SAW Firewall Question

John, Steve, Stu,

I'm curious what the situation is with a firewall in the SAW Speedster/Cabrio given that the engine is sitting behind the seats and under a fibreglass (?) cover? Is there any additionl fire protection between the passenger compartment and the engine bay? Or between the "trunk" that Steve just posted a photo of (looks very nice btw) and the engine bay? I'm just curious what you're dealing with if you were to have an engine bay fire.

-Jeff

The engine bay cover is insulated with what appears to be a dynamat type material on the fiberglass cover. If you are asking, "is there a steel firewall that totally isolates the driver/passenger from the engine" then I would have to say that there isn't.

I may be oversimplifying, but I feel safe in that it is my belief that an engine fire is highly unlikely. I would be less disposed to that line of thinking if I had a VW engine sitting behind me, but I think that's my personal bias. I don't want to start another replica safety thread since most of us are aware that these cars are simply not as safe as a mass produced car is.

Fair enough John. I expected that was the answer, and Wolfgang has a good point about carrying an extinguisher regardless.

I'm driving an explorer right now and I think it might have that cruise control switch that can cause a sponaneous fire.. ugh.

I agree, whether justified or not I feel safer with FI than carbs...

-Jeff

I don't think the Explorer had the type of cruise control switch as some of the bigger SUV's and pickups. Think the Expedition and the 150-350 based vehicles are the suspect vehicles.

Fire and fiberglass are bad - none of the cars have steel firewalls. Guess one could install an extinguisher system. Most people don't even carry a small portable one though. German laws require all vehicles to have a first aid kit and a fire extinguisher (and a whole lot more drivers training than in US). It ought to be mandatory in all vehicles. 2 fire extinguishers are better than one large one. I've seen some really nice chrome ones too!

Steve at SAW uses the same stuff as mentioned in the other thread asking about Dynamat. He just uses the generic (much less expensive) version you can buy just about anywhere and from what I have been told from several sources, works just as well.

I have heard that a less then 3lb fire extinguisher, or 2 equaling that won't be able to put out a normal engine bay fire anyway.

In fact just the other day I saw a Chrysler Intrepid catch fire at the battery. A 20lb fire extinguisher almost put it out but not completely, and it took a airport fire truck to finish it. The fire had been only going for about 4 minutes and was a battery fire (not fuel). I don't carry a fire extinguisher, because I can replace the car but burnt skin is painful and sometimes not replaceable. If anything I should carry marshmellows for something to do while I wait for the tow truck.

With hershey bars and graham crackers, you could have sumores. All that would be missing would be the camp songs. Can you carry a tune?