Fire Extinguisher Installation

As the Defender will soon become irreplaceable, a fire extinguisher seemed like a wise accessory to fit. A 2kg CO2 variant was chosen as it does not leave a residue if it is used. The fire risks are in the cabin and engine bay, both of which are enclosed spaces that the CO2 can displace oxygen from.

To mount the extinguisher safely in the cabin, a transport bracket was bought from Safelincs.co.uk

A 300mm length of 3" x 1" 10swg aluminium box section was bought from ebay to allow the bracket to be mounted securely to the rear door. The door card is spaced of the inner door skin by around 1", so this gives a strong foundation to bridge the gap.

The bolts used to mount the spare wheel carrier are used to mount the box section, so the carrier was removed to mark the holes before drilling:

 

The holes were drilled out using a 8.5mm drill to clear the M8 bolts.

 

Before refitting the spare wheel carrier, some double sided foam tape was applied to the mounting faces to act as a barrier that should help stop damage to the painted surface of the door.

Using a magnetic tool the washers were lowered down to the bolts inside the box section

The nuts were fitted in a similar way. It's a bit fiddly but works well.

 

 

For the bottom bolt, the washer and nut were offered up to the bolt by balancing them on the magnetic pick up tool. 

 

A birds eye view of the box section shows the bolts and washers in place.



 

The box section is shown here bolted in place.

After marking and drilling the 3 mounting holes for the bracket, the 4mm holes were tapped with an M5 tap.

Some of the acoustic foam on the back of the door card was removed to allow correct fitting.

 

The 5mm holes in the door card are shown here, lined up with the holes drilled and tapped in the box section. The pilot holes were drilled through the door card to ensure proper alignment.

The bracket was fitted using M5 bolts with countersunk slot heads.

 

The fire extinguisher is shown here hanging on the vehicle mount bracket.

And with the rear door closed.

The clearance between the bottom of the fire extinguisher and the floor.