Fire extinguishers in engine bay, why?

[karmannghia60]

Car is a '70 T. Why do I have two fire extinguishers plumbed in the engine bay with brackets?
No lines, just the 2 extinguishers
Thanks in advance
Rafik

[JJ 911SC]

Unfinished installation for remote release. Photos?

[karmannghia60]

[JJ 911SC]

Look like they got a heat sensor detector.

Can you get the name or part number.

What kind of dust do you have in the bay?

[karmannghia60]

The car is at the panel shop hence the dusty environment
Will get better pictures and details in the next few days

[gomezoneill]

Simple answer, air cooled engines are prone to have fires.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by gomezoneill

Simple answer, air cooled engines are prone to have fires.

Poppycock. They have the same frequency of fires as any other engine not more.

They sure do happen, but the air cooled part is not the issue. The real issue is these are old cars and if the owner has not changed and upgraded fuel lines they can leak and then fires happen. Many 356s from the 1950s are still on the road and have never had a fire.

[Kool-aid-82]

Paranoia, Pyrophobia or the PO was a boyscout...

[gomezoneill]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Poppycock. They have the same frequency of fires as any other engine not more.

They sure do happen, but the air cooled part is not the issue. The real issue is these are old cars and if the owner has not changed and upgraded fuel lines they can leak and then fires happen. Many 356s from the 1950s are still on the road and have never had a fire.

Tell me then, why does almost every 911 I see have a fie extinguisher in the car mounted on the floor?

[ClickClickBoom]

Originally Posted by gomezoneill

Tell me then, why does almost every 911 I see have a fie extinguisher in the car mounted on the floor?

Old car, old fuel lines, horror stories. Fuel line replacement isn't fun nor do any performance enhanceing.
Mine is mounted to the seats BTW:


http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/730642-bk-extinguisher-mount.html

[theiceman]

Originally Posted by gomezoneill

Tell me then, why does almost every 911 I see have a fie extinguisher in the car mounted on the floor?

Because every 911 you see is going to the track like real cars always do and it is a track requirement not a car requirement ! guess not many of those water cooled guys take there appliance to the track.

thanks for coming out tho .

[Willem Fick]

Originally Posted by gomezoneill

Tell me then, why does almost every 911 I see have a fie extinguisher in the car mounted on the floor?

I also think this has to do with fact that the magnesium used in older cases burns really quickly and violently when water is added to the fire, so it there might not be time to hang around and wait for a fire-engine to arrive with the right gear to extinguish the fire?

[1979-930]

^^^ Magnesium burns hot and bright. It's like looking at an arc weld. You want the fire out before it lights off. Many 70's Mag wheels ended up in camp fires when I was young and dumb.

[Willem Fick]

Originally Posted by 1979-930

^^^ Magnesium burns like hot and bright. It's like looking at an arc weld. You want the fire out before it lights off. Many 70's Mag wheels ended up in camp fires when I was young and dumb.

X10 if water is added.

[JohnJL]

Originally Posted by Willem Fick

X10 if water is added.

Ever get someone to try and pee that fire out?

[RichardNew]

A normal fire extinguisher will no extinguish a magnesium case. Here's some fire extinguisher information.

Richard Newton

[karmannghia60]

Thanks gents, so clearly its not a factory fitment

[JJ 911SC]

Originally Posted by karmannghia60

Thanks gents, so clearly its not a factory fitment

Still, post either the make or the model.

[Cairo94507]

I think it is just wise to keep a fire extinguisher in any older car. My '67 Corvette Coupe was saved about 40 years ago when a power steering hose popped and the fluid caught fire on the hot exhaust manifold by a guy directly behind me in pick-up truck who stopped when he saw my car with smoke coming out of the side vents. I opened the hood and he squirted it out. Without his assistance, my '67 would have burned to the ground. Ever since then I carry a fire extinguisher in any of my nice cars.

In the '71 Six I have being restored, we added an on-board fire suppression system with 4 nozzles in the engine bay just for safety. Very discrete system that will not jump out at you when you look at the car. As much as these cars (old Porsches) run to buy and restore, I do not want it to suffer a fire-related death.

[RSBob]

This is a copy/paste from 914 World from a 6 cyl owner. I find the concept intriguing but aesthetically questionable. Practicality might win out.

"Running carbs on my -6 has caused me more times than I can count to think about the likelihood of a fire one day. I saw this on a member's car here I believe and so I investigated it and it sure seems like a good idea to me.

Its called BlazeCut and its a 7/8" plastic tube of fire retardant liquid that when subjected to fire, bursts releasing the liquid which immediately becomes a gas and extinguished the fire, leaving no trace to harm paint, electricals, etc.

Where the tubing comes in contact with the supports on the underside of the lid, I wrapped some of the self-fusing rubber tape to provide some abrasion protection and then used a number of zip-ties to anchor it securely to the lid. The springs don't have the umph to lift the lid as before but that's really no big deal as a trade-off for the protection.

There is a video of a demonstration on a VW bus on-line."

You can find the demo here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kswau1mGBE8

This may be worthy of its own thread so will repost.