Exton, PA
Quoted from Mathazar:It's a tiny area for the Blue, should take only a few minutes.
Famous last words. 
(Topic ID: 325715)
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Night Rider EM
Bally, 1976
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Quoted from dhutton:Famous last words.
Hahaha...it really did! Spent a couple minutes putting the stencil on, a few more minutes masking up, 10 seconds to paint, and half a minute or so pulling off the stencil. Couple more small boogers to touch up after all the stenciling is done.
Might have time to start one of the cabinet sides tomorrow....
Quoted from Mathazar:My initial goal was to get this Night Rider working and teach myself about EM's. I spent the next several weeks going thru a punch list of things that didn't work, starting with the first issue of it powering on but not starting a game. Once I got by that, it was onion-peeling time. I wound up fixing about 15 things but in the end, I had a dirty, cosmetically challenged Night Rider but working and flipping 4-player games.
If you're interested in the issues resolved, most of them are documented in this thread (where I was reaching out for a lot of help being an EM newbie):
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/getting-an-em-night-rider-going-again
Here are a few "before" pictures.....[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
I love those furniture skates too. Ended up having to bolt them on the end of the legs with 3/8-16 bolts and a bunch of washers. Otherwise, whenever I would roll over an expansion seam the skate would pop out the machine would lurch over! Super scary!! Way more stable now!!
IMG_3001 (resized).jpegTook about 10 minutes to put on both the Left and Right Red head stencils and a few minutes to paint. But masking up took nearly an hour.
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Red is down, Blue will be Monday or Tuesday. Funny light and shadows in the garage makes it look like uneven shading for the red, but in person it's consistent.
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After several days of rain and high humidity, finally got some dry sunshine today.
Left side Red down on the cabinet. Aiming to finish with the last stencil (left Blue) Thursday-ish:
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Finished the head today, too....both sides both colors down. After some minor touch-ups Thursday-ish (White around the front frame), I'm calling this done:
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Started some tumbling on cabinet bolts/washers, flipper plates, and misc hardware last night. This "after" picture would be more impressive had I remembered to take a "before" picture. These things looked nasty!
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Well, I thought I was done with the head until I noticed that the top left area of the front frame had some issues. I didn't grab a picture, but it looked like either primer or the top coat paint had some kind of reaction with the underlying wood repair that caused some bubbling. The result was 5 or 6 small "craters", about a 1/4" in diameter. If this wasn't front and center and pretty much at eye level, I'd probably let it go but I had to do some repair work on it.
Stripped off the area down to bare wood and masked off the area....
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....and then re-primer and re-paint. Took an extra 1.5 days after I thought I was done, but I'm glad I did it.
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Major milestone reached - the cabinet and head are done and in my rec room. A few small touch-ups are needed here and there, no big deal. Working on cleaning and polishing the cabinet and head hardware....I may be able to begin reassembly this weekend.
IMG_4026 (resized).jpgIMG_4027 (resized).jpgIMG_4029 (resized).jpgIMG_4030 (resized).jpgIMG_4031 (resized).jpgIMG_4032 (resized).jpgIMG_4034 (resized).jpgIMG_4035 (resized).jpgIMG_4036 (resized).jpgIMG_4037 (resized).jpgIMG_4038 (resized).jpgTouchups completed on the cabinet and head so painting is officially done. Time to move on to cleaning up and polishing cabinet hardware that is too big for my ultrasonic cleaner and tumblers....
First up, the kick stand:
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A few minutes with a harder wheel followed by a soft wheel and then some hand polishing with Flitz got me this:
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One thing with these parts polished up so shiny and reflective is they'll never be free of fingerprints or smudges until I get them in the cabinet and give them a final wipedown.
This is the channel that holds the back door in place in the head:
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Here are a couple of in-progress shots showing the difference between the first pass with the harder wheel vs. the gunk, grime and discoloration of 47 years of neglect:
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Eventually got it looking like this:
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Didn't get any before shots of the glass channel doomaflotchy holder thingy (lock channel?) but rest assured it was just as nasty as the other bits. Turned out great:
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Next up tomorrow is the lockbar - it's not as nasty as the hardware pieces but it's pretty heavily scratched so I'm trying to temper expectations.
Well, I was right to temper my expectations with the lockdown bar. It's nice and shiny now but I couldn't get out most of the scratches. I'm going to go ahead and use it - maybe someday if I buy a new lockdown bar for another Bally late EM/SS project, and I want to powder coat it, I'll use this one...I think the only way I'll get the scratches out is to media blast it.
Anyway...the before shots:
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And after....
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The shooter knob/rod came out great, tho. It was really dull and dirty before:
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And after....
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And a bunch of cleaned up and polished parts ready to go in the cabinet and head:
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Started with cabinet assembly this afternoon:
- Legs with new levelers on with protectors and felt between the protectors and cabinet
- Kickstand installed (and still smudged with fingerprints!)
- Shooter rod bezel installed
- Grounding brackets and the glass channel lock assembly installed
- Glass channel trim stapled in
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Just a bit more progress - only have an hour to work on this today.
While I cleaned up and polished all of the bolts, I went with a new lockdown bar receiver and new coin door frame I had leftover from previous SS Bally restoration projects. The originals are complete and can be restored with some work, but I'll save that for a future project.
IMG_4081 (resized).jpgIMG_4083 (resized).jpgIMG_4084 (resized).jpgSometimes, it's the little things, the little details, that make me happiest during a restoration.
Nice, shiny new bumpers against a freshly painted rear cabinet that few people will ever see as the pin spends 99% of its life against the wall.
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Getting this set of bumpers in was a bit of a challenge. In my previous Bally SS restorations, it just took a few taps with a rubber mallet to sink them in to the wood. The rear of this EM NR cabinet is MDF....I had to really whack them to get them flush.
Coming along nicely. I really like how the blue boards inside the cabinet contrast the white....pretty much how I pictured it in my head.
I wound up putting in new side rails. I totally mangled up the original right side rail removing it. I've taken off 4 sets of side rails before this restoration and managed to be able to re-use all of them, but not this time.
I put the head on temporarily for the photos - still lots of work to do.
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Next up in the queue, in no particular order:
- Make repros of the tech cards for the head
- Restore the coin door
- Put a tack nail with a big shiny head in the front cabinet to block the coin reject button from scratching the paint when the coin door is swung open.
- Find a suitable single-throw toggle switch for the power. Don't like the one that a previous owner put in the machine.
- Clean the score reels (all 16). They're really filthy.
- Thinking of refreshing at least the front of the head lamp board with new white paint. It's a bit dingy.
- Strip / Media Blast the apron and shooter gauge, then repaint and apply new Bally decals
- Clean the metal head back door and put in a new lock. I had to drill out the original because the guy I bought the pin from lost the key.
My Night Rider is missing Bally Part #P-2289-1 "End Plate On/Off Switch". Looks like a common part - it can be found on a bunch of other late Bally EM's and early Bally solid states.
I've tried Marco's, Action Pinball, PBL, and Planetary Pinball. All are either Out of Stock, Discontinued, or don't show any listings at all. Got quick email reply from Lou at PBR this morning saying "not available", unfortunately. I made some WTB posts in the EM SEEKING PARTS thread as well as then general Parts Wanted subforum.
If anyone has a lead on this part, I'd appreciate it!
End of Plate Switch - P-2289-1 (Drawing) (resized).jpgEnd of Plate Switch - P-2289-1 (Pic3) (resized).jpgGot started on cleaning the dirty and dingy score reels today. Lightly rub with a shop towel saturated with ammonia-free glass cleaner to get the top level dirt off, then light rub again with a Novus 2 on a microfiber towel get the baked in grime out (pass one) and shine them up (pass two).
Before:
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Novus2 really works wonders - here's a shot of the inner spoke after rubbing on the glass cleaner fairly hard where I didn't have to worry about the painted numbers rubbing off. Lots of baked-on grime left, even after that:
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And then again after Novus2 on a microfiber towel:
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Here's a shot of two cleaned reels on the right vs. dirty ones on the left:
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After about 3hrs, I got 14 of the 16 reels done. I'll finish the last two tomorrow.
Well, that does it. After I got everything working on the setup outside of the cabinet, I thought I'd just clean the score reels and that would be it for the head unit. After putting the lamp / EM board back in the head and attaching to the cab, I just can't un-see the fresh white re-paint against the old dingy lamp board with soot/grime from the incan bulbs. No one will see it with the backglass installed, but I've gone this far with the restore and I might as well go all the way and address my OCD at the same time.
I think my plan is now:
- Restore the coin door
- Reassemble pin, make sure everything is still working, and have some fun for a bunch of games
- Turn her off again and go dark for a few weeks
- Find or make an On/Off Switch End Plate
- Restore the apron and shooter gauge
- Tear down the lamp / EM board, clean the wire harness and metal bits, and repaint the board front and back
IMG_4141 (resized).jpgAdd another To Do to the list - I forgot about the head unit back door. It's in decent shape - no dents. Just dirty and stained. I think it'll come out nice with a good buffing, but it's too big for my 6" bench wheel buffer.
Anyone have any recommendations? I've got a Dewalt 20V power drill....any recommended attachments that could do the job?
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Started the coin door disassembly tonight. All parts, including the skin, are in good shape. It seems unmolested....all the right screws and in the right places, none missing, and aside from dirt and grime the wire harness looked perfect with no hacks.
Going to clean, buff, and polish best I can over the next several days and try to get this re-assembled by next week. Time to break out the ultrasonic cleaner again, and see if I can maneuver the skin to get coverage with my bench wheel buffer.
IMG_4193 (resized).jpgSpent about 90 minutes on the coin door skin tonight - better, but meh. Structurally sound and now clean and shiny, but just too many scratches for me to feel really good about it for this Night Rider project. I'm thinking now that I'm going to fork over the $99 for a brand new skin in perfect condition from Marco's, and save this one for a future Bally project that involves powder coating legs/armor/etc. This skin is a great candidate for that - media blast to get out all the scratches and take it down to raw metal, then a fresh layer of powder coating.
Quoted from Mathazar:Spent about 90 minutes on the coin door skin tonight - better, but meh. Structurally sound and now clean and shiny, but just too many scratches for me to feel really good about it for this Night Rider project. I'm thinking now that I'm going to fork over the $99 for a brand new skin in perfect condition from Marco's, and save this one for a future Bally project that involves powder coating legs/armor/etc. This skin is a great candidate for that - media blast to get out all the scratches and take it down to raw metal, then a fresh layer of powder coating.
[quoted image]
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I resurrected a skin from a Xenon (same door skin) the absolute hardest way, mostly as an experiment. I eventually sanded it fully from 100 grit up to about 1000, then polished. Although I could remove all scratches, you really cannot achieve a mirror finish. So I finished it off by carefully linearly scratching it with 100 grit lines top to bottom, then linearly smoothed that with 800 grit all in the same direction. The result is a mild brushed finish, milder than the original. It looked great but probably took 8 hours of effort. Even at that I could not really do the scratches in the indented area, so I applied a repro Bally sticker.
My next machine I bought a new skin.
Another batch of coin door parts done this afternoon. Disappointed that the bezel didn't buff out nicely....it think it's because of the textured surface. It's too big for my ultrasonic cleaner, but since the buffing could not get out the darker grime marks I put half in the ultrasonic cleaner at a time and ran it with the cover off. After being in there several minutes, I hit it with a toothbrush soaked in Mean Green and sure enough, the darker grime marks came out.
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Bezel looking way better after ultrasonic cleaning and toothbrush with Mean Green:
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Running the wire harness through the dishwasher tonight......
2 weeks later
Quoted from atpcfiaim:A guy here on Pinside sells the flap and pricing blanks.
Any clues as to where? Can't find "flap" in any Pinside shops or classified ads. I browsed through all of the Pinside shops for "coin" related stuff but couldn't find him. I might could go to Cliffy's for a stainless flap.
Quoted from Mathazar:Any clues as to where? Can't find "flap" in any Pinside shops or classified ads. I browsed through all of the Pinside shops for "coin" related stuff but couldn't find him. I might could go to Cliffy's for a stainless flap.
Cliffy’s is where I bought mine. I thought I bought them here on Pinside. mrm_4 nailed it. Apologies for my misinformed reply.
And very nice job on your door. Beautiful.
Thought I was going to start another Night Rider project (you've inspired me!). Found a local listing about 6 months old, they wanted way too much - $1800. Pictures, all 2 looked decent enough though. I went to check it out...
Yeah, not as nice as the pics, entire backbox other than reels had no power, mismatched flippers, faded paint, etc.
I offered more than I should have ($450), but figured I could use a project. I was told they weren't giving it away.
At least they took my advice and dropped the asking down to $1000.
Wasn't meant to be. I'll live vicariously through you. Keep up the good work!
Worked on the severely oxidized head unit back door for a couple of hours today. Didn't come out exactly as I had hoped, but it's way better. Didn't want to paint or powdercoat it, just polish it up. Mission accomplished.
Here's what I started with:
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First pass on the right side with 120 grit orbital sander:
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After going thru 120/240/500/1000/1500 on the orbital sander and then some Flitz polish, here's the end result:
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Looked at my punch list and almost forgot I didn't put that little nail head in the front that protects the cab if / when the coin door is opened too widely and the coin reject button makes contact with the cab. Addressed that this afternoon:
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Making my way through the final punch list after playing about 50 games....
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2 weeks later
Been a couple of weeks since I last worked on Night Rider - family and work. And actually playing my other pins, lol. Got back into it this weekend and with the help of other pinsiders I was able to resolve the Double = Quadruple bonus issue. Had to re-gap score motor switch 5E...if you want to see the details, they're in this other thread post: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/em-night-rider-double-bonus-awards-4x-not-2x.
Slowly but surely finishing up that punch list!
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Also finished up the apron this week. The original apron and shooter cover weren't in that bad of shape - no rust or dents, just wear and tear on the paint and some marks on the graphics (and the graphics were dingy). But I wanted a fresh coat of blue (and the same blue I used on the cabinet repaint) so I decided to redo it. I happened to have another old Bally early SS apron in my parts bin from a previous project, so I decided to use that and have the original Night Rider apron as a backup.
Original apron:
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Project apron:
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Jasco Paint and Epoxy remover works wonders - spray it on, wait a couple of hours, and the dissolved paint wipes off with ease. Be sure to use chemically rated gloves and eye protection:
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A little rubbing with acetone and you've got a nice, clean bare metal base to work with:
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After a couple of coats of Self Etching Primer:
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After a couple of coats of Rustoleum 2x Brilliant Blue and a couple of coats of Rustoleum 2x Clear:
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New on the left, original on the right:
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New on the left, original on the right. While the clearcoat on the restored apron should protect the paint from ball marks, I added strips of mylar along the apron bottom to the outhole as insurance:
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Installed in the game with newly printed score and instruction cards:
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BTW - I'm looking for Bally Part #P-2289-1 "End Plate On/Off Switch" (it was missing from this Night Rider when I got it). This part can also be found on a bunch of other early Bally solid states.
I've tried Marco's, Action Pinball, PBL, and Planetary Pinball. All are either Out of Stock, Discontinued, or don't show any listings at all. Got quick email reply from Lou at PBR saying "not available", unfortunately.
Can anyone help? I've had a couple folks recommend just to make my own, but I don't have the tools, raw material, or metal-cutting skills.
End Plate Switch - P-2289-1 (Drawing) (resized).jpgEnd Plate Switch - P-2289-1 (Pic3) (resized).jpgPromoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
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