NEHA

walterclark wrote:I was under the impression that the Halotron you mentioned is a portable so the term "hookup" confuses me as that sounds like what you would do with an on-board suppression system. Please clarify what sort of 5 lb. Halotron you are referring to...portable or installed. The reason I ask is that a portable extinguisher is required. Installed systems may also be in the car but they do not replace the portable requirement.

Yes it is portable but there is a mounting bracket that I will need to mount somewhere in the car. I am not sure what is the best spot for it or the best practices.

Good to get that clear.

Someone with more familiarity with you 'vettes exact layout may be able to suggest a good spot for an extinguisher that is probably almost 6" in diameter, over 15" long and weighs around 10 pounds.

In general and as I wrote before, avoid mounting in the drivers footwell as it presents a safety problem if it were to come out of the straps.

Use an all metal strap mount that secures the bottle with at least 2 straps, or one strap and 2 fixed restraints (e.g. a fork at the neck and cup around the bottom).

Securely attach the mounting bracket to the vehicle. If attaching to something like the floor on the passenger side - thru bolt it and put some backing on the back side like shoulder washers or sheet metal to keep the nuts from pulling thru the floor when put under the loads of a crash. You can clamp the mount to cockpit structures like the rollbar. Personally I would avoid using screw type hose clamps for this because there is no published data for any that I see that indicates how they will react to a shock load and 10 pounds in a crash can generate a lot of shock load. T-bolt clamps would be OK. And you want to avoid anything that would tend to distort or crush the rollbar itself. like a muffler clamp. I would use a pair of something like these if they fit the bar and bracket:


There are pin-pull bracket systems that you clamp to the bottle with t-bar clamps and attach to the selected mounting surface in appropriate manner. Drake Off Road carries one - part # FREXMNTDOR. It seems the "clamp kits" available are for 1-2.5 lb bottles but nothing I see written precludes using it for a 5 lb.

You may also find one of the stupidly expensive billet aluminum systems that clamp the extinguisher in a sleeve and pin it to a bracket that is mounted to the floor or cage - like the show car version of the above.. Nothing wrong with them, but the cost. I havent seen one that is made for larger than 2.5lb Halotron bottles.

Walter - When you meantion multiple straps you are talking about a 5 lb or larger bottle. For the smaller bottles a metal strap with a fork at the neck is acceptable, correct?

walterclark wrote:You may also find one of the stupidly expensive billet aluminum systems that clamp the extinguisher in a sleeve and pin it to a bracket that is mounted to the floor or cage.

When I took a look at the 1.4 lb Halotron that billet mount was all I could find. It looks nice but it isn't cheap. I didn't see the pin. That might answer my question about it. I couldn't see what kept the bottle in sleeve if the car turned over.

KevinGale wrote:Walter - When you meantion multiple straps you are talking about a 5 lb or larger bottle. For the smaller bottles a metal strap with a fork at the neck is acceptable, correct?

Yes.

KevinGale wrote:When I took a look at the 1.4 lb Halotron that billet mount was all I could find. It looks nice but it isn't cheap. I didn't see the pin. That might answer my question about it. I couldn't see what kept the bottle in sleeve if the car turned over.

The sleeves on those billet jobs I have seen is split and are cut to clamp tightly to the bottle when clamping screws across the split are tightened. The pin joins the sleeve to the base so all you need do to remove he extinguisher (w/sleeve) it is pull the pin.

Here are pictures of the fire extinguisher with the mounting bracket:

It looks like that is only a BC and not an ABC type.

sachilles wrote:It looks like that is only a BC and not an ABC type.

Yes, as mentioned earlier in the thread, only 11 Lb Halotron extinguishers or larger have an "A" rating.

Another option would be to just get a 2.5 lb ABC extinguisher, ~20 bucks at a hardware store for a basic Kidde one. The all metal kidde brackets can be had with one strap for a few dollars. When I did mine I wanted two straps so I bought two brackets and took the strap off one and riveted it on the other. Or you could get one of the two strap amerex brackets for $12, which look to be better made. http://safedrives.com/products.asp?cat=31 (Look at the bottom of the page)

The smaller size of the 2.5 lb extinguisher might prove to be easier to mount in an easily accessible location, and you could always install your 5lb someplace else if you wanted.

RacingFrog wrote:Here are pictures of the fire extinguisher with the mounting bracket:

Yes, that extinguisher (exceeds the "1.25-lb net Halon" requirement) and bracket with 2 straps meet our requirements. It looks like the bracket was originally for another model based on the bails on the straps - since those are typically bent like that to capture a hose. However, we do not state that the bracket and extinguisher must be made for one another (unlike "Coast Guard Approved" requirements which state that the bracket number and extinguisher number must be USCG approved and used together).