Academy car has the plumbed in variety even if i dont remove the pin, i feel confident enough to whip the boot cover up and remove should i need to (i was a child once and the alure of a big red handle that id been told not to touch would be too tempting going to look into a hidden pull handle for the safety pin (yes i know it takes longer to pull 2 handles but not as long as getting out of a 6 point harness) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GTD Posted December 2, 2004 Share Posted December 2, 2004 Myles - it is 99.9% certainly foam, not powder in your extinguisher - that's what the Academy supplied ones contain. I had mine checked and refilled (following an inadvertently placed elbow after a race which set off the juice!) I found a place in Littlehampton and they did it for me while I waiting - you'll find somwhere local in the Yellow Pages. I was pleased to find that the place in Littlehampton also does carbon fibre extinguishers for the F1 teams - a Mr Schumacher's empty was the one next to mine on the bench! Apparently for far away races, the teams empty them before flying home to reduce the weight of the cargo! G 4 Geoff Leather Good - Carbon Fibre Bad 619 GTD here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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