Cool suit

Cool Suit Instructions

First, watch the video[1] (always a good start) it makes things vastly more obvious..

The read the following assembly process

1. Shirt Assembly

    	A. See “silicone spot image” use the silicone tube to draw this image as shown on shirts to be used. Please use shirts that are 100% cotton, or nomex/fireproof ONLY. Please DO NOT USE polymer blend shirts as they are flammable.
   	B. Apply silicone design to shirts as shown and allow to dry. 
  	C. Cut holes in silicone openings and run silicone tubing through said holes. The silicone is used to keep the tubing from fraying the shirt as well as to hold the tubing in place.
   	D. Feed the silicone tubing through the shirt once the holes are cut as shown in the diagram. Leave a tail of at least 4 feet of tubing for each shirt. This will need to feed out your firesuit and connect to the cooling lines.

E. Get out the small white plastic tubing adapters. Slide the thin end into the blue tubing and tighten with the small zip tie. F. Get out the milky polyethylene tubing and cut 4” from each end (2 pieces). Push one end onto the plastic tubing adapter and zip tie. G. slide on the tubing clamp on each tube, then insert the male quick connect in each end.

  	Use Tips: ALWAYS wear another Nomex layer underneath the cool suit shirt layer. It prevents chafing and improves fire retardance. Wear the shirt tight, it will compress the tubing to your skin and provide added cooling. Avoid running the cooling lines below the straps of the seat belts and from under your neck or HANs device. This could pinch the tubing and reduce the flow of cold water.

2. Cooler Assembly A. Measure and locate the two holes to cut into the cooler

               Hole locations: 

Hole diameter (use hole saw to cut) 1.5” (38mm) Left Hole, from left side 2.25” (58mm)

                       Left Hole, Down from top of white inner edge 2.0” (50mm)

RightHole, from right side 2.5” (64mm)

                       Right Hole, Down from top of white inner edge 6.5” (165mm)  

Tips: please use a hole saw. Barring that, clean knife cuts or fast rotating paddle bits have worked in a pinch. Remember you will use silicone to adhere the bulkhead parts in place do don’t freak out if your hole isn’t perfect. Please adhere to these locations, the bulkheads need to be inboard enough not to hit the inner edge of the cooler, and high enough not to be impeded by the mounting bracket. B.Take Bulkheads and black gasket, coat behind and in front of black gasket (white gasket is optional on front of cooler) as well as lightly coat exposed foam inside of holes with silicone material. Push into place and fasten outer “ bulkhead nut” fitting tightly by hand. Don’t crush the inner wall, just put it on nice and tight. Wear a rubber glove when applying, wipe away excess (a popsicle stick can substitute here for a nice smooth edge as well). Allow to dry (3 hours). This should give you time to build the rest of the cooler (you’ll have it done sooner than that, don’t worry.)

3. Mount Layout (A-E) & Assembly (F-) A.locate where you will place the cooler in your race car. Be sure to leave room to plumb them, think of where the lines will protrude out of the front and where your wiring will go. Laying all your writing and tubing in position is a great way to know where it will all fit. Point the lines away from any walls. Please start inside the truck area or behind a wall where if for some awful reason it broke free it would not contact the driver. B. Test the positioning by practicing refilling a block of ice in the cooler. Could you reach it during a pit stop? Could you reach it if you were in a firesuit with a helmet on? Could you close it up too? Be sure you can, FAST. C. Test the location of the switch near the driver, can you flip it when seated in your race suit with your helmet on? Can someone easily reach it if they’re diving in through the window to help you get in or out? Great! D. Last test, can you reach the quick connect lines to your suit! Make sure you can! We recommend putting them on the door side of the driver so that anyone assisting the driver on driver changes can help too. Don't forget the driver still has to be able to do it all by themself! E. ok, you should know where things are going to go now. Do you have your tools out (power drill/driver, sharpie to mark, wrenches to tighten (nothing fancy))? Great! F. Get out that sharpie & lay out the 4 biggest angle iron pieces around the cooler (the longest section is flat against the deck, the short side pushes on the cooler. Mark around the angle iron with the sharpie so you can pull the cooler away (have it there to know where you’re laying it out). Now pull the cooler away, use the sheet metal screws to hold down the angle iron, leave a center hole open in front of and behind the cooler, that’s where we’ll connect the eyelet loops in the next step. G. Drill a hole through the center of the longest sides (front and back angle iron sections) to hold the eyelets. Use the washers on either side and then the locknut below to hold them in place. H. Use the last smallest length angle iron piece as a mount for the switch and any other miscellaneous gauges you may have in the car, screw it to the dash (with the self tapping screws) or similarly mountable area.

4. Motor Assembly A. Using the layout you identified earlier for where you switch will go, locate the motor just in front of the lower output bulkhead (the low side of the cooler where you put the hole) at least 9” away (leave some room for the hose to come out and reach the lowest point). Secure the pump there. Note when the pump is screwed down by the shield, The outlet flow will point away from the pump horizontally, while the intake will come in from above. This is when you mount the pump so that the screws that hold it down are straight up and down (set these in front of you and it makes perfect sense.) B. Secure the pump in place with the screws. C. Fit the bulkhead plastic barbs in place now (they look like hose heads from your garden hose on one side and the other side will just fit in the milky polyethylene tubing.) Wrap the threads with the included teflon tape first. D. Connect the red wire on the motor to the included red wire. Run that (with space to adhere it to the floor and use the included zip tie wraps to hold it down in place. The same goes for the black wire to the negative motor lead (note, this is the black one). Both wires should be brought to where the switch will be (leaving the space to connect it to the floor as mentioned before, you want to route it so the cable is out of the way of your feet when switching drivers). E. Cut the black wire and join it to one end of the switch with the butt connector, then the same with the black wire at the other end of the switch. Continue routing the wire in a safe, away from the driver location to the 12 volt cigarette power outlet. Note: repeatedly test the flow of the pump (and thus the polarity of the voltage coming out of the cigarette lighter) so the water flows correctly out of the pump!

5. Line Assembly A. Take the milky large diameter polyethylene tubing and measure it to two identical lengths (one will run to the shirt, the other from the shirt back to the cooler). B. Run one section of the tubing from the lower bulkhead to the pump, then match the tubing remaining length to the door side of the driver where it will be located for their use. Hand tighten the hose clamps over the tubing. DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN! Only hand tight, do not crush the material, the pump heads will crack if over tightened. That’s bad. C. Run the tubing to the other bulkhead Tips, to soften the ends of the tubing use the exhaust from a generator or car. It’s just warm enough to soften the plastic without damaging it. Try 5-10 second blasts of heat (hold it a couple of inches away from the tip, don’t want to scorch/melt the plastic.) Then it will slide right over the pump and barbs to stay put. D. Cut the foam insulation to fit over the tubing (peel the yellow tape and it’ll stick to itself), and use the zip tie mounts to hold the insulated cooling lines in place.

6. Testing A. Put in a 10lb. block of ice. fill with water till the water covers the upper bulkhead hole (this is important). Connect your cool shirt and run it. B. Does it leak? C. Does the water flow? D. Does the pump lack pressure? E. How long does it last (put on your firesuit over it all and see if you don’t appreciate it then!).