February 2015 Newsletter
CALENDAR EVENTS Next Monthly Meeting: March 14th 9:00 a.m. Bill Penney Toyota
Heart of the South Cruisers purpose statement: HOT South Cruisers is a growing group with a positive attitude and desire to have fun as we help one another in skills and projects.
Officers Steve Lawrence President
Next Meeting Agenda Monthly club meeting. Officer elections
Roma Scosyrev Vice President
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Michael Blake Secretary Chris Davis TLCA Rep. Trail Boss
HOT South Cruisers 122 Chatham Cir Alabama A note Madison, from the club Secretary: hotsouthcruisers@gmail.com I still need your MUD handle, if you are a member. I will include this info on the club roster. Thanks, Michael <><
President's Corner Hello Cruiserheads, Hope everyone is doing well! Looks like I'll be able to make the March meeting and I'm guessing the April meeting will be at Hawk Pride for the Mardi Krawl, which I will also be present for! I've been steady working on the FJ40, but I can't seem to get her on the road. Had a blockage in the fuel tank so I had to drop that heavy tank and now I need to rinse it out a couple of times. Still need to reach deep down inside for the motivation to finish that up... Looking forward to the elections hope everyone who wanted to be a part of the officers of the club got a chance to put their names in the hat! I've really enjoyed the President's job! I've been messing around with framing and matting some Toyota stuff. What can I say I'm an addict! Hope to see everyone at the March meeting at Bill Penney Toyota. Till then keep in Low 4. Your President, Steve
Swap Shop Parts Needed FJ60 transmission boot Contact Michael Blake Parts for Sale
Minutes from the February 14th meeting We had 11 in attendance. There were 10 club members, and 1 new member added. Everyone join me in welcoming Bobby Lee! Introductions were made.
Used half tub $250.00 Kyle M. Pre 85’ H42 transmission complete and an H42 for parts, Paul Howell
Nothing to report from the TLCA this month. The Action Committee reports that the trip to the Toyota plant is cancelled. Work on the web site continues. Nominations for club officers was held in advance of next months elections.
February 26th dinner meeting List of Off road parks in the area: (contact Paul Howell with suggested additions to this list) Hale Mountain, 83 Big Rock Ln, New Market AL Stoney Lonesome, 10075 AL Hwy 69 South, Bremen c AL 35033 c Gray Rock, 7468 Old Mt Olive Road, Gardendale, Alabama Golden Mountain OHV, 6338 Golden Mountain Rd Sparta TN Morris Mountain ORV, 1524 Henry Davis Rd, Delta AL 36258 Choccoloco Mountain OHV, 1312 Louise Dr SE, Jacksonville, AL 36265
We had 6 in attendance. There were 5 club members and 1 visitor. The dinner meeting was a great success! With lots interesting conversations, technical advise being shared, a few Cruisers to see and good food.
Snow Cruisers
Nominees Office of President: Steve Lawrence, Michael Blake Office of Vice President: Roma Scosyrev, Jason Braswell, Al Vanderwerff Office of Club Secretary: Chris Davis Office of Trail Boss: Chris Davis, Jason Braswell Office of TLCA Representative: Brian Nichols
FJ40 Creative Repairs Kyle Massengale After getting Elsie back from ACC Garage in Atlanta (more on ACC later), I am now concentrating on some of the small stuff that is still needing some attention. While driving in the rain Saturday, The wipers had not worked so a week ago, I had taken them off and given them to a friend who works at a small electric generator sub-contracted firm for one of the many NASA projects. He was able to rebuild the parts needed, clean it up, and got it working again. I was happy to have wipers Saturday but then another issue popped up- a foggy windshield. In my exuberance of having wipers, I had failed to plan for the glass fog that comes with rain and cold air. While a sleeve works pretty well for a while, it is not the optimum solution. The hoses that should run from the side of the heater to the plenums had long since deteriorated. I started looking for replacements and found a few leads on eBay and some of the online stores. But they were asking an arm and a leg! I thought there must be some cheaper way to get the air flowing to a spot less than 12 inches away from the heater port. Still searching, I found a thread on the MUD forum where a guy had bought some items from the local hardware store and made his own. Hey, if he could do it, so could I. So off to Lowes at 8:30 to find possible solutions. I had measured the diameter of the heater port but failed to measure the plenum end behind the dash before I headed to Lowes. Oh, well, it wouldn't be a Kyle fix'it job without at least two trips to Lowes. I went directly to the plumbing department and picked up several elbows measuring the diameter of each one. While they are labeled 1 inch, 1 1/2 inches, and 2 inches, they really aren't that size. And the more I measured the more I thought, this doesn't work as easily as the MUD thread said it would. I told myself, "Self, just try it, if it doesn't work, return it. Just don't lose the receipt! I settled on using a black 2 inch rubber flexible elbow and a 2 inch rubber flexible coupling. I then walked up and down the aisles searching for some type of hose that would be big enough to run between the coupling and the elbow. I made my way to the shop vac section and found a 2 1/2 inch black hose. Opening up the box, I found that the end fits perfectly into the 2 inch plumbing parts. I bought all the parts for $36.41 (The most expensive part was the hose at $21.98). On my way to the garage, I was already preparing for a second run to Lowes before they closed. But, No! It worked! It was the right size! The elbow fits snuggly on the heater port and the coupling fits perfectly on the plenum. All I had to do is measure the distance between the two and cut the hose.
The pictures show my handy work with the clamps still attached. Since it stays secure without the clamps, I will be removing them for a 'factory' install look. Now no more foggy glass and damp sleeves! Better yet, two defrost hoses for less than forty bucks and they look better than OEM's!
Eli Williams' Car Show April 18th, 9am-3pm Lindsay Lane Baptist Church In December 2011 7-years-old Eli began fighting a brain cancer called Medulloblastoma. He was diagnosed with metastatic, high-risk disease with over half a dozen tumors in his brain and up and down his spine. He fought the monster with radiation and chemo for 9 months at St. Jude and showed no evidence of disease for a year and a half. In December 2013, one day after his ninth birthday, Eli's scans showed relapse with multi-focul disease. With no cure or proven treatment, his family has seen the ups and downs of a painful journey of hope. Eli is now 10 and last week his family recieved news that new spots have shown up in his scans. They are taking the next 3 weeks off from chemo to allow his body to get stronger for what lies ahead. Eli loves Mustangs and Rock Crawlers. Last year an impromptu car show was put together in his honor. This year Eli wanted to help a little friend out, Leah Seibert, a St. Jude patient by honoring her and collect donations that day. It's $30 if you want to pre-order a shirt with your registration, or $15 w/o a shirt, both include goodie bags and entry into door prizes and contest for trophies, or it's free if you just want to bring your ride and hang out, but they still would appreciate registering so they can plan. There will also be craft and product booths, something for everybody, kids area, food and live music after lunch. Please let Kyle know if you plan to attend. The local mustang club will have a good turnout of mustangs and it would be great if we could have a good group of FJ's. It does not matter if it is old, new, rusty, or spotless. What matters is that we can put some smiles on some kids faces that day.
The following club members have annual membership renewal due in the amount of $20.00; January Hank Rinehart Mike Weesner February Ken Christian Grant McCormick March Taylor Abington Please remember we are now able to accept checks. Contact the club secretary for instructions.