Curious why you don't take out your playfield when working on the cabinet... you really don't want even a tiny chance of dropping something on that and damaging it; you'll regret it miserably... take it from someone who knows from experience.

You'll love the way it plays when you're done bullet-proofing it, and when it does break down again, it's gonna be an easy fix. Great start!

I always take my mech boards out, load onto rotisserie, and go by sections, usually split into quarters... disassemble everything on a portion of the machine and clean with a green pad and simple green or alcohol, cleaning and wiping the gooey funk as you go. Repeat for each section. Placing the board on the rotisserie makes everything so much easier, and saves the back too. After detaching each section's mechs, that's when I go through each individual component, prior to cleaning that section.

That's a great suggestion, but if that doesn't cut it, it's because your lock collars are worn badly and need replacing. PBR doesn't carry these, you've got to get replacements from MARCO...they call them "reset spacer blocks"... see post 361 on this thread:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/mata-hari-club-em-and-ss-all-are-welcome

I typically replace the collar on the opposite side of the coil, but sometimes there's so much wear on them you may need to replace both.

Unfortunately you'll still encounter the Bally brick issue where hitting a DT with force might not drop it... there's not enough downward spring pressure on each DT, so the target actually bounces off the rubber ring right back onto the ledge... Bally sucked for not fixing this issue by adding a secondary spring... they had to have known about it.

With the playfield up, viewing the targets from the underside, slowly lift the coil plunger to see how the reset bar is engaging the bottom of the targets during its lift motion. My guess is that the upper targets are engaged a bit later than the lower ones... you can adjust the collars a bit to change that if the targets are not being engaged simultaneously

I just did a Bally Old Chicago PF swap, and tried non-ghosting below the special, free ball, star rollover and double bonus lamps with Comet non-ghosting. All locations except the star rollover flickered so bad I had to revert back to 47s... folks here on Pinside have reported various results on different games... so if you're considering them, it's worth a shot IMO, as smart use of LEDs can enhance certain insert colors, especially with the warm non-ghosting varieties.

Yep, SS in BG locations definitely adds some brightness in areas that need it... I like colored non-ghosting Comet LEDs behind a few areas, interspersed with 47s... kinda fun to experiment to get the look you like. Have fun with it.

Nice work.
Although the rubber rings behind your drop targets are going to get in the way. You need to ring to the adjacent post at the top of each bank and then put a single post rubber on the very top post you are ringed around now.
Just sayin in case.....</blockquote

Some folks have said that lower bounce alternatives to rubber work to reduce bricking on Bally drop banks, like super bands or titans... never tried it but i'm ordering a few for my Old Chicago bank to see if there's any change.

Just curious why you didn't spray a heavier coat, let dry and sand flat, then hit the buffer... my Bally Expressway looked the same as yours after my 2nd coat... I had to spray two medium coats afterwards, sanding between coats to get it back to a nice non-bumpy sheen. Does take a LOT more time though. Like the look of the lamps... the game definitely needs some brightness... you nailed it.

Without a doubt! It's a tedious process and I've made my share of mistakes along the way. Every playfield you do from here on out it gets better. Keep on truckin!