The best mod is another pin next to it

Congrats on the JP!

My advice is that you are far away from a bunch of mods, as that laundry list is pretty long.

I'm only going to talk aboot the LED situation. Order a couple of each kind to find out what you like. My brother just did some testing and he likes Coin taker Minis in the GI...said ablaze 3s were too much. Here's another issue...if I am not mistaken the GI on that machine are actually STAPLED into place...not screwed in like other companies. So swapping out GI might not be as easy as other machines.

Can anyone that knows address this? do you actually take parts of to get to the GI or do some peopel install a screw bulb socket?

I'll also say this...just resign yourself to the fact you are going to take off most plastics on the game to clean them, and the machine itself. So just get a new set of rubbers for it casue that usually needs to be done and sounds like it for sure in this case. Buy new balls also...no point cleaning a game and putting in crap balls. And you're prob gunna have to take off the subway plastic under the playfield. I bet it's totally filhty and that goes back to having a clean game and running the ball through that filthy crap.

So cleaning supplies - Novus 2 & 1
New rubbers
New balls
sample LEDs

Basically I'm saying to play the game the most you can now....there is a very good chance it's not going to be working for a awhile whilst you fix it up.

EDIT: and TAKE PICTURES of EVERYTHING you do when taking things apart...and then takwe some more...and when you're hand is tired from taking so many pics....take some more.
Trust me.

Tackle the problems one by one. Do not get ahead of yourself spending money on mods when you might need that money for minor repairs to get it running perfect. Recommend at least a light cleaning. Then play the crap out of it if possible and make a list like you did. Then work on each issue one at a time. If they seem related or you do not know how to work on it then ask the boards for help. I think it is easier to get a response if you break it up into smaller questions instead of everyone righting a book as an answer.

Best of luck and congrats on your first of many pinball machines

Is the one flipper still weak after EOS adjustment?
If so I would check linkage and clean sleeve and shaft on the solenoid plunger.
You still might need to play with EOS to get it just right or maybe it is good as is hard to say without looking at it.

ill say start here for the flippers, do it right and only do it once. http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers
now that you own a pin its time to learn how to work on it. its half the fun,IMO.
thanks vid for sharing

Good choice, it's the game that got me into pinball! Let's see here...

Honestly, I don't know if there is a perfect way to resolve this. It seems to be a 'thing' that DE / Sega / Stern machines do that Bally / Williams titles don't, and I don't know why. If anyone knows differently, I'd like to know, but my Viper Night Drivin, Jurassic Park and Iron Man all have just a bit of give when the ball hits them.

If it is a lot, adjust the EOS switch to be closer. It won't eliminate it, but it will make it better.

• Pops aren't very sensitive. I adjusted the switches but I've read that I should also clean them and the sleeves.

Welcome to Data East pop bumpers, sadly. You can spend hours cleaning and adjusting them and they will still not be perfect. The issue is the spoon design, which is the plastic piece underneath the playfield that pushes into the switch to trigger the pop bumper. DE made them like a V at the bottom, while Bally / Williams ones of the same era were more of a U. The V takes more of an initial push to trigger. The best thing to do is to find some Bally / Williams pop bumper spoons and replace them if you're particular about them. I don't know who carries them, but I bought like 20 of them a while back, and all my DE titles get them swapped in.

• Ball launcher is inconsistent. Occasionally the ball won't enter the pops at launch.

You can mess with the angle of the metal that is leaving the launch area a bit to try to make it more consistent. It will never be 100% though.

• Slings aren't terribly sensitive or powerful. The rubbers might be responsible but they're not cracked or noticeably old.

Adjust the leaf switches behind the rubbers to be closer to touching - not touching, but really close. It will make it so that they will fire when they are brushed by the ball. If you do it too close though, you'll get the slings to flutter, or kick like 10 times quickly in a row every once in a while, in which case you need to move it back slightly. There are other threads about how to adjust leaf switches, but if you want more insight just ask.

• Ramp diverter coil was misfiring. It was only twitching when activated. I removed and cleaned it and now it works fine.

Good job! Might have been slightly touching the ramp. If it does that, the behavior you mention is what it will be doing. Just keep an eye on it.

• T-rex isn't moving left/right. Seller insists it was working before transit. I haven't yet checked for loose connectors or anything.

In the menu, you'll find a T-Rex test. You can try that too to see exactly what it is getting. L/R movement can be turned off in the settings, so it may just be off.

• There is no post at the left outlane. There's a hole in the playfield where one should go but it appears to my eye as if no post has ever been installed here. Is this typical?

Yup, that's how it came from the factory. Mine is like that too.

• Start button is a little stiff, a firm press in the center is required to activate it. Will inspect and clean.

That should do it, it's a really simple device. If not, it might be a single microswitch that will need to be replaced. But then again, if it works, it works.

Cosmetics:

• A dozen lights are out, including all for the topper. I could replace these but I'm thinking I'll replace them all with LEDs — is this a big job?

Replacing them with LEDs is equally as easy as replacing them with regular bulbs.

Before you get going, two things... first, Jurassic Park is known for issues with "Ghosting" where LEDs turn partially on when they aren't supposed to be. Because of that, if you want to do a lot with LEDs, you may want to think about buying some "Ghostbusting" LEDs (I know Pinball Life carries these, not sure who else has comprable ones).

Second, Jurassic Park flashes it's lights A LOT. I like LEDs in a lot of stuff, and I have never seen a JP that I think looks good with them everywhere. I always do my flashers, and the JP flashers are the worst in the way of blinding me to the point I still haven't figured out what to do with them. Maybe start small and work up from there with the LEDs. The topper is a decent spot, as those are the most annoying lights to get to in the entire machine.

• Many rubbers need to be replaced. There are very thick sleeves on the captive ball and ramp posts, making these shots difficult. And they're old. So when I replace these I'll put smaller ones on to make it easier. I can ramp up the difficulty when I get better at it. I like Cliffy's coloured sleeves — are these all of the thick variety?

Do the entire game at once, but find a rubber "map" online to see what they should be before replacing them otherwise. I'm all but certain those should actually be the skinny protectors anyway, so anything else is probably someone who owned it in the past going, "Oh, I should replace these, what should I use? Oh, these will work."

• Balls are dirty and tired, captive ball has spotty rust, will replace all of them.

Replace these immediately. A worn ball will put wear onto your playfield very quickly.

• Translite has had water damage and has run/stained the ink. I will replace this, but I'm a graphic designer so I don't want to pay for a replacement one if I can get a download of the artwork and print my own. Are these available anywhere? Otherwise I will scan mine and photoshop the damage out for the reprint.

I don't know of any places for them. Good deal if you can make a repro yourself, as the regular translite is hard to find. Note though - don't sell it online, as people are very protective of their rights on these machines.

• Several of the metal parts, such as the t-gate holder at the ball launch and the boat dock scoop are a little rusted. The topper light reflector is VERY rusted. What is the recommended method for cleaning and restoring these parts?

The topper I think was made from really crummy metal, as they all seem to be really rusted no matter how nice the machine. Not sure what you mean by the boat dock scoop (saucer? It's plastic though?), but if you take them out and use steel wool it should clear a lot of that up. If you want to get real fancy, you can chrome them or something I suppose, but I wouldn't worry about that until you know that you love the machine forever. As for that top strip, just leave it. Unless you're 8 feet tall, you can't see it anyway.

• There is lots of dust/dirt in the cabinet under the playfield (not on the playfield itself), is it recommended to give this a good clean out? If so, what is the best method for this?

I will shop vac out the bottom of games sometimes when I'm feeling really ambitious. But really, it doesn't hurt anything. Only if you're really particular about stuff like that.

• I notice there is a newer ROM version for this (I've got 5.01 I think it said). Are these worth upgrading to the latest versions?

The latest ROM version I believe (you can check this with a revision history somewhere too, I think) just dealt with slowing down the T-Rex turning left and right so it would stop burning the motor out. If your T-Rex doesn't move back and forth, definitely no need for it. If it does, it's up to you. The motor is expensive to replace, but it shouldn't be getting totally beat up. I've actually been tempted to make my ROMs older just to see how big of a difference it is.

• The powdercoat is coming away at the front/glass edge of the lockdown bar, and nearby on the glass frame metal, and is rusting. I will need to get these re-powercoated I guess. There is also significant rust under the lockdown bar and on the bracket that the lockdown bar attaches to underneath it. I'll need to remove this and clean it with the same method suggested for the above playfield parts.

That's a harder piece to take out to clean up (and you don't want to be using steel wool with an attached piece). Honestly, while I might redo the lockdown bar, I wouldn't worry about the lockdown bracket besides giving it a really nice cleaning unless it starts having any issues. Again, you really can't see it, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.

One other thing -- you should for sure get the Cliffy Protectors for this machine. JP was notorious for eating it's playfield like a dinosaur chomping a goat. If you play it a lot without these, you'll definitely get noticable wear on the machine.

Beyond that, enjoy it! It's a heck of an awesome machine Any other questions, I'll try to help!

Congrats on the JP!! I just got mine as my first pin about a month ago. I'm learning quite a bit reading this post, and am really glad mine didn't seem to have these issues because I would be lost. lol I will add that all the lights (that have the colored condoms) that are on top of the gate, bunker posts, t-rex markers in bottom left, etc were not converted to LED because the seller said they were notorious for not fitting correctly, falling out, and being too bright. I do have LEDs in most of the playfield and blue in the back GI ones, and if you play it in the dark for very long you'll swear you are going to have a seizure from all the bright flashing. It is gorgeous though.
I'll also add that mine had Cliffy protectors on the bunkers, and I ended up taking them off because it made the bunkers harder to hit and the ball would get stuck coming back out of the far left bunker. I don't know if they were just installed wrong or what, and they certainly looked much better with the protectors on, but it plays better without in my opinion.
For cheap mods, check into the Papo dinos on Amazon. For less than $45, I got the t-rex, raptor, and pteradon to add to the playfield and they look great. The t-rex fits in the back right corner, the raptor over the raptor kick, and the pteradon where the pteradactyls are now. You have to remove the t-rex when you lift the playfield because he is so large he barely clears the glass, but he looks super cool.

Congrats on the JP!!!! I need to jump on the JP bandwagon.

No problem The mosquito actually shows up with the flashing of the flasher back there, it isn't seen all the time. As for LEDs, I think they work in certain cases, but I'd say I've only done 1/3rd of my machines, and I'm extremely particular about it when I do it. I picked up an Iron Man recently that had it done, and I need to find time to pull it all out, I think it looks like a bug zapper right now.

If you like that look though, more power to you. Some do, some don't. I'm not pretending I'm right, as I also really love Viper Night Drivin', so clearly I'm not all there.

I personally do like replacing the flashers with LED flashers because if one gets stuck on and you don't realize it right away, it can melt an insert in the playfield or burn a translite. I've had more than my fair share of screwed up playfields and translites in this hobby, never by me, and so it has made me extra careful to do it on my machines just in case. Paid off when one of my LED DM flashers locked on and it didn't hurt the machine at all.

So are there any places to find downloads of translites, plastics, cabinet decals etc? If there's a JP translite file out there that I can print I'd be pleased, but I don't mind too much photoshopping the water damage out of a scan of mine. After all, these graphic design skills of mine have got to come in handy somewhere in the hobby []

Not that I know of.

Cheers for the link! For sure, I'm absolutely enjoying this part of it. I'm kind of glad that I didn't get a pin that needs zero work.

That's a great attitude to have. It will really save you a lot of money if you can repair your own machines in the future!

Getting someone else to work on your game for minor things is so CAVE. Board work sure...but everything else really isn;t very difficult. And it CAN be fun....you can get burned out too though.

Sounds like they were installed wrong. The ball should have no issue when getting ejected from the left scoop. If you look at the third step of the installation instructions on Cliffy's website (http://www.passionforpinball.com/jp.htm) you'll see that you need to make sure the scoop assembly is moved all the way back.

In its optimal state a raised flipper on Jurassic Park should give about 1/16 of an inch before full power kicks in and brings it back up. If it is more then that then a flipper rebuild and EOS adjustment should correct it.

Checkout out PinWiki (http://www.pinwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Data_East/Sega#Flipper_Issues) it covers what the EOS is used for in Jurassic Park and the difference between Data East and Williams flippers.

That's a good point - if the flipper is worn in any way so it shakes a little anyway, you definitely need a flipper rebuild. If not, try the EOS switch adjustment first. Not saying that you shouldn't rebuild the flippers - I do with all my games usually after a couple months of messing around with them to see what else I might need to order - but it would be nice to try to pinpoint that further.

Oh, and you should get a similar mini-play with the flipper on the right hand side too. If you can't detect it, it probably means that one is adjusted really nicely.

If the left/right of the t-rex isn't turned off in the menu, you probably need to check the connections on the relay. It is on the underside of the playfield, almost directly above the shaker motor, so it is common to have issues with it.

I sent him a copy of clays data east repair guide this morning so lets see if that can shorten his list of questions. Clay talks about the t-rex problems at the end of the guide in the game specific section. It dosent talk about the soft flipper problem specifically but it does explain how to adjust the EOS switch and rebuild the flippers. Id think after following those steps that problem will be corrected. It does refer to the t-rex relay board connector and pins as suggested above. I agree thats likely his problem.

JP is a fun game! The first time the ball shot down like a bullet scared the hell out of me!

jurassic-park-umbrella.gif

Yes, they were likely installed incorrectly. Instructions on my page specify that you MUST move the scoop assembly all the way to the back of the holes or else the balls will surely get wedged between the deflector and the protector. DE made the deflectors too low to the playfield and are welded all the way up the arc of the scoop. This is also why those holes get so beat up in the first place. Moving the scoop back only takes 5 minutes so why noy do it?

when I had a JP and installed the Cliffy's - I had to adjust the scoop as Cliffy said. Do what Cliffy says and they will work great! Have fun with your JP - a great game for sure.

I was adjusting the heck out of the scoop itself with a pair of pliers, and never could get it to work. I even had it popping straight up on the playfield at one point. lol So out came the protectors just so I could play without taking the glass off all the time. I'm pretty sure I bent them up a little getting them out, but I may attempt to put them back in correctly some day. It seemed like the ball would literally hit the front and bounce off the control room and would get stuck coming out of the left bunker, so I thought it was maybe the metal at the base but probably everything was just too tight from not being adjusted back. The pin came with them, so I didn't know anything about instructions or issues. Thanks for letting me know, I appreciate it.

Oh damn, That's why my new motor took a crap so quick! I replaced it and thought I did something wrong. $110 wasted. Gears were stripped. I took it apart and found the gear boxes to be cheap crap. My T-rex eats balls and that's good enough for me. If I still have it next year I'll update the ROM and get a new motor and try it again. Right now I'm still a little disgusted with it.

For the backglass - Don't know if this helps but here is the image I use for my hyperpin. You could probally start there to recreate the image.

JP.JPG

You just might get lucky I'm pretty sure the up/down switches have some room for adjustment and you may not have to disassemble the mech. It's a fussy setup but it is pretty cool. Good luck!

Hopefully that's it. Are those switches under the playfield or inside the rex? It's pretty tough to work on that part of the playfield underside as it's right at the bottom of the cabinet when fully raised.

Yeah they're easy to get to: two white ones on mine. Removing the mech is a pain:

jp_underside.jpg

Sounds like you may not be making use of all your available playfield positions. Take a look at position 3 of the attached page from the Lost in Space manual. You can do that with Jurassic Park as well.

Yeah good point because that part is really comfortable to work on although it's still dificult to get the whole mechanism out. I've done it a few times and don't look forward to doing it again. Also, you can go into diagnostics and use the fliiper buttons to eject balls out of the trough before tilting it all the way back.

Yep

I have the same problem. Haven't bought another yet but need one bad! If you do these, please keep us updated. I'd love to get one printed or get one from you if you happen to have extras!

Your first few issues could actually be just your settings (if your feelin' lucky)

Check game adjustment #33 Coils Pulse - make sure it's set to Normal. I turn mine down in the summer because I get low voltage at my house and the game resets when I get a lot coils firing.

Great!

Well, you're all ready for #2!