Safety thoughts...

I've always had a mind to occupant safety whilst building this car, in particular fire safety. Sitting just in front of a fuel tank, surround by fibreglass that likes to burn and strapped in by a decent harness I feel that something that can give any extra time to get out is vital. If it manages to stop the car destroying itself then even better!

So I started looking around at various extinguisher systems that ranged from a small hand held mounted in the passenger compartment to a full blown plumbed in system with multiple nozzles and electric triggering.

Well me being me I think the full blown system has to be the way to go!

There are various systems on the market and after looking around I think that the lifeline systems look to be the way I will go. www.lifeline-fire.co.uk

They offer two options in my book.

1. Zero 2000 foam based system.

2. Zero 360 gas based system.

(Click links to see the systems)

Both systems offer boot mounted cylinder with the 360 either stored pressure or remote charge piston option.

Price in my book is irrelevant, yes some may say well what are the chances of you being involved in a fire and why bother with that expense. All I say is that's not something I want to have to justify in future, either to my passengers family or at the pearly gates.

Next big question is which system to go for, the foam or gas? I've seen representation from knowledgeable quarters who say foam, as it has good capability at putting the fire out and keeping it out as it coats the area.

But I've also been advised by Lifeline that the gas system is definitely the best option as it has greater capability at knocking the fire down and putting it out.

I'm told the foam system needs to "see" the fire as the foam is directional so the nozzles need careful positioning, whereas the gas is not directional and floods the area ensuring good coverage.

So further investigation is required I think to make sure the gas system can cope with the open nature of the cob engine bay and how good is it at keeping the fire out.

Whichever system I go for it will be electrically operated and I want to have two dash mounted trigger switches, one easily reachable from each seat position. I'm thinking the flip top covered switch style.


Maybe also a key arm switch to select which switch is live, one for driver only, 2 for passenger and driver. I know the system comes with an off switch but I want to be able to add in a double check to make sure the system does not get accidentally triggered.

I may even add in some additional logic to make sure that the system cannot be armed if either of the two fire switches are in circuit and in the fire position, again more thought needed.

One final though was running the hard line up the chassis now before the body goes on, the gas system uses 8mm coated pipe and the foam 6mm. Either way its not something Id like to try and feed through the body at a later date, looking at Simons build pics (one attached below - hope he wont mind!) I think there will be enough room to feed the tube to a point above the roll bar mount and then couple in the final line from the boot once the body is on.

If you imagine the above picture from the other side without the fuel hose in place then I think the pipe should run through there OK, clipped in place over the mount and on to an inline joint level with the rear shock mount. A small protective cover can then be fashioned to keep the joint safe from road debris.

I think that's about it on this for now, more investigation is required into system suitability.