Was wondering if anybody might know if I could use a judge dredd wiring harness and boards to make an Indiana Jones wide body…
(Topic ID: 304282)
Hopkins, MN
Quoted from Billygrippo:I couldn’t use any part of the dredd wiring harness??
Wires. Though many may end up too short or too long. Wire color codes will be the same. Where they go to. Coils, lights, switches, will have a LOT of differences.
LTG : )
So theoretically, I probably could do some cutting and reconfigured wire placement according to a the schematics on an Indiana jones…….?? I was just thinking of a new project to do and happen to have an extra dredd I got for 400$. Since it was really cheap, I thought it would be a good machine to crossover to an ij. 
Yeah, I was looking into it. A small piece of steel is dirt cheap, but a manufactured piece for a game is 10k markup. Add every little piece up and your broke before you know it!!
Quoted from Billygrippo:Already cleaned it up and just might do that. Just seemed like it could possibly be a way to end up with a almost “showroom floor” IJ, for possibly around the same price of a used one. Seems like a lot of the semi-worn out ones still go for quite a bit.
Look at the guy that built the TAF from scratch, it's gonna cost him way more than buying a nice one and at the cost of hundreds of hours of planning, ordering, and labor.
It's a nice thought, but LTG is right, just flip the JD and buy one.
Mine isn’t technically from scratch. I have the cab, boards, optos, lamp sockets, some wiring, etc. I think the main part of it, is the insane labor I would go through and the constant……”hey”, does anyone have an an answer for this problem….. So, your advise is well taken 
No can do. You asked about it in the other thread. “What machine did you bring home today”. I’m in Hawaii
Quoted from Billygrippo:No can do. You asked about it in the other thread. “What machine did you bring home today”. I’m in Hawaii
HAHA! That's right. I know what you mean about doing a conversion. I have a Road Show project that I considered converting into something else. The problem is the cost and the struggle to find the "hard to find" and "one of a kind" parts. I've even considered doing a TOTAN build from scratch but it would cost less to buy one good one and restore it to brand new.
And yes I do have IJ. It has the typical cabinet fade but otherwise is nice.
I reckon you could do it.
You have the cab and the boards.
Main cost would be the playfields. Everything else would add up for sure, but you have a lot of it.
Playfields and radcal set is $1250 plus post:
You have $400 into your machine.
1250 plus 400 = 1650
Surely you can get everything done for under $5000?
Depending on your skill set of course. I would hand make a lot of stuff if I was doing it, I guess others would buy stuff.
The other scenario - you sell your Dredd for what, $4500? A fully shopped IJ with new playfields is what these days? $12,500? Probably more.
12,500 less your 4500 = $8000.
Don’t forget you can sell all the old Dredd stuff too. Playfield, BG, etc. In a perfect world, that stuff may cover the $1250 new playfield and radcals.
I’d give it a crack!
But that’s me. 
rd
Quoted from Billygrippo:Right on man! I guess all of us pipe dreamers of scratch builds, should just wait for a couple lemons to roll by
Most people say they like IJ better than TAF…How bout you?
Wireforms would be a huge challenge. Those are crazy parts to try and reproduce. Have an example to work from would help but still tough. Metal guides would be doable from examples if you had one. Playfields, decals and plastics can be found for a price. Not sure how you would reproduce the idol mech so you'd need to find a scrap one to restore.
As someone said, restore the dredd and flip it. Market is crazy right now. Dredd is a very underrated game.
Jaz
Budapest
Quoted from Billygrippo:Well it looks like nobody has wire forms. That’s a bitch
Wireform for IJ is not a problem. Supplied sets for IJ builds.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ij-williams-you-cheat-dr-jones-club/page/90#post-5060442
I have an IJ, and working on an almost scratch JD build. Unless you have tons of time (400+), don't try to convert the JD to IJ.
Scratch builds work for old Sterns and Ballys from the late 70s and early 80s since they all raided the same parts bin, but about anything else is a time and money wasting exercise in futility.
Quoted from Billygrippo:Thanks for the info!
Curious why the scratch JD?
It's not a real scratch build. I purchased a Dredd as disassembled, promoted as a complete package. It turned out that many missing pin specific part was not in the package, like VUK, drop target assy, playfield harnesses.
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