Hot off the heels of my Pinbot restoration - I decided to use that new found space in my small apartment for a more desirable game - CONGO.

I bought this heavily routed Congo from jayhawkai in February of 2015. Drove to Kansas City, picked it up, talked shop, drank some beers, crashed on his couch and drove back in the morning. I had recently moved back to Chicago and my brother reluctantly let me keep Congo at his place. I put some LED's in, but basically didn't do anything. In that 2+ years, I maybe got 5 hours in on the machine. My brother is 24, him and his friends could care less about it.

I decided to put Pinbot in a friend's foster home in the neighborhood, and brought home Congo! It's very heavily routed. There's lockbar holes in the front, chips all around, cabinet sides are in decent shape but very faded. Inside is surprisingly clean! Bottom is spraypainted black for some reason. Playfield is overall in great shape, but has some small wear points and an insert decal that's half gone.

The bones are solid. I'd really like to redo the cab decals, but I simply don't have the time, space and equipment to do so at this time. I'm planning to use this thread to document how I "go through" games. Not a full blow restoration, just cleaning up a game that's been neglected. But also how I like to trick out my games on a budget.

On that note... I've collected some good stuff over time for this game: New translite (current one has a scratch), Cliffy's, tree and hippo mod, material to make diamond shooter rod mod, plastic protector set, a NOS coin door, target decals, cabinet inspection stickers, green chrome vinyl, fluorescent green star posts, flipper rebuild kit, some extra spotlights, clear rubber kit, some extra LED's, random parts, etc.

I've already repro'd the jump plastic, I plan on making some other ones, maybe some inlane decals.

I'm planning to shop the top side out in the winter. For now, it's 100% operational and I'm shooting to take my time with this one. A rough clean/wax is first on my priority list, flipper rebuild soon to follow.

IMG_20170723_195047 (resized).jpgIMG_20170723_212212_653 (resized).jpg

IMG_20170723_205925 (resized).jpg

DSCN3568 (resized).JPG

DSCN3569 (resized).JPG

DSCN3567 (resized).JPG
DSCN3562 (resized).JPG
DSCN3565 (resized).JPG

DSCN3566 (resized).JPG

DSCN3570 (resized).JPG

DSCN3561 (resized).JPG

Spent a few hours tonight doing a bunch of maintenance:

Removed the crispy diodes, replaced with jumpers
Reflowed solder on the bridge diodes
Replaced the small and large 100uF caps. The larger ones were well within tolerance, but one smaller one was 63uF.
Put back in the driver board and wired up the game - powered right up!
Cleaned the light tub and glass, much better! The translite is signed by John Trudeau but also pretty badly scratched. I have another I'll pop in there. Maybe do some touchups on original.
One of the strings in the backbox is out, the connector is a bit crispy. Will check next time.
Upgraded and added a few LED's in the backbox - it was only about 1/3 populated with warm white LED's. Some colored ones made it pop!
Replaced a few busted lamp holders in the backbox
Upgraded a few LED's on the playfield
Fixed the punchdowns on 2 playfield connectors causing some dead LED's
Wiped down the playfield and the rubbers
Replaced the orange spring with a new green one, a little less tension but I like it better
Replaced the outside shooter spring with a new one
Replaced the shooter nub
Realigned the shooter housing assembly
Replaced the nasty flipper buttons with new clear ones
Replaced the shitty flipper rubbers with Superbands, huge upgrade
Put on some flipper covers on the lower flippers
Put the green chrome vinyl on the other side. Messed it up a bit but will redo it later

Lots done!
I checked the sound ROM and it was only 1.0, will upgrade it with my EEPROM setup
I need to level it and it should be good to go

DSCN3583 (resized).JPGDSCN3592 (resized).JPGDSCN3590 (resized).JPGDSCN3595 (resized).JPGDSCN3597 (resized).JPG

Well, I'm nuts.
What turned into some light maintenance turned into "I'm gonna shop the whole top end". Basically, there's not a lot of crazy stuff on the upper half of the game. Just lots of ball guides. Should go pretty quick. After tonight, I'm basically half way done.

But first, progress:

Cleaned the lane guides
Swapped out the lower GI for red/purple, I dig it!
Replaced the star posts with the fluorescent green ones, real nice!
Replaced lower rubber with new translucent rubber
Put on some of the plastic protectors, removed the washers that were on there. There's a few busted missing plastics I didn't realize at first until taking it apart.
Cleaned and waxed the lower half of the playfield
Replaced some of the flasher bulbs with LED ones
Regrained and waxed all the lower ball guides
Installed the two saucer Cliffy's, look nice!
Swapped in the new translite

2 of the pop bumpers had no lamp sockets! Somebody just snipped them off the top end. Also, one of the double star posts was cracked in half.

Missing some star post rubbers and a few other random parts. Gonna place an order for PinballLife.

DSCN3600 (resized).JPG
DSCN3614 (resized).JPG
DSCN3615 (resized).JPG
DSCN3616 (resized).JPG
DSCN3622 (resized).JPG

Thought I had my PinballLife order finalized when I realized I forgot something very important: The flippers.

The flippers are the biggest baddest mechs on the game. I always rebuild the flippers regardless of how the feel.

For the order's sake, it's important to pull the coils and ensure the sleeves can get removed. I've gotten burned on this... twice.

Pulled em all off, the coils are a bit dirty but seem OK. One sleeve was very difficult to pull off, but the socket driver trick worked. Seems OK, not going to replace it.

I was delighted to find the flippers in all sorts of disarray!
-One had a missing coil stop screw, the other screw was on finger tight and was missing it's washer
-On that same mech, a screw head was missing, it snapped off and was still threaded onto the nut. Fortunately I was able to get it off.
-The other two screws were missing their nuts
-The plunger and stop were the worst I've ever seen
-The other flippers basically were missing a few screws
-They were all filthy

Got all 3 cleaned and prepped in 30 minutes.
Reassembled and cleaned up in another 30.
All new flipper parts, replaced some of the screws, replaced nuts with lock nuts.

DSCN3633 (resized).JPGDSCN3640 (resized).JPGDSCN3639 (resized).JPGDSCN3643 (resized).JPGDSCN3645 (resized).JPG

Got a couple hours in tonight:
Rebuilt the slingshots
Rebuilt the disappearing post
Remounted the flippers
Made a bunch of tiny black touchups on the playfield. Mostly on inserts.
Waxed the rear half of the playfield, I'll leave a second coat on overnight
Put in two of the pop bumper assemblies

Noticed there's some weird hairline cracks in the playfield. Not planking, just a few cracks. Playfield defects?

Playfield is looking real nice!
PinballLife order should be here in the next day or two.
Either way, next step is to regrain the metal, wax it, and start getting that back on

DSCN3669 (resized).JPG

DSCN3665 (resized).JPG

DSCN3666 (resized).JPG

DSCN3667 (resized).JPG

PinballLife order came in!
Spent a few more hours:

Regrained and waxed all the metal guides
Put on the rest of the star posts, rubbers, posts
Put on some of the plastics and protectors
Rebuilt the kickback and ball trough

DSCN3671 (resized).JPGDSCN3673 (resized).JPG

Cleaned the window with the cheapo headlight restorer kit from Harbor Freight.
Turned out incredible!

DSCN3681 (resized).JPGDSCN3682 (resized).JPG

Removed the gorilla mini playfield assembly
Disassembled and cleaned the gorilla mech
Replaced the filthy coil sleeves

The shaft going into the gorilla is cracked, and looks like it's been repaired before. Or based on how dirty it was, maybe never was
It kind of stays in there decent. Hoping upon reassembly the friction and the weight of the head will keep it working. If not, I'll try some JB Weld.

The L bracket has a spot weld that was nicely done. The rest looks a little worn but in good shape.
Cleaned and waxed the mini playfield
Cleaned all the targets
Put on new target foam - all of them were disintegrated!

DSCN3684 (resized).JPGDSCN3688 (resized).JPGDSCN3686 (resized).JPGDSCN3690 (resized).JPGDSCN3693 (resized).JPG

Been traveling a bunch for work, but put in a few hours last night:

Wired up the pop bumper GI - I hate doing this
Finished reassembly the pop bumper mechs
Added some more plastics to the top end
Cleaned and waxed the Amy ramp and Volcano ramp
Added a RGB LED strip to the Volcano ramp, I'll be controlling this with an Arduino
Ordered and received the grey gorilla plate from Mantis Amusements, $40, but very happy I have a proper replacement
Upon replacing it, someone definitely repaired it!

DSCN3698 (resized).JPGDSCN3699 (resized).JPGDSCN3700 (resized).JPGDSCN3701 (resized).JPG

Took advantage of a free Sunday and finished the shop job:

Cleaned, flame polished and waxed all the ramps - turned out great! Magic eraser helped get out a lot of ball trail while cleaning!
Cleaned, polished (Mother's) and wax the habitrails
Replaced the ramp cover on the left ramp - Protector kit came with a new one! Had to drill out the rivets which was a pain but looks great!
Installed all the ramps
Installed some palm tree mods
Installed the target decals
Replaced the shooter sleeve
Adjusted a few leaf switches
Fixed a few LED's that were out
Soldered in the flippers and pop bumpers
Installed and adjusted the flippers (I hate doing this)
Rebuilt the Gorilla assembly - the shaft of my new Mantis bracket is a tiny bit wider than the last one, had to sand out the inside of the top bracket/bearing with a rat tail file to get it to fit. Works great!
Cleaned the coin bucket, sorted through all the crap that was in there

Played a few games and got it dialed in. Pops are super sensitive! Flippers feel great. I was able to hit the Volcano ramp a few times. Ball seems to be rolling over the window without getting messed up.

Overall very happy with the progress I've made in the time I invested!

Going to try to enjoy this a bit before doing anything else, but here's what I have planned:
Try to wrap the lockdown bar in the green chrome vinyl
LED flipper buttons
Replace the coin door
Cab touchups
LED strips under flippers/back
Hippo and Amy figures, plane model
Wire up an Arduino to control the Volcano strip
Shooter rod mod
Scoop LED's
Remake some plastics
Make some return lane decals

DSCN3708 (resized).JPG
DSCN3711 (resized).JPGDSCN3713 (resized).JPGDSCN3716 (resized).JPGDSCN3717 (resized).JPG

DSCN3732 (resized).JPG
DSCN3720 (resized).JPG
DSCN3722 (resized).JPG
DSCN3721 (resized).JPG
DSCN3719 (resized).JPG
DSCN3725 (resized).JPG
DSCN3728 (resized).JPG
DSCN3727 (resized).JPG
DSCN3729 (resized).JPG
DSCN3730 (resized).JPG

Took 2 hours and replaced the coin door tonight
Did a bunch of black touchups
Popped in some spare black bolts I have in some of the lockbar holes
Put custom coin reject decals in

The new coin door had a different smaller connector, I had to pop on an IDC connector.

Overall looks a hell of a lot better!
Going to get some more black bolts for the other side and I'll be set!
The front always really bothered me, but now with that so much better the game overall looks much sharper.
You can also see where I tried to wrap the lockbar in the green chrome vinyl. Got close, need to try that again soon.

DSCN3733 (resized).JPGDSCN3736 (resized).JPG