Drake

iTrader: (1)

Hey everybody...

First a little introduction: My car project isn't all show or all go, all race or all street. In short, I like to make things look good (win a few shows), be functional (win a few races), and still enjoy a weekend cruise around town now and then.

Due to the fact that I built my own fuel system including aluminum tank (see thread: https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...122&highlight=, I decided it would be particularly wise to invest in some fire safety equipment.

I understand this install will be more showy than most "all-out" racers are interested in, but I don't see a lot of information on installing fire suppression systems here. I thought I'd share, maybe it will help someone out.

For fire suppression, I chose both the Firecharger AFFF "fire foam" and a stainless halon manual unit by Safecraft. The Firecharger unit is a 4.6L and is designed as a three zone system (driver, engine, fuel cell). It includes everything you'll need for an install, but I upgraded/modified some of these to suit my needs. The Safecraft stainless extinguisher is also a quality piece (with the exception of the shoddy and already rusting chromed bracket which needed a lot of TLC). All in all, for the price, I'm impressed by both items.

So, here are a few pictures and details:





The Firecharger system came with hard Aluminum lines, but I disliked the way they looked and was concerned about their tendency to kink (plus, they're difficult to work with). I decided to have some stainless lines made to replace them. The system came with brackets, but I replaced them with some billet pieces (the bottle is the same size as a 5 lb. nitrous bottle, and was red until I had it powdercoated black),

The system is a three zone system, but I blocked off one of the ports. Naturally, I don't like the idea of using AFFF on a full-interior car. One line runs to the fuel cell and splits to two nozzles placed on both sides. One line runs to the front and splits to two nozzles on either side of the engine. Unfortunately, I don't have any undercar pictures of the plumbing at this time... I'll try to post some next weekend.

For the interior, I chose to use a manual halon extinguisher.





The system came with one pull-cable type activator. The system can be used with two. I wanted options for being able to activate the system easily from outside of the car, on both sides. I chose the location because they were out of the way, and yet within easy reach.





I chose to put the fire extinguisher across the top bar because it was tucked out of the way (and out of sight), yet was fairly easy to get to from either side.



I would have put it lower, but my nitrous bottle sits between the rear "hump" already. I need all the room I can get pulling it and replacing it.





On the safety front, I chose some standard RJS cam-lock belts.

Questions/comments/(constructive)criticism welcome!

tektrans

iTrader: (23)

Damn nice looking. Sounds like you have a good all around multipurpose car.
Nice interior, nice neat work. Good job.
BTW, what does she run?

JL ws-6

iTrader: (50)

Good job, most people don't even put a single system in, and you put 2. Good man.

I'm moving the halon system up on my list, last thing I want is my toy to burn to the ground.

87Lt1Monte

iTrader: (1)

This looks very clean.. i like this. Im going to run just a halon system but very nice work!

99FormulaM6

iTrader: (21)

whats the time delay on the halon system? I know you definitely don't want to get caught in the car when it activates.

Also, where do you get refills for stuff like that? We have halon and AFFF on the ship, but I have never thought about where I would buy some myself if I needed to..

Phil99vette

iTrader: (11)

Where did you get all of your parts? I need a setup like that for my mustang.

kp

iTrader: (34)

You hold your breath and get the hell out, better than getting burned..

Most places that sell the system will refill the bottles, its not something that get used often (hopefully).

Nice install, mine is up under the dash to keep the discharge lines as short as possible, since my fuel tank is outside the car I'm not worried about it. Main worry for me is an injector o-ring or fuel line fitting cracking and spraying on 1 of 8 coils..

MetallicaMatt

iTrader: (19)

where did you get the mounts for the roll bars?

I just ordered a Safecraft system last week

Drake

iTrader: (1)

Thanks! I got into the mid-high sevens (1/8th mile) before I took her down for this project.

It won't take long for them to react. There isn't a halon "system" inside of the car though, it's just the manual extinguisher there.

Refills for the AFFF are available from anyone who sells the kits. They're dirt cheap compared to refilling halon bottles (and halon won't be "legal" next year, I do believe). There are several dealers for the various brands of fire suppression systems... check with your favorite ls1tech sponsor!

The system is by Firecharger, the extinguisher is by Safecraft. They're both standard names in the safety world. The billet bottle brackets are NX, the billet roll-bar mounts ("CB antenna" mounts for the pull-activation and one fire extinguisher mount) are by a company called Fourtreks. The rest of the hardware is from home depot.

Good call on the short lines... wish I could have done the same. My "cell" is outside of the car as well, but I wanted lines there in the event I have a fire at the fuel pump... I know these systems are designed to save the driver, but I want to try to stop the fire if possible.

kp

iTrader: (34)

Nothing wrong with wanting to save the car

My main thing is if the car catches on fire going down the track in front of me so I can stop the car and bail out, the car is a distant second to my ***. But its also nice if something happens under the hood at the starting line or in the pits to be able to put a quick stop to it, seen a lot of cars burn to the ground on the starting line because no one a decent fire extinguisher around andit was too late by the time they got one.