January 2014 Newsletter

Transcription

1 Visit: January 2014 Newsletter OFFICERS: President: Wayne Bane Vice President: Peter Sarkis Secretary: Mary Beth Meyer Treasurer: Jerry Longstreth NOMINATION OF OFFICERS The Pitt Birds welcome Wayne Bane to the position of President, effective January 1, The Pitt Birds welcome Mary Beth Meyer to the position of Secretary, effective January 1, 2014 The Pitt Birds thank Bob Macek for his twelve years of service as President. The Pitt Birds thank Betty Macek for her ten years of service as Secretary. The Pitt Birds welcome Rich and Ann Augustine to the position of Historian, effective January 1, The Pitt Birds thank Carol Vivaldi for her fourteen years of service as Historian. Peter Sarkis will continue in the position as Vice President Jerry Longstreth will continue in the position as Treasurer

2 RECENT EVENTS: Holiday Dinner: Saturday, January 18, 2014 Forty-two Pitt Birds members celebrated their holiday dinner at Peter s Place Restaurant. The hors d oeuvres, dinner and dessert were delicious. After dinner Bob Macek introduced the 2014 officers: President: Wayne Bane Vice President: Peter Sarkis Secretary: Mary Beth Meyer Treasurer: Jerry Longstreth Historians: Rich and Ann Augustine After the introductions, Peter Sarkis, on behalf of the Pitt Birds, thanked Bob Macek for his twelve years of service as club president. Bob listened to a short roast about his experiences as president and then Pete presented him with a Thunderbird pocket watch for time and effort well served. Betty Macek was acknowledged and thanked for her ten years of service as club secretary. Carol Vivaldi who has been the club historian for the past fourteen years was acknowledged and thanked for her services. Both were presented with bouquets of flowers. After the formal ceremonies, members participated in a lively gift exchange and everyone went home with a new gift. Fun, family, and friends appeared to be the theme of this enjoyable evening. Our thanks go out to Bob and Betty Macek for organizing and hosting the dinner. 2

3 Holiday Dinner: Saturday, January 18, 2014 Bob and Betty Macek Wayne Bane, Carol Vivaldi, Pete Sarkis Wayne Bane and Bob Macek exchanging gifts 3 Fred and Nancy Antill showing off their gifts

4 UPCOMING EVENTS: Winter Meeting: Thursday, February 6, 2014 The Pitt Birds will meet at 6:30 PM at Kings Restaurant which is located at the intersection of I-79 and Route 910. GPS: 105 VIP Drive, Wexford, PA We will discuss and finalize ideas for the 2014 adventures. Please bring your suggestions to the meeting or contact Wayne Bane at or Jerry Longstreth at Phipps Conservatory: Sunday, February 16, 2014 The Pitt Birds will meet at 12:00 noon and tour the Phipps Conservatory in Schenley Park. Following the tour we will have lunch at the Schenley Park Café and Visitor Center which is adjacent to the Conservatory. GPS: 700 Frank Curto Drive Pittsburgh, PA If you have any questions, call Barbara Longstreth at Atlantic City Classic Auto Auction and Car Show: Saturday, March 1, 2014 Bill Snyder is running a bus trip to Atlantic City. The bus will leave from Robinson Township and Monroeville at 1:00-1:30 AM Saturday morning, arrive in Atlantic City at 9:00 AM, leave Atlantic City at 7:30 PM, and return to Pittsburgh at 2:00 AM Sunday morning. If you are interested, please contact Bill Snyder at UPCOMING INTERNATIONAL EVENTS: Mocking Bird Run VI May 2-4, 2014 Oakridge, TN Visit: VTCI Vintage Thunderbird Club International Convention May 28-31, 2014 New Orleans, LA Visit: TBN Thunderbirdnest Bluegrass Cruising June 11-15, 2014 Lexington, KY Visit: CTCI Classic Thunderbird Club International Convention July 1-6, 2014 Springfield/Branson, MO Visit: Mardi Gras Celebration: TUESDAY, 7:00 PM, March 4, 2014 The Pitt Birds will be celebrating Mardi Gras at the R E Club in Sharpsburg. Club member, Ron Hopkinson, the club s disc jockey will play the oldies. Costumes and Beads are available and encouraged. GPS: 65 7th Street, Sharpsburg, PA

5 FOR SALE: 2004 Thunderbird: Rare Vintage Mint Green with optional Whisper White Interior Accents. All options including removable hardtop with boot. 10,000 miles. $26,500. Contact Peter Sarkis Golf Shirts: If you would like to purchase a Turquoise / Thunderbird blue golf shirt with the Pitt Birds logo, contact Wayne and Dolly Bane at: The price is $30.00 ($32.00 for XXL). Tee Shirts: With the Pitt Birds club logo are for sale for $15.00 each. Shipping and handling to your address is an additional $3.00. Limited supply remaining, sizes available; 6 large and 6 medium. Contact Carol Vivaldi at: MEMBERSHIP: Current Membership: 64 Member Families Wishing a rapid recovery to: Barry Henderson Karen Sarkis Jon Strebeck TREASURY: Current Balance as of January 1, 2014: $3, Wanted: 1930 or 1931 Ford Roadster. Contact Frank Rybicki at: To advertise in the newsletter, please contact at: gll1231@msn.com or Jerry Longstreth 2014 Dues Payment: If you have not paid your 2014 dues, your payment is due. Please make the dues payment of $20.00 to: Pitt Birds 1723 Pleasant Avenue West Mifflin, PA If you have paid your dues, you should have received a membership card in the mail. 5

6 Electrical Leaks Reprinted from CASCO newsletter, September 2013 Electrical leaks are an unwanted current flow and can occur due to worn or damage insulation, corroded connections or excessive dampness. This is nothing more annoying than jumping into your Thunderbird in full anticipation of an enjoyable drive and finding the battery too low to start the car. If you think you have an electrical leak (or short) that is running down your battery here s how to find it: 1. Turn off everything that uses electricity. 2. Remove the battery cable that goes to the starter solenoid from the battery. 3. Connect a multimeter set to measure DC volts between the battery terminal and the cable. If it reads battery voltage there is leakage or a short. 4. Switch your meter to read DC amps (start on the highest range to prevent damage to the meter) and measure the current flow. If the reading is 1 amp or more then quite likely there is something still turned on. Any current flow between 1 amp and.01 amps is a major electrical leak. Less than.01 amps is a minor leak. 5. If a leak is detected, first clean the battery terminals, battery top, and battery cables, then one a time remove fuses and disconnect wires until the current drops to zero. When it does, you ve found the source of the leak. How to Find a 12 Volt Wiring Short By Jonra Springs, ehow Contributor 1. Remove the positive terminal from the battery by loosening the terminal bolt with an adjustable wrench. Pull the cable away from the battery to prevent the terminal from making contact with the positive post. 2. Refer to the wiring schematic for 12-volt electrical systems in cars to find all the electrical wiring involved in the non-functioning device. Locate each of the physical wires in the car that are shown in the wiring diagram. 6 How to Find a 12 Volt Wiring Short (Continued) By Jonra Springs, ehow Contributor 3. Set a multimeter to "ohms" to perform continuity tests on each of the wires. Zero out the ohms scale on an analog multimeter by touching the leads together and setting the needle on zero with the calibrating wheel or dial. 4. Touch one lead to one end of a wire and the other lead to the other end. Avoid touching the leads while taking a reading, as your skin will affect the resistance being measured. Use long lead extension wires with alligator clip ends if necessary for reaching both ends of long wires. 5. Read the ohms values shown on the meter display. A reading reflected by any number shows a good wire. An infinite reading shows a short in the wire. Replace any wire that proves to have a short with this test to restore service to the on-board appliance. Troubleshoot an Electrical Drain on Early Thunderbirds Author Unknown Remove the positive battery cable off and connect the test light between the battery cable (you just took off) and the battery post it came from. If the light shines you have a drain. If it doesn't shine, your battery may have an internal short. To troubleshoot the drain, disconnect the B wire from your voltage regulator. If the light goes off, put the B wire back on and lift the other two (generator) wires off your voltage regulator. If it still stays on, your regulator is shorted to ground. Remove the voltage regulator cover and inspect the relays, the normally open contact on the far RH side may be stuck together, a coil may be shorted or the resistors may be bad. If your light stays on when pulling the B wire off your regulator, put it back on and go to the starter solenoid. Disconnect the battery wires from that post. All the wires to your dash, windows, seats and headlights start here. If the light goes off when you pull the wires off the starter solenoid, follow the yellow wire. Make sure it isn't frayed and arcing anywhere. This wire has no fuse.

7 Tracking Down the Suspect Fuse By: Tom Taylor, RockAuto.com Tracking down the circuit that is draining the battery gets harder if the problem is intermittent. Current drains can often be found by unplugging connectors or removing fuses and then using an ammeter or test light to bridge the disconnected electrical contacts. There is current draining away if the test light turns on or the ammeter gives an amp reading. However, disconnecting connectors or pulling fuses might also sometimes only hinder diagnosis by inadvertently making the problem temporarily go away. This is especially true for newer, computerized cars. Disconnecting power might reset the computer controlling a problem circuit so that the problem temporarily disappears. For example, maybe a body computer is staying on forever because it is receiving a signal that a door is still ajar. Disconnecting power to the computer or the door sensor might reset everything back to normal until the next time the offending door is opened or some other trigger reactivates the problem. Disconnecting things can delay tracking down intermittent problems on cars from almost any era. Diodes, capacitors, electromagnetic relays and other basic electronic components with problems might be temporarily reset if their host part is unhooked from the vehicle s positive and/or ground connections. Here is another method for troubleshooting battery drains. Instead of unplugging stuff and using the ammeter function on your multimeter, leave everything hooked up and use the multi-meter s voltmeter function set to millivolts. Voltage (V) equals current (I) multiplied by resistance (R) or V=I x R. Everything, even the best automotive wire or fuse, has at least some tiny resistance. R is always greater than zero. Therefore, any current (I) flowing through a fuse (with R resistance) will create a measurable voltage (V) drop across the fuse. 7 Remember to set the multi-meter to millivolts. The fuse s resistance is very small so the voltage across the fuse will be small. Put the meter s probes on the exposed ends of old style glass fuses. Put the probes on the two exposed contact points on the backs of blade fuses (see photo). If the measured millivolts are anything above zero, then current is passing through that fuse and the circuit protected by that fuse might contain the malfunctioning part that is draining the battery. It might be normal for current to be traveling through some fuses even when the engine is off and the key is out of the ignition. New cars often have systems that are designed to stay powered up for minutes or even hours after the car is turned off. Old cars may have clocks, alarms and other systems that always draw current but not enough to quickly drain the car battery. Comparing millivolt readings from known and unfamiliar fuses can help track down something abnormal. Let s say the fuse for the dome light circuit has four millivolts across it when the dome light is on. That means another circuit with a seven millivolt reading across its fuse would definitely drain the battery if allowed to draw current indefinitely after the car is shut off. Continue to track down the problem by using the owner s manual or service manual to find out what parts and systems are on a suspect fuse s circuit.