Fire surpression procedure

[thstone]

I have seen two Boxster fires at the race track - both were the result of the power steering rubber line melting and leaking power steering fluid onto a hot engine which ignited.

In both instances it was hopeless to try to put out the fire with a handheld extinguisher (and both cars had a handheld extinguisher). By the time the driver noticed what was happening, slowed to a stop and exited, it was time to stand back and wait for the professional fire team to do the firefighting.

My recommendation is if your car is ever on fire, get out and to hell with the car. Your first, second, third, fourth, and fifth concerns are the safety of yourself (and your possible passenger).

If you really want to have a chance of saving your car, invest $1500 in a remote bottle fire suppression system that has hard lines going from the bottle to the engine compartment. Then you hit the remote release button as you exit and hope that it does the job while you wait for the fire dept to show up.

[jaykay]

Is there a steel braided ps line upgrade that needs to be done on these cars? Tom any other OPEX on the susceptible lines? Yeah I have seen a 911 go .....there were seconds and then 10 feet plus of flame. All moved well back in hurry there was nothing that could be done

[thstone]

Originally Posted by jaykay

Is there a steel braided ps line upgrade that needs to be done on these cars? Tom any other OPEX on the susceptible lines? Yeah I have seen a 911 go .....there were seconds and then 10 feet plus of flame. All moved well back in hurry there was nothing that could be done

The most common fix is to install an under drive pulley. That slows the power steering pump pulley which seems to reduce the temp of the power steering fluid. The under drive pulley won't affect the power steering.

When I had to replace the power steering lines (due to going off track, hitting debris, and ripping them out from under the car), I don't remember any SS upgrades available. That doesn't mean that they're not available but I couldn't find any. I suppose someone could fab them or have a shop custom fab them.