Hi,

Today on this episode of "Shade Tree Mechanics" were gonna install a simple custom fire extinguisher mount in front of the passenger seat of a Nissan 350Z.

oohhh, la..la...

lol,

1ST:
Okay,

I started off with a piece of Aluminum Angle. 1/8 thick, 1-1/2 x 48. of course you can buy a shorter piece, but this is what i found at the local hardware store raw materials bin. My own home supply of aluminum is getting thin...

any-who.. cut this sucker down to about 14.5 inches.
I have a chop saw, but a dremel tool will work just fine.



2ND PIC:
The second pic is of the brace that is currently mounted under the passenger seat. grab a 10 mm wrench and remove the two small bolts that hold this on both sides.
I removed it so that i can trace the hole locations back onto the aluminum.


- J

 

NEXT:

I removed the seat from the car to make this easy on me, but you really don't have to...up to you.

You need to remove this sheet metal tab that is hold an electrical clip. Its the clip to the weight sensor on the passenger seat to detect if someone is sitting there and not wearing their seat belt.



now, you can drill out the spot welds with a small drill bit, grab a dremel and cut the tab off, or you can do like i did, and grab some plyers and man handle it till it shears off.....


- J

 

THEN:

I WENT TO MY TRUSTY DRILL PRESS and drilled the mounting holes and test mounted the bracket on the seat. Drill the holes toward the end so you can push the mount as far forward as possible...for better accessibility. You kinda want to get as much out of that 1-1/2 inch angle as possible.

See pics:

 

I PURCHASED THIS ONE!
You have to remove these parts from the mounting bracket.



NOTE: This is a typical inexpensive dry chem extinguisher - I have a Halo extinguisher hanging from my harness bar - and if i were to have an engine fire, i would go for that one first! as Dry Chem needs to be cleaned off the engine aluminum as it can be corrosive if left on and not washed off...


-J

 

POSITIONING:

Now before you go drilling the holes for the mount, be sure you have a gap at the end to clear the swinging arm that is back there for adjusting the seat. if you don't, then the arm will constantly hit the fire extinguisher....which probably wouldn't hurt anything, but who knows.

oh ya, and some rattle can black paint finishes it off nice........I purchased the "textured" one....love that stuff...lol..

SEE PICS!


- J

 

INTERFERENCE

Here it is installed. Not noticeable really unless the seat is pushed most of the way back, it can go back more here, but i was trying to be real world where the seat is normally positioned.

I know its there and i have it for back up. With in reach and ready to go!


- J

 

done!

I wanted a fire extinguisher, becuase i dont know how many times at events i have seen small fires break out.....

you will be surprised how a 15 sec shot from a fire extinguisher will save the day!

of course its not to put out an car on fire on the side of the road, but its to prevent a car from getting to that point....

Our local autoX venues always hire a guy to come out with fire extinguishers and park his truck and unload a bunch of fire extinguishers in case of an emergency, but i would rather have one within arms reach and not on the other side of the course.


HOPE YOU GUYS LIKE IT.
- J

EDIT:
This is my harness bar mount HALON fire extinguisher:

 

OH YA, THIS LOOKS LIKE IT WILL ONLY WORK ON Z's WITH CLOTH SEATS. as i checked my old leather seats and the motors seem to be in the way...boo....

 

.

 

oh ya! BOLTS under the seat are M8x1.25. If you remove the black brace and just use the aluminum you can reuse the bolts.

but if you care to keep the brace and mount the aluminum on top of that, the stack up becomes to great and you need to buy at least 20mm long - M8X1.25 bolts.

No nuts are needed as the nuts are welded to the seat flanges, acting as a permanent nut-plate. (you can see the nuts in post #3 - at blue arrows!)

And of course to mount the fire extinguisher to the aluminum angle you need a set of bolts and nuts, washer, lock-washer too if your picky....this model fire extinguisher had holes perfect for 1/4 bolts/hardware. M8 x 1.XX hardware would work here also of course.

-J

 

haha - good thing I dont have leather seats...Awesome job J..

 

Dang engineers...

Looks great man.

 

Very Cool Jason. Way to go. I like that alot. I guess most of the people that will want to do it will have track models anyways.

Well Done !!!

 

sweet. Another track day DIY. Keep it up with all the ideas man.

 

^^^ thanks guys......

 

You never cease to amaze! Nice job man.

 

I had someone ask if i could make it more forward...you can do this easily if you purchase metal or nylon standoff's.....

STANDOFF/SPACERS are cylindrical tubes with an inner diameter equal to the shank diameter of extra long bolts used to secure the fire extinguisher holder to the aluminum bracket......

lowes, home depot, fastenal.com all sell them.


see here: http://www.winfordeng.com/products/ssn.php

I personally don't think you need to do this, but its an option. if you pay attention to the latch on the mount you can see that its oriented to when someone reaches for it, you grab and pull up and wham...the fire extinguisher if free.........quick as pie...
-j

 

more of my harness bar mount one..




-J

 

i have the fire extinguisher, but need a quick release, any idea on where to buy one or any ideas on how to make one?

 

Great write up as always Jason!