Decided to start logging my restorations. Pins are hard to come by in Alaska so I take what I can get, in any condition. Diner was actually a title on my wishlist so I got very lucky this time. It was in very rough condition when I got it however. Problems ranged from no GI, no display showing, raised inserts on the playfield, playfield wear, extremely dirty, broken parts, wires soldered to the board, to missing plastics and flipper button.

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This is my playfield after extensive repairs and a clearcoat. Overall I am extremely happy with the outcome. I will be working on the cabinet this weekend. I am trying to save the artwork since it is in good shape and just paint the black areas. Some nicks are filled and some still need another coat or 2 of filler. Although it's not common I think I will clear coat the cabinet as well.

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Thank you!

Without a proper sander / polisher, hand sanding and steel wool will have to do. You can still see some pitting anyway, but I still find these to be acceptable after the polish.

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Working on the playfield underside today. It's pretty nasty, so starting with a sand.

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Good example of before and after.

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I will be shocked if all the optos work properly. It seems like some put wd40 on all the plungers and these drop target boards are caked in grime. The one I cleaned was actually alot worse than the one here.

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?

Lol. Sorry, I'm old and don't understand these emojis or whatever they are.

Maybe. It came from Fbx. Guy at GoKarts of AK. Guy is kind of a jerk.

Long Day's work. Underside is about 90% complete. Fortunately I was not able to finish due to a road trip to pick up a Comet for next to nothing! Will look great next to my Cyclone.

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I make sure I do at least something everyday to my projects. Sometimes that turns into hours. I am going to lose a week though with family coming to visit and see Alaska.

Recovering from an 8 hour hike so I got a little work done. My motto has always been "Why do anything if you can over-do it?"; so I sanded the inside and underneath the cabinet. The hike was 6.5 hours straight up and 1.5 back down, but well worth the view!!!

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Ok, got a little more time to work on the cabinet. I put a single coat of auto clear just on the graphics for protection. Then I will use frisket for an addition layer while I finish the corners and nicks. Then black followed by a couple more coats of clear so I can start the reassembly.

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Family flew out last night so back to normal life. Gonna get some work in today on the cabinet. At this point I am just about to mask off the graphics with frisket and spray the black. I am going to use createx colors straight black since it matches unnoticeably after a coat of clear.

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Really happy with the black. Looks like it might rain so waiting to see if I can clear coat soon or not.

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Got a good day's work in again. Cabinet needs to cure a little, then I can start to install everything back into the cabinet and head. Cabinet looks good as is, but I may buff out the clear coat.

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Cabinet done, time to do the top side of the playfield now.

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Finally standing again! Of course I have no chance of it being imamaculate now, though. Oh well.

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Fixing connectors while I wait on parts. Not sure how everyone does the loops for the j6 connector, but I dont like the splices I see on some. I soldered in a jumper but could have been cleaner about it. I'm also waiting on the 10 pin header to repair the interconnect.

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Cleaned up the j6 connector. Not perfect but acceptable.

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New pins and new connectors and the GI is looking much healthier. Gonna get LEDs so the load won't be so bad going forward. Mark from freeplay40 just finished my lift ramp and it looks sweet! He's sending it tomorrow so things are moving along.

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New lift ramp is installed (thanks freeplay40) and looks great. At some point I will try to source a decal but good for now. Unfortunately I am stuck since all the broken posts and screws are showing up now. At least I was able to get a good count and get them ordered. Also got caps for c1 and c3 hoping that will fix my display issues.

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Ok! All back together and working out the bugs. Currently blowing 2 fuses: f5 and the 8 amp on the side of the head. Got someone helping me on a tech thread so hopefully fully working soon!

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Up and running! Ac relay seems to be switching but the C side flashers are not working. Few little things before I call it complete but looking nice. Got a new apron card but it needs trimmed down which seems odd.

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Man, right after it was up and running, my ac relay fried and caused all sorts of issues. I am still trying to work through them.

Started this in March and finally tracked down the last issues with some serious help from @GRUMPY. Thank you sir, you are such an asset to the hobby.