I got the unit today, and I have to admit,  I didn’t expect the game to be in such bad condition.  There are cracks and chips and holes, oh my.  The unit is pretty dirty, and the playfield needs lots of work.

Never mind that the unit does not come up at all.  So I started with the game electronics to see if I could get them to come up with at least some self test data.  Unfortunately, this was not to be so.  So I break out the manual and schematics and start from there.

The MPU module LED was constantly on, and the VIDEOT board LED quit flashing after the 4^th flash.  I burned a new EPROM for the VIDEOT board U10 (as the self test LED indicated) with no success after installing it in it’s socket.  I probed around the pins of the EPROM and everything looked O.K., but I was not convinced – so I installed a new socket at U10, and BINGO!!!  The VIDEOT board gave all 11 flashes, meaning it was ready to take instructions from the MPU.

I was able to get the system to go into the communications test, and there were problems indicated. I needed a break from the boards for awhile, so I moved over to the playfield.

I removed the playfield plastics for cleaning.  The rubbers were so far gone that you could smell the rot (I could actually smell this while it first arrived in the crate!).  I’m afraid to touch the playfield with anything until I get the wildcat and Novus 3 polishes that I have read so much about.

On the underside of the playfield, there were several burned coils, on that had been disconnected by previously, and the coil was burned completely BLACK! So I removed the bad coils, and readjusted the switches, etc.  I will have to order a lot of parts………….

There’s no sound, so I checked what was coming out of the DAC on the VIDEOT board, and it was O.K., so it must be the amplifier.  Ordered that chip from Bob Roberts as well.

I also ordered all (well, most of) the parts I need from Marco Specialties.

I decided to order a control panel overlay from Arcade Renovations today.  Also new T-molding from T-molding.com.  I decided to not order the side art until a later date.

I removed one of the old side art decals from the cabinet side – it’s kind of therapeutic.  It takes patience, and getting it off in large sheets is almost as fun as the game will be when it’s playable.

Alcohol works well to remove the adhesive left behind.

The Marco parts came in, so I’ll have flippers and coils and kickers and balls…….

First to go in was the coils..  I did not know that the coils from Marco would come with new sleeves, so I now know better than to order them separate like I did this time.  Oh well, so now I have some spares.

I replaced one of the transistors for the left saucer kicker, as it was shorted internally, and probably caused the blackening of the coil that was there.

All-new lamps were installed, and the underside of the light caps cleaned with a swab.

MANY non-working lamps, and lamps that were stuck in the “On” state were found when the machine was plugged in.

After doing some checking of the lamp SCRs with a meter, it did not seem as if they were shorted out.  So out came the Solenoid/Lamp driver board.  There were several of the pins on the lamp connectors that had obvious cold and cracked solder joints, as well as some pins that were half-broken off.

So after some rework and replacement of the headers, I plugged it back in and it got rid of the “Always on” syndrome.  But there were still some lamps that were not coming on at all.

After playing around with the lamps and sockets, I realized that there were COLD JOINTS at the connections to the bus wire.  It did explain the failure to light in pairs, as there were sockets that used a single piece of metal for mounting 2 lamps.  Re-soldered those suckers, and everything lights up perfect.

I installed new locks on the coin and rear doors, but the 4^th lock I ordered was for the control panel lockdown bar, and the lock wasn’t long enough.  I need to get my hands on a 1 ¼” cam lock…. Home Depot maybe?

Now I’m waiting on playfield rubber, a new control panel overlay from Arcade Restorations, and some coin acceptors from an e-bay purchase (read the auctions carefully – this guy wanted an international money order, as he was in Canada, and he did not take pay-pal.  This added $3.50 to the merchandise and shipping, never mind the 60 cents to mail it to him!!!!  WHAT A RIP!!)

I also need the playfield glass, and will check the prices for tempered.

I’m off to Home Depot to see if they have a lock and a temporary piece of playfield glass.

UPDATE:

Home depot only carried window glass, nothing close to 3/16” thick.  Just heard from Bob Roberts, and the Monitor Cap Kit and Audio Amp chip should be here Saturday.

Today is the day to strip the control panel down to bare metal so that the new overlay does not sit on rust.  It’s in pretty nasty shape!

When I peeled the CPL overlay off, it left behind a thick layer of black adhesive/paper.  I found that using one section of a break-off cutter blade in a vise-grip worked great!   If the blade was wider, it would have been too difficult to scrape the adhesive layer off.

For the last step, just wet a wad of paper towel with the lighter fluid, and wipe down the panel.  This will remove any last traces of that STUBBORN adhesive.

After sanding with an orbital sander and some 200 grit, the panel comes out shiny and gorgeous.

I’ve read on other sites that people spray primer on the metal before applying the new overlay…..  I’m still debating as to do this or not, since originally the metal was not primed.  I know that it will prevent rust, but unless the CPL overlay had shrank, there was a small band of metal exposed around the joystick hole.  Decisions, decisions…

I also reworked the Videot again, as U10 started to show signs of being flaky, and I wanted to remove the TDA-2002 audio amp chip in preparation for the new chip to arrive tomorrow.

The cap kit and audio amp came in.  I also decided to install new leg levelers on the front, as the machine came with them missing.

As you can see, the threaded hole for the leveler was pretty full of crud, and had to be tapped out.  Then the leveler could be screwed in quite easily.

The monitor was next on the hit list, and needed a capping since the picture was squished and distorted.  You can see this by the slope of the “High Score” words.

1. From the 4 bolts and nuts that hold the monitor to the mounting frame – not good because the nuts are loose.

Or

2. Remove the 4 bolts from the front of the machine whose nuts are attached to the brackets that the frame piece attaches to.

Going with #2 since I didn’t want to balance a heavy, yet delicate monitor while trying to fiddle with bolts and nuts……..

While I was replacing all the caps on my G07-FBO monitor, I noticed that the document that came with the cap kit had two cap values reversed (C517 & C518).  I looked at the schematics, and verified on the board that it was non critical, since the two caps are connected in parallel anyway……

All finished….  Now there’s no more squish, and the picture is bright and stable!

The rubbers came in, and boy am I confused!  I have no idea how the set is supposed to go onto the playfield.  The diagram in the manual is useless, so I install them the best I can using my mind-reading mental power.  And for the first time, the playfield is complete with plastics and lighting……..

Here’s what I did to restore:

1)      Mount the bolt in a drill chuck.

2)      Start the drill.

3)      Apply sandpaper to spinning head.

4)      Apply black sharpie pen.

You can see the difference, eh???

So what… I’ll make myself a pity shelf from the unusable glass….  Something to be bitter about hanging on the wall ;)