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fuel cell sucess

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blkcorvair

Jedi Knight
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well after I returned the first fuel cell and snapped up another with slightly mor appealing dimensions, I have gotten it mocked up. Cut a real clean hole in the floor and took my time tonight making some mounting supports. (Even had some straps bent by a metal fab. shop down the street from my work I never knew existed befor today.) Well nevertheless after going back and forth between dropping the tank threw the floor or just leaving it, I am glad I did. get my cog down some more plus I think it just looks much better. Broke it all back down after I took some pics so I could paint all the hardware,

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This car must have been love tapped in the tail at some point cause it was sledged out and skim coated with bondo. Real bad job. I always hated the way them plates look on the back of these, So I ordered new pre-74 tail panel and picked up a rollpan insert meant for lowrider trucks and did me a little metal work before I welded that new panel in. Its amazing how much that insert stiffened up that panel.
 
Nice looking work.

I have a 5# fuel cell in the back of the Elva which sits above a cross-tube and as a result the cell is above the floor of the boot (see photo of car from rear). I've thought about sealing up the floor to maximize the effect of the Halon system in the event of a fire. Does anyone have any thoughts here?
 

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"""""Does anyone have any thoughts here? """""

There might not be a point of ignition in the rear area when using an FIA rated fuel cell and properly installed.

If you use a big Halon or AFF bottle you can put a nozzle back there but only if the bottle has a large capacity for a third location. The primary first two locations are the driver and the engine compartment.

If you use a non rated fuel tank as shown above ,not only should you pray but definitely use a large fire system with protection in the rear. Those tanks are questionable re intrusion protection and fire supression even with internal foam bricks, the bail handle caps often leak, and they might not have a cap flapper or rollover/vent valve in the vent line.

Using Halon you dont have to seal up every airhole and nozzle placement does not have to be from the top down as the gas will fill the entire area. With AFF you have to use top down (think showerhead) to saturate with the liquid.
 
Bugeye58 said:
10 pound minimum for a three nozzle Halon installation.
Jeff
Click to expand...
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Further to this--I currently have a 5 lb. Safecraft Halonite system installed with three nozzles: One in the engine compartment, one into the driver's footwell and one into the boot where the fuel cell is located. It is activated by the usual pull-handle located in the dash.

I'd like to follow Jeff's recommendation but do not have room for a larger bottle in the cockpit and have considered a separate 5 lb. bottle in boot. It seems to me that automatic activatation (heat or ionization sensor) would make sense and I wonder if anyone has any information on such a feature.
 
Seaching around I found that Firebottle makes a 5 lb. TrailerGuard system(https://www.firebottleracing.com/) which is entirely self-contained and heat-actuated. Does anyone have any experience with this type of system?
 
My thoughts about Halon.
Ii's a wonderful fire extinguishing system. It removes oxygen from the fire. Unfortunately it also removes oxygen from people. Many times (or places) it can be more dangerous than the fire. Like for example in a ships engine room. I persnally don't think I'd use it.
 
Well, Donn, my attitude has always been "If I have time, once I'm out of the car, I'll walk back and pull the bottle." If there's a raging inferno in the cockpit, it would be a different story, of course.
The last time I checked, the relationship between my open cockpite Sprite and a ships engine room was minute.
Another major problem with Halon is the expense of having a bottle recharged should it ever be required.
The next car I build will probably have an AFFF system in it.
Jeff
 
Donn--

My understanding is that Halon does not prevent fires by displacing oxygen (as does CO2) but rather it breaks up the combustion process by changing the way that the fire reacts to oxygen.

In any case I know from recent experience that I am not at any risk of suffocation from my system's discharging: At the October SVRA Road Atlanta event while still belted in I dropped my helmet on the discharge knob of the fire bottle. All I got was a cold right leg and a lot of laughs from the guys pitted next to me, plus a $300.00 charge to my VISA for a replacement bottle from True Choice. BTW the present system has a "T" pull handle mounted in the dash.
 
I like the idea of AFFF foam for this reason, say you have a ongoing source for fire, fuel dripping on a hot exhaust, and you discharge your Halon bottle, which puts the fire temporarly and allows you to exit the car, but then the fire gets restarted as the halon is used up, wet foam seems to me to be a permanent fire solution, sure it would make a much bigger mess than halon, but much less mess than a car continuing to burn.

I've been a big opponent of the side main hoop braces mandated in the SCCA for front low main hoop open cars, I think the SCCA would have been better off to require high front hoops. The side front braces effectively eliminate an escape area for a open cockpit car if upside down, I refer to them as "entrapmemt bars". Consider this, you have a low front hoop car that came to a rest upside down, it's on fire, you can't get out because of the "entrapment bars" that are requires now by the SCCA on a low fornt hoop design cage, the worker would have to upright the chassis tho allow you an escape path, but they can't because the fire is out of control, you're toast. So for those reasons, I want something that will put the fire out and keep it out, and I don't want to drive a car with "entrapment bars".
 
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