Blackbird Fabworx Fire Extinguisher Kits for NA/NB
 

Bringing another great solution to you guys from BFW. A fire extinguisher is cheap insurance, and may make the difference between stopping a bad situation before it gets worse or standing by watching your car go up in smoke while you wait for the emergency crew to get to you.

Equip yourself to be able to take action!

Blackbird Fabworx Fire Extinguisher Kit 1990-2005

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438102758

As with all products from BFW, this is an elegant solution - the bracket uses existing factory bolt locations so that you don't have to drill through your floor pan.

Kit includes everything you need for a simple bolt-in install.
* 2.5lb Halotron fire extinguisher
* Bracket
* Twin quick release latches
* All hardware

Fits both driver and passenger sides.

Robust and secure design won't come loose in a crash, unlike some of the cruder home-brew solutions/hardware which may pull through the floorpan under high forces and become a 2.5lb projectile bouncing around the cockpit.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438102758

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438102758

Looks great. This will be one of my next purchases.

<p>Can you buy the bracket separately?</p>

Serious question. How often are these little fire extinguishers actually used in the event of a car fire? I feel like if my car was on fire I would get out of the car first and foremost and then I would be very hesitant to reach back into the car to grab an extinguisher. This would probably compounded by the fact that those fire extinguishers appear to be very low capacity and I would be curious as to how often they are sufficient to tame a vehicle fire.

I am asking out of genuine curiosity because I have never seen one of these used in real-life or a video. I always see the driver exit the vehicle and safety personnel fight the fire with full size extinguishers. If these are commonly useful, it is always nice to have well designed safety equipment which this piece seems to be.

I had a fire in another car of mine several years ago that I had just put a new engine into. A P/S hose blew out about 300' from my house as I was heading home. It sprayed P/S fluid on the exhaust and it caught on fire. Smoke was pouring out from under the hood. I left it shut, ran inside, grabbed a big kitchen fire extinguisher, and it took about 2 seconds of spraying to put it all out.

I like the one he posted because it's accessible yet out of the way. Only down side is it's not huge, but if you don't have the space for a big one, this is an excellent idea. I HIGHLY recommend having a fire extinguisher in your car if it's heavily modified.

(I have a huge one in the trunk of my miata because I'm scared of fire, 8lb 13oz)

<p>*the following is pure speculation*</p><p>Usually fires will be in the engine compartment, and you'll have plenty of warning that there is something seriously wrong. I would think the biggest challenge will be getting the hood open so you can fight the fire! I would think that if you have an engine fire because of a ruptured oil line or something, then one of these would be helpful and could well prevent a lot of damage.</p><p>Edit: I see you can mount on driver or passenger. Pretty neat.</p>

Yes, we sell it for $100 as a kit with the hardware if you want to source your own bottle.

Many years ago I did a track day with Jason Cuadra (Jason C SBB) and his car caught fire under the hood while he was running up the perimeter road after a session for additional cool down time.
He was lucky to have a small fire extinguisher like that in the car because he was able to put it out right away and cruise the car back down the hill with very minor damage, IIRC only a melted throttle cable which we canibalized off of my Blackbird so he could drive home that night (I had a trailer).

Think of it as a cheap insurance policy for your health and your car.
Would you rather wait for the fire rescue crew to arrive while your car is burning or take action? :firedevil

Adding a few more application photos that I took in a customer's MSM.
Mounted on the driver side -
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438128207

On the passenger side -
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438128207

Easy to reach -
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438128207

But far down enough -
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1438128207

Don't get caught unprepared!

I didn't even realize that halon extinguishers were still available to consumers.

Curiosity:

Given that most fires in an automobile tend to be caused by fuel or oil contacting a hot surface, and that the under-hood environment is well ventilated, isn't there a much higher risk of reignition after the halon has dispersed as compared to a dry-chemical extinguisher?

I'm assuming it is Halotron. Which I believe has replaced Halon.

Link says halotron

Hey Joe,

The description in the OP has a mistake, stating that the fire extinguisher is Halon while it is Halotron.
The GWR website has the correct description if you click the link, and I have emailed Brian with a note to fix the mistake.

Regardless, Halon 1211 is still available to customers.
The cost is a good bit higher than Halotron and those who might be interested purchasing the kit with a Halon fire bottle (replacing the Halotron bottle) will be able to do so very shortly.
The kit with a Halon bottle is expected to be around $300.

There's plenty of good reading material on different types of agents and just as many good arguments for or against each one of them.
Dry chemical for example, is nasty to clean up while both Halon and Halotron leave no residue at all, so there's no cleanup needed.
One can argue that AFFF is better than all for its' strong suits.

But to me, the point of offering this product is to solve a major problem that most guys have, which is the ability to mount a fire extinguisher in the car, ANY fire extinguisher, SAFELY.
This isn't as trivial as it may seem and I've seen anything from scary solution that will make me fear for my life if the car rolled and the fire bottle went flying loose in the cabin, down to guys that have tried to drill into the floor and cut the brake system hard line under the car.
Yep, seen that one too.

The product is offered in a version that to me seems to strike a good balance of cost and value, and for guys that modify their cars and take them to the track this is an excellent upgrade of safety at a very reasonable entry fee.

And, as I answered in my previous response in the thread, you're welcome to buy the bracket alone and source your own fire bottle if you prefer a different agent :)
Matching the hole pattern with a drill shouldn't take more than a few minutes if needed.

Cheers!

Corrected my post to Halotron. I typed this post amidst quite a lot of activity at the shop today, and typed Halon without realizing the error. The product page on our website, which I did when things were much less hectic, is correct.

We've had several car fires ending in total destruction of the car at tracks here in SoCal recently. A small bottle won't be sufficient in every situation, but in more than one of those cases if the driver had had an extinguisher at the ready in their car, they would have had a very good chance of getting away with just a bit of damage to repair and a fun story. In the time it took for emergency crews to reach the car it was too far gone. I have this bottle on the driver's side under my knees. Never gets in the way, and I can have it in my hand thanks to the location and the quick-release latch in moments. If I saw smoke on-track, I'd have that thing in one hand before I even got the car to a full stop.

-Ryan

We had an NC in the shop today and got our first prototype done.
Very happy with the design, now it's all programming and putting together the first batch.
We will probably have the first NC kit on the market within the next 2-3 weeks :)

Wasn't my intention to poo-poo your thread, sorry for that.

Was just curious. Aside from CO2 (which typically comes in very large bottles and has a prompt chilling effect on the surface onto which it is dispensed), my only experience with displacement-type extinguishing agents has always been in enclosed spaces and with relatively low-temperature surroundings, such as inside a datacenter, where there's a huge, automatically-controlled halotron dispenser and large ABORT switches by every door, along with emergency breathing apparatus.

Progress report -
Flat pattern of the NC fire extinguisher mount back from waterjet.
Next up, welding and powder coating!
These things will be ready to ship at some point next week :)

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1439225759

both are currently available.


This article explains the differences between fire extinguishers.

http://amerex-fire.com/wp-content/up...nguishment.pdf

Yep, both Halon and Halotron in stock :)

it should be noted


AFFF is a foam based extinguisher that removes oxygen from a fire via a liquid/foam that covers the fire source. AFFF is preferred by the FIA. It is non-conductive, non-corrosive, and ozone-friendly. It cleans up easily by rinsing with water.

Like I said in a previous post, every agent has it's strong suits and downsides.
To me, both Halotron and Halon represent a good compromise, and if anyone wishes to bolt to the mount a different type of bottle the bracket is available without the fire extinguisher as well :)