Skip

I want to do my own - anyone here done this (with sucess)? Care to share your wisdom and recommendations for a specific system, please.

Must meet SCCA specs for IT. Probably mount bottle in the spare tire bin - 2 nozzles (driver, header-side of engine) - trigger in the console lower bin.

Skip

Thaddeus

C'mon, folks- Skip has answered about a million questions from us!

Wish I could help you, Skip.. empty well there...

Thaddeus

txhedg

Skip-

I was about to redo my fire system until I sold the car, so I had looked into it a bit.

First off, the thing I don't like about the spare tire mounting spot for the bottle is that it would be vulnerable to damage and maybe not working correctly in the event of a rear end hit or a spin where you back into a wall, etc.

Other than that, your plan seems good. I was told that the running and bending of the tubing is easy....most use alum tubing, and even connecting up the nozzles and fittings is pretty easy for a DIY project. I spoke to Dave at Lindsey Racing about it, and it seemed the packages they offered were good and competitively priced. The main thing seems to be making sure that you size the bottle correctly for how many nozzles you have (e.g. you don't want to run 3 nozzles off a 5lb, and maybe not even a 7.5lb bottle, as the amount coming out each of the three locations won't be sufficient). I was going to go with a 10 lb bottle for 3 nozzles, so at two nozzles, you probably could do a 7.5 lb. I liked the concept of having a third nozzle over the fuel cell/tank just as an added level of precaution.

My bottle was installed behind the pass seat in the "rear seat" footwell. I can't remember if your car is stripped or not, but if it is that is a very easy spot to mount. Also keep in mind that the closest nozzle (measured as length of piping from bottle to nozzle) to the bottle gets the most halon when you engage the system.

Finally, IO port has a good write up on their web site, if you haven't seen it, about the type of ext chemicals, and the attributes of each.

Good luck with the project.....as a one who had a minor electrical fire under hood, having a good working fire system is a pretty damn good idea. My fire system that was installed at the time didn't work, and I was lucky the track support truck was close by

regards

Skip

Thanks for the input - had a few discussions this weekend about this subject - now I are edumacated.

The bottle will go in the right rear seat bucket mounted to a custom shelf - properly angled [car is completely stripped]. One fogger will mount at the rear inside of the right strut tower - high as possible, facing the head at 90o... this protects the most vulnerable area of the head, fuel lines, and rail - I have a heat shield blocking the header for additional protection. The other fogger will go in the cockpit - line runs along the center tunnel and up left side of the passenger area - nozzle will mount level with my nipples (woohoo!).

This is the two outlet design - if I decide to go with four, there will be one on the other side of the engine, and another pointed straight back into the rear of the car to protect from gas tank rupture in the event of an unfortunate rear-ender.

The closest fogger will be my personal one - since I cost more to replace than the engine [I think ] I am going with the 10lb tank regardless.

I'm debating if the passenger cabin should be done up also - at least until I stop carrying passengers. I'm trying to find a cutoff valve that could be used to shut it off if - A. I'm not carrying a passenger, or B. I don't like the passenger

Skip

bs

ok, so i know nothing about fire supression... but i always thought halon was really toxic; enough so that you wouldn't want it spraying on you, even in the event of a fire.

Skip

Sorry - forgot to mention my choice of chemical - hopefully I'll be using Novec 1230 from 3M. This stuff is fairly new, and is touted as the best all'round Halon alternative. High suppression yield, very low toxicity, very low environmental impact - I can get this stuff loaded locally, but it's not much cheaper than Halon. Even in a race car though - the Halon has done okay because the air is immediately vented, and the paramedics will take appropriate action if Halon was used (oxy-mask, etc).

Skip

txhedg

bs -

you are right about halon being toxic. From my research, it seems there is one type 1211 that is toxic at the concentrations needed to put out fires, and another (type 1301) that can ext fires at a level were it is not toxic. typically you find halon 1211 in handheld extinguishers, and you should really only use 1301 (or other halon substitute) in fire systems.

Although, in my mind, you should probably lower your visor and take a deep breath and hold it if you trigger any fire system, even if it is 1301.

Skip - sounds like a good plan. The on/off passenger valve sounds like a good idea too.....I bet you could fabricate a pretty simple set-up with some supplies from the local plumbing store. Plus you could really f~ck with your passengers as well, by turning it off on grid, sand saying "we don't really need this, I'm going to take it easy", and then mid session yelling "lets really push this beaaatch...you may need this" and then turning the valve on!!! <img src="graemlins/jumper.gif" border="0" alt="[jumper]" />