Fire suppression system ?????

[SCLSSRT10]

Has anybody installed a fire suppression system in their SRT10. If so how and where did you run the tubing and activation cable?

 

[SylvanSRT]

Hi Steve, I would talk to the SRT guys the CC racecars would have them, i would guess?

 

[Kai SRT10]

I have one. It is a 10 pound Halon system.

I did a fair amount of research on Halon vs foam.

Halon it generally more effective, and the bottles are much smaller. Downside of Halon is that it is less environmentally friendly, and repeated exposure can be unhealthy. I figure I'm unlikely to use it enough to tear up the ozone or give myself lung disease, so I went with the most effective system.

I used flexible braided stainless steel tubing rather than the aluminum tubing that comes with the kit. Flexible braided tubing is less prone to getting kinked and blocked up in a wreck.

The bottle is mounted in the trunk.
There are three nozzles. One is routed to the engine compartment. One is mounted in the center console between the subwoofer and speaker. One is mounted in the center tunnel at about knee height pointed into the driver's footwell. The footwell nozzle is automatically activated if exposed to flame.
The system as a whole is activated by a pull lever mounted in the center console right above the subwoofer.

What other information do you need?

Kai

 

[SCLSSRT10]

KAI SRT10 How did you route the lines and cable? Did you go under the car(in the tunnel), or under the "package tray" under where the top folds down? From what you said I guess you do not have one pointed at the gas tank.

I thought about mounting the pull by the sub woofer but thought that might be hard to reach in the heat of the moment. Excuse the bun. Much less having to reach behind you. I might have trouble with it there as I have an EVO2 racing seat in place of the stock seat.

 

[Kai SRT10]

KAI SRT10 How did you route the lines and cable? Did you go under the car(in the tunnel), or under the "package tray" under where the top folds down? From what you said I guess you do not have one pointed at the gas tank.

I thought about mounting the pull by the sub woofer but thought that might be hard to reach in the heat of the moment. Excuse the bun. Much less having to reach behind you. I might have trouble with it there as I have an EVO2 racing seat in place of the stock seat.

All of the lines run through the center of interior of the car, routed uder the "package tray" as you called it, and underneath the various interior trim panels. I wanted the lines run as close to the center of the car as possible, to protect them in the event of a crash.

I considered pointing a nozzle at the gas tank. I couldn't figure out quite where to point it where it would do any good, as it would be hard to predict where the fire might happen. The under hood area/engine is pretty easy, as it is somewhat contained, and a single nozzle can blanket the whole area. However, there isn't really a logical spot I could find that would blanket the gas tank area. Every nozzle you add reduces the halon to the other nozzles, and I didn't want to just fill up the trunk with halon, taking halon from the other three. I think that a fuel cell is likely in my car's future anyway, so long-term, I have a different solution for the gas tank.

The pull lever placement was also the subject of a fair amount of thought. I wanted the pull cable to be as reliable as possible, which meant the shortest possible distance from the bottle, and the fewest amount of bends. The mounting above the subwoofer is a short, straight shot from the bottle. Before we finalized the placement, I strapped myself in with 6 point belts, helmet, etc, to make sure I could reach it. I've got limited range of motion with my right shoulder due to old injuries, but it still wasn't a problem for me, (but I am using the stock seat.) I looked into various electronically actuated buttons, but on the advice of friends who race, decided against them. They advised me that too many things can go wrong with electrical circuits in a crash, and I decided that a simple pull cable was the most robust and reliable solution. However, if you are having trouble finding a readily accessible mounting spot for a pull cable, you may want to look into an electrically actuated system, as you can very easily mount the button anywhere you want, and don't have to worry about distance and geometry in relation to the bottle.

You really should look into systems with at least one self-actuating nozzle. If you are unconscious or otherwise incapacitated, it's nice to have a nozzle that will go off when exposed to flame without you having to pull or push anything. This is not a good idea for the engine compartment (too hot under normal conditions) but a self-actuating nozzle in the driver's compartment is (I think) a good idea.

 

[Kai SRT10]

Here is the system I am using:

http://www.firebottleracing.com/new%20products.htm

 

[Vipera Russelli]

Kai,

Alright, now you've got me thinking about installing a fire suppression system. I like the idea quite a bit and those safety additions are an easy sell back at the ranch, hehe. Would it be possible for you to take a couple pictures of your nozzle placement and your pull lever placement, and maybe even the bottle placement? I’d like to catch a free ride on your research efforts and have a good idea of where to place what. Oh, and can you provide the length of each of the three hoses?

Thanks for posting the link, that was going to be my other question.

Thanks for all this information and any additional feedback.

Russ

 

[Kai SRT10]

Kai,

Alright, now you've got me thinking about installing a fire suppression system. I like the idea quite a bit and those safety additions are an easy sell back at the ranch, hehe. Would it be possible for you to take a couple pictures of your nozzle placement and your pull lever placement, and maybe even the bottle placement? I’d like to catch a free ride on your research efforts and have a good idea of where to place what. Oh, and can you provide the length of each of the three hoses?

Thanks for posting the link, that was going to be my other question.

Thanks for all this information and any additional feedback.

Russ

I (supposedly) get the car back tomorrow. I will post pictures.

It was the open road racing that made me decide to get fire supression. You're a bit farther from help than at the track, and it would be a bummer to watch your car burn. Even a bigger bummer to watch it burn from inside the car.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Kai, what was the total cost? Sounds like you did the installation yourself?

 

[Kai SRT10]

The cost of the components was a bit over $500 (including the flexible steel braided tubing to replace the aluminum tube that came with the system.)

I had it installed by my local shop. Cost of the install was about $400 or so.

Pictures:

http://www.larsonweb.com/car/bottle.jpg

http://www.larsonweb.com/car/engine.jpg

http://www.larsonweb.com/car/nozzle.jpg

http://www.larsonweb.com/car/pull.jpg

 

[SCLSSRT10]

I installed mine with the help of a VRL racer, it took us an afternoon. The hard part was locating where to run the activation cable and then the tubing to the nozel locations. Once we had that figured out it only took about two hours. If interested let me know as I have pictures of all pertenant locations of tubing nozels and cable.

 

[Vipera Russelli]

Steve,

You have a PM.

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Post pics.

 

[SCLSSRT10]

Chuck, I will send the pictures to my favorite "poster" for you later this week. But, you can see for yourself next week at Sebring, I will be there and you can look at the installation in person. Or send me another email address and I will send you the pictures directly. Steve

 

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Thanks Steve. Looking forward to it.