Fire Supression System in a DeLorean?

[OverlandMan]

Has anyone done this? My thought was something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kswau1mGBE8 but obviously on our cars.

It might work if you mounted a similar style pressurized system to the underside of the engine cover.

I guess I was just curious if anyone had done this. After my close call a while back and reading about a fellow 308 owner who lost his car to a fuel line related fire event, it gets me thinking. The 308 owner had a small handheld fire extinguisher he used and that still wasn't enough.

[Spittybug]

Interesting. My concern would be the openness of our engine bays compared to that of an air cooled beetle. Having owned both, I'm familiar with the fact that the beetle compartment is VERY air tight thus maximizing the effectiveness of the relatively small volume of the extinguisher. I think such a system wouldn't have sufficient "oomf" to suppress a fire in our bay, especially when rolling down the road and subject to airflow through the bay. Any system would also require an immediate shut off of the fuel pump too in my opinion.

[jangell]

I did a bit of research on this kind of thing about a year ago. I figured that I probably shouldn't trust my work on an EFI conversion and that having a suppression system wouldn't be a bad idea.

I found some aftermarket kits meant for racing, as it seems many tracks require you to have one (or so Google would lead me to believe). I was more interested in Halon-style systems instead of foam just so I wouldn't have to clean up the mess, and setting up the nozzles (usually 1-3 in a kit) to point at the fuel injectors, distributor and line. I wasn't as worried about passenger protection (plus Halon is a bad idea anywhere near where you need to breathe). That said, it seems the foam systems clean up with water and is much more environmentally friendly, but you also have to refill/test them every 6 months or a year or so, and since they're water-based you can't leave them out in freezing temperatures (like in your car in the winter). But there's none of that "dying from halon using up all the oxygen" problem.

I was thinking of getting a mechanical system where you'd slap a button (or pull a handle) as you jumped out of the car, instead of an automatic system, as I was wary of false-positives or incorrect readings. I was going to rig up a temp sensor so that I'd know if there was a fire, though, what with the engine being behind me and all that. I also thought about rigging the car's master relay to a switch that would be physically tied to the button, thus shut down the car's electrical system (including the fuel pump, of course). The main advantage of automatic is that it'll work if you leave your car idling, have to walk away for a bit and a fire starts, which I believe is how one EFI-converted DeLorean was destroyed.

I hadn't quite figured out where I'd put the bottle, though. The best I could come up with was inside one of the pontoons, since I didn't want it eating up parcel shelf space, but I"m not sure how difficult that would be.

As for price, it looks like these are in the $500+ range for complete systems, and more if you want a bigger bottle (I was thinking of the biggest one that would fit).

Here's a page I found while googling about this just now, about what's out there: https://sportscarmag.wordpress.com/c...ession-system/
And another thread where someone asked which system to get and if it's worth it: http://rennlist.com/forums/racing-an...questions.html

-- Joe

[OverlandMan]

All good info and points to consider in prior 2 posts. Maybe I'm over-thinking this since my close call. I'd say had that not happened to me, I'd probably still be driving around with the old fuel lines not worried about a fire more than any other car I've driven.

I think if a Halon-type system was used you would be safe in the passenger compartment or outside the vehicle when the system activates. I too cringe at the thought of having to clean-up foam, but it sure beats a ruined car.

I'm certainly not chopping up my car (ie: installing the bottle in one of the pontoons) to accomplish this. It would have to be something that didn't permanently affect the car.

[jangell]

I was thinking of a minimal modification. I thought you could get into the pontoon from the parcel shelf, but I may be mistaken (I haven't had shelf back off, but I never really looked in there before). You would still need a hole to run the hose through for the nozzles, and you'd have to run a cable to the driver's side A pillar to actually trigger it (there was a point about being able to do so when you're not sitting in the car in a few threads I found, which is why that location is useful), if you go with a manual system instead of an automatic one, but that should be able to just run under the carpet without any significant changes.

I would actually prefer to mount the bottle in the engine bay, but I don't think there's enough room for that, nor am I sure if it's safe to do so. Fire Bottle's installation instructions show some recommended mounting locations: http://www.firebottleracing.com/inst...-instructions/ Of course, most of them don't work for our cars unless you want to sacrifice passenger or cargo space.

-- Joe

[OverlandMan]

I was thinking of a minimal modification. I thought you could get into the pontoon from the parcel shelf, but I may be mistaken (I haven't had shelf back off, but I never really looked in there before). You would still need a hole to run the hose through for the nozzles, and you'd have to run a cable to the driver's side A pillar to actually trigger it (there was a point about being able to do so when you're not sitting in the car in a few threads I found, which is why that location is useful), if you go with a manual system instead of an automatic one, but that should be able to just run under the carpet without any significant changes.

I would actually prefer to mount the bottle in the engine bay, but I don't think there's enough room for that, nor am I sure if it's safe to do so. Fire Bottle's installation instructions show some recommended mounting locations: http://www.firebottleracing.com/inst...-instructions/ Of course, most of them don't work for our cars unless you want to sacrifice passenger or cargo space.

-- Joe

I've had the parcel shelf off but don't recall seeing access into the pontoons. I certainly don't remember anything large enough to fit a bottle into and then mount somehow.

Interesting diagrams on the link in relations to good, ok, and bad ways and places to mount the bottle(s).

[jangell]

Interesting diagrams on the link in relations to good, ok, and bad ways and places to mount the bottle(s).

It's worth noting that the Fire Bottle guys seem to only make foam systems, so I don't know if halon has more flexible mounting options.

Another idea for mounting the handle/button could be on the B pillar by your left shoulder. The position would be such that you could trigger it by reaching up with either hand, and it could easily hit it from outside the car when the door is open without having to lean inside. It would almost be like those ejector seats where you cross your arms and pull the handles by your shoulders. The down side is that you have to hit the trigger blind, while a button/handle in the dash would be clearly visible, but it does simplify the cable run if the bottle is mounted behind your.

One thing I didn't think of before is to get two smaller bottles. That allow make for more mounting options, as I think the main problem is figuring out where to place a single large bottle, but it would also be more expensive. You'd probably want both to be triggered by the same handle/button, too.

-- Joe