Hey Folks!

Decided to do a start new thread that deals with the restoration process of my new 1975 Chicago Coin "Top Ten".

I did one a while back with my 1973 Williams Gulfstream so I thought Chicago Coin deserved a thread as well seeing that there seems to be little information regarding restoration of this particular brand as there is a not a strong following of folks who wish to put a lot of time and money into these machines.

So here are the pictures of the machine as I got it from the owner, in pieces. Newbees don't try this without parental supervision.

This is currently a work in progress so I will post accordingly.

Ken

stripped_top_playfield.JPG stripped_middle_playfield.JPG stripped_bottom_playfield.JPG stripped_playfield.JPG backglass.JPG cabinet_right_side.JPG

Here are some more photos of the machine in as picked up condition.

cabinet_back.JPG cabinet_front.JPG cabinet_left_side.JPG side_2_head.JPG side_1_head.JPG parts.JPG

This is the last of the as-is photos.

top_head.JPG legs.JPG Coin_door_inside.JPG backbox.JPG

Game was complete and Playfield stripped by the last owner as he was going to brush on a Clearcoat, However I will be spraying a lacquer Clearcoat from a rattle can, but I assure you it will turn out great and yes this is a first for me.

I have never picked up a game in pieces before without any of the parts labeled or pictures of how they went as he just threw them in tubs so there has been a lot of sorting out and cleaning/tumbling of parts so far on my part with great success so far.

Being organized and using common sense in this department will get you through a lot of this as long as you have prior experience restoring EM's in general so I suggest that for first time restoration EM's folks not to purchase a machine this way unless you have some veteran help from someone who does have experience and can help you personally.

Now, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Playfield: Touched up by the last owner....hurray, but the bad news is that he did an awful job and my wife has her work cut out for her on the touch up department and even so will be far from perfect because of his lousy work. He was even going to brush on the Clearcoat with the adhesive Mylars still on which I took off last night using a can of upside down air as freeze spray and a couple rags with Naphtha to take the residual glue off.

BackGlass: The Good, I have one and also have a High Resolution Scan of the front and back of a good Backglass so it will be just a matter of whom will do a nice reproduction for it which I will check into at a later date. Let me know if you would like an email copy of it as well if you have this title. The Bad, The current Backglass is shot and yes it is Ugly.

Cabinet: Really nice shape overall and I will most likely do no touch ups to it, just have to deal with some blue overspray from the last owner on the inside of the Cabinet that I will clean off with some old Goof Off or Xylene. I did have to re-glue the blue wood box piece that the Head sits on and that came out great, so no worries there. Also cleaned it up with some Mean Green but it was not that dirty.

Thanks for the nice replies folks.

Looking forward to helping others get some ideas going for their Chicago Coin machines and make it easier to locate paints and other products when it comes time for restoration and just show in general how nice these machines can look and play with a little TLC without a ton of money put into them.

For those that don't already know, this is my first Chicago Coin I have owned.

OK, Here's a couple pics of the underside of the Playfield and inside of the Cabinet prior to any repairs.

inside_cabinet.JPG under_playfield.JPG

Alright, Repairs have now started.

Here's a couple pics of the before and after of a broken Drop Target that was repaired using a 16 - fast set clear, medium bodied solvent cement for Acrylics by IPS Corporation UPC #0112181103159. Be careful with this stuff is it sets fast and is a syrupy liquid as opposed to a gel and will run right out of the tube when you turn it upside down and get on everything you don't want to cement

As far as the Drop Target, luckily the broken piece was down inside the Cabinet as these items are not currently available from any supplier, so you better save what you got if you have it and you want original, which is always my mission whenever possible.

Pretty sure this cement should do the trick as it is quite industrial but just to make sure I ordered some large Drop target Mylars from Action Pinball and Amusement for .25 each x 5 to help reduce the initial impact of the Ball hitting the Target and bending it back. Mylars will be applied later on in the restoration to protect and hide the cracked face on the one target.

As a rule I generally will not apply Mylar to Any Targets unless they are no longer available as I am just not a big fan of the stuff but understand the pros of using it to save original parts.

Also I intend to sand down the Rivets on the Drop Targets to make them nice and shiny and clean the entire face before applying the Mylar.

CC_Top_Ten_-_broken_drop_target_.jpg drop_target_repaired.JPG acrylic_cement.JPG

Here is a picture of the adhesive Mylars that have been removed from the Playfield using an upside down can of air which then turns into a freeze spray. Be care using this stuff as you can give yourself frostbite. Pull up the Mylar a little at a time with your finger so you do not take the ink off the Playfield while spraying at the same time, although for me there is always a little loss, but not much.

After the Mylar is up you will have to get a couple rags with some Naphtha and go over the areas that still have Mylar glue on them being careful not to take up too much ink while doing it as in my case most of the original lacquer finish that protects the ink was taken off from the previous owner with whatever solvents he used to strip the Playfield

See how shiny the Pop Bumper areas are now without the glue. I will be using non-adhesive Mylars as the replacements.

mylar_removed.JPG

A good point however I am limited on storage space for now but will move in the near future to a bigger house which will accommodate my needs better, so for now I just buy what I can readily use plus it only cost a $1.25 for all 5 Drop Target Mylars.

Ken

Another item finished.

Received some new parts from Marco's for about $14.00 delivered.

*Shooter and Barrel spring along with a new washer
*Beehive shooter bezel (Old one was very yellow and screw holes stripped that hold it in place)

Shooter Rod was put in the Tumbler and polished. The backing plate was bent badly so I had to use a sledge hammer to straighten it and is plenty strong now and will not bend again. The original screws that go into the back of the Beehive were bent badly, too long, and too wide and had to be replaced with the proper size from the local hardware store as the whole assembly was loose and would no longer cinch down.

Note: Shooter Rod appears to be about a 1/2" shorter than a Williams one that I compared it with so if you need a replacement it will have to be from a Chicago Coin

All in all a pretty cheap fix and the end product looks and works great IMHO!

Doing simple repairs like this early on really helps motivate me to keep plugin away and gets me ready for the bigger challenges ahead like wiring, painting, and clearcoating.

new_shooter_rod_assy.JPG inside_shooter_rod.JPG

Now some photos of the Coin Door off. I will be taking the Coin Door assembly off the Cabinet as well. Both items will get prepared for primer and paint from a rattle can. The toughest part for me anyway in repainting from a can is finding a paint match that is as close to the original as possible.

In these pictures the Coin Door has Already been cleaned and had been light sanded as well with some 1200 grit wet/dry. All screws in the photo were removed after this photo so the Coin Door is completely stripped.

coin_door_off.JPG backside_coin_door.JPG

Just using a basic good grey primer as the Chicago Coin Legs and Coin Door come already painted as they were saving on chrome plating when possible, so no bare metal to begin with.

Good stuff and I use it for many applications such as taking rust of of metal with liquid chrome polish and rust remover (all in one).

Thanks for the fyi jkmboler as I did not know PBR carries the Flipper Buttons for this game which I will order next week thanks to you.

My Start Button is different than the Flipper Buttons as it is smaller and made of plastic which was originally red as well but bleached out over the years, however I was able to re-color it using a red sharpie and I think it will be just fine for many more years as it looks brand new once again.

Ken

I did not do too much to mine except throw it in the tumbler and polish by hand as it has a large nick in the end if the Shooter and I would like to replace it with a good used one down the road but for now this will do.

Ken

No lathe, so I went ahead and did just that but I'm OK with the Shooter Rod in the meantime.

Looks like a nice CC Hollywood you have there jkmboler.

Ken

Gee, what did I do this weekend?

A bunch of pinball stuff

Decided not to use the Rust-Oleum "Hammered" Silver as doing a test on the Legs made it look like I did not know how to paint from a rattle can, which I do. The texture was just too weird and I know others who have used it and it looked fine from a distance, but close up would be a different story.

What I wanted was as close to the original color and texture I could get from a can and found it on the 3rd attempt which was the Rust-Oleum "Smoke Grey" #7786 from Home Depot which has a bit of Silver tone in it as the original but may be a shade darker. I used a nice primer gray over the original paint in which any brand will do. Both Coin Door and Legs are painted the with same color as the manufacturer originally did.

On my machines I always use new Nylon Leg Levelers from Marcos as my machines sit on a painted concrete floor and these will not scratch and resist water. I also install felt leg protectors from a seller on Ebay as well to keep the Legs from digging into the painted Cabinet.

Also note that I used brand new original to the machine regular hex head bolts, same as original. These were not fancy round head and chromed like the major competitors used as Chicago Coin was trying to save a buck at this time any way they could. I just picked these up at a local hardware store.

paint.JPG long_legs.JPG half_legs.JPG

Here the pictures of the finished Coin Door front and backside. Take a look at the before pictures again and I'm sure you will see a big difference.

Most small metal/Chrome pieces were cleaned, put in the tumbler, cleaned again, then polished.

Now you see the nice reconditioned used red Credit Button with the new sticker along with a new CDI sticker. Stickers are now available from Pinball Rescue. NOS Coin Labels 2 Play/25 cents purchased from PBR along with the new 7/8" Lock. The Coin Bezel came out nice and bright after some nice hand chrome polish was applied. I was lucky the white plastic Coin Inserts were in good shape and just needed cleaning as I do not think these are available new currently.

All the brackets, light sockets, coin mechanisms, etc were all cleaned and reinstalled on the backside of the Coin Door and ready to go.

Looking good all around IMHO.

finished_coin_door_ft.JPG finished_coin_door_back.JPG

Ended up getting the blue wood box rails that the Head sits on glued back together as well and solid as a rock. I just used a nice heavy duty yellow wood glue for this.

cabinet_repair.JPG

Just some other pictures relating to parts for the Legs.

leg_bolts.JPG mix.JPG

Thanks jkmboler, Glad you like the color as well just in case you want to repaint your CC legs and Coin Door one day.

It was either going to be a shade lighter silver (Hammered) or darker grey (regular) as I could not find the exact match but the grey really makes it pop compared to the silver. I even tried an Aluminum but it was way to bright but I used some for the inside of the Coin Return which worked out great.

I was extremely lucky to find an exact paint match for the yellow used on a couple Playfield wood rails and the Aprons, but I will get into that later as I am in the middle of that project right now.

I've personally never seen inside of a Chicago Coin. How does it compare in build quality compared to Gottlieb, Williams and Bally?

I have not really got into the internals of the machine yet as I have been focusing on the cosmetics and not the mechanics for the most part but from what I see so far it is is set up mainly like a Williams machine but has a bit of Gottlieb as well. I have never owned a Bally (yet) and will not try a comparison for that reason.

The Score Motor is set up like a Gottlieb in looks and function, but uses Nylon gears instead of metal ones like a Williams. The weird thing is that the Switches on the Motor have a bend to them as you can see in the photo and I'm not sure what benefit that brings except maybe more of a spring action when they are actuated. These Score Motors are prone to breaking where the gears attach to the Motor shaft but are repairable when this happens as the Nylon that goes around the shaft of the motor sometimes cracks. The repair has been documented on PinWiki.

The Relay Banks are very similar to Williams and are just as serviceable if not more which I really like as opposed to Gottlieb Relays which can be a pain such as the AX, BX, and Game Over Relays as their Make-Break Switches are the worse and usually are the cause of most switch problems for machines that use these.

I have a lot of Williams machines and to date I have never had a problem with any of their Make-Break switches, so Chicago Coin should be a pleasure in that respect as well.

There is also a photo of the back side of the Drop Target Bank which looks a tad rusty, but very robust and built for the long haul.

Interesting with the Knocker, Tilt Plumb Bob, and Internal short Tilt Roller Ball being located next to one another.

Most folks say that Chicago Coin machines are easy to repair and dependable and by just looking at my machine I would have to agree. Some say there are issues with the PCB's on the Score Wheels but I have been told I have the better ones, so I see no problem there but the only concern I would have down the line would be a possible issue with the Score Motor, but hey, it's repairable.

score_motor.JPG relay_bank.JPG drop_targets_back.JPG close_up_relays.JPG tilt-knocker.JPG

The more I look inside the Cabinet the more rust and corrosion I find, so I have my cleaning/polishing cut out for me along with lots of Tumbler time. I'm beginning to think this pin was at a seaside amusement park.

Funny thing is my Williams Space Odyssey is the same way but the most dependable of my machines, go figure.

Ken

Well did a few things this weekend to my Top Ten.

Took a look at the Flipper assembly and saw that it was super rusty and decided that the brackets needed to be cleaned up. Between the wire brush, the tumbler, and some hand polishing this was the final outcome. Also changed out the nylon Coil Sleeves as well with new ones. Before and after photos.

Flipper_Coil_bracket_Rusty.jpg flipper_coil_bracket_clean.JPG

Also got some painting done on the Wood Rails and the Upper Apron. For those of you restoring your Top Ten or Gold Record the Rust-oleum Sunburst Yellow #7747 is an almost exact match from a rattle can that you could get and I was extremely happy with the end result.

For the white paint on the Wood Rail any good brand gloss white will do. I did not primer the Wood Rails as they already had the old paint as a base, just the Upper Apron received primer as it was bare metal after using paint stripper and xylene to remove the old yellow paint. Both Upper painted and bare metal Aprons had rust and needed quite a bit of work between a wire brush, 400 and 800 grit wet/dry sandpaper, and a Permatex Rust Dissolver Gel.

It did have a manufactures certificate on the Upper Apron but was shot so removing that was not an issue. I may or may not make a duplicate down the road as some of my other machines are missing them as well but for right now it's just not a priority for me as this will be a nice Players machine, not a Collector quality pin.

upper_apron_stripped.jpg upper_apron_painted.JPG wood_rails_painted.JPG apron_paint.JPG

Cleaned up and adjusted Tilt mechanisms, Knocker, Flipper EOS Cabinet Switches, installed NOS Flipper Buttons from PBR, and vacuumed out the Coin Box area. Notice the old Flipper Button and new one in the photo.

Ended up removing some heavy rust from some under the Playfield Brackets which are used to hold the Playfield in place. I have never seen these used on Gottlieb or Williams models. They are now nice and shiny and should repel further rust with the rust remover/Chrome polish I used.

knocker-tilt.jpg flipper_button.jpg under_playfield_brackets.JPG