Just to let you guys know I will be joining the club in a few days 
(Topic ID: 66172)
Linked Games
F-14 Tomcat
Williams, 1987
Topic Gallery
Newmarket, ON
Odiliapeel
Well. count me in. Have the F14 now for an year. My first pin and loving it, i am not that technical so a mechanic nearby is my man for solutions 
fortunately i do not need him often.
Recently after changing batteries there was an error and the F14 would not start. The battery-holder was broken and after replacing it was starting up again.
When i bought it the left slingshot was broken, after asking here on the forum member Scott send me an message he has one available (https://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/sckurk) a day later Fedex stops at my house, Scott has send me the slingshot for free, can you believe that there are people like that? We need more of these people that help out other people without
self-interest 
Now looking for an companion for the Tomcat, i think the Twister is the likely candidate. Real challenge to get me an good one out here in the Netherlands
1 week later
Sana'a
1 week later
State College, PA
Help needed! I have an F-14 Tomcat project on my workbench, and the big project element is that a previous owner hacked up the flasher boards and cut some flasher wiring entirely, so I have loose, cut wires all over the place and don't know where they go. It would help me greatly if someone could post or PM me detailed pictures of the underside of the playfield, especially the wiring related to the flasher boards and the snubber relays. Any help is appreciated!
Thanks, vid1900! Wow--there's a lot there to absorb there, but I'll study up this weekend. What a great resource. I know there are plenty of pix in the link provided above, but if anyone has pix of the playfield underside in small sections I can still use them in general.
Quoted from JOESCHALL:Thanks, vid1900! Wow--there's a lot there to absorb there, but I'll study up this weekend. What a great resource. I know there are plenty of pix in the link provided above, but if anyone has pix of the playfield underside in small sections I can still use them in general.
100 high rez disassembly photos:
https://pinside.com/pinball/archive/f-14-tomcat/gallery/shopout
And now, looking at the service bulletin you provided in the other link along with your pix, I can see that my machine is one of those where the operator cut the wires and removed the bulbs (by the number on my backbox at least, my game may have been #33 in production). This will make it much easier to fathom what happened to my wiring and to decide how to remedy it. Again, thanks a million. Now the "mess o' wires" is starting to make sense!
So having some issues on my buddys machine if anyone could take some time and snap me a couple pics of coil wiring and switch for the popbumper it would help alot
Quoted from Schabs81:So having some issues on my buddys machine if anyone could take some time and snap me a couple pics of coil wiring and switch for the popbumper it would help alot
100 high rez disassembly photos:
https://pinside.com/pinball/archive/f-14-tomcat/gallery/shopout
Problem is my buddy clipped wires and said it was one way ,we have 2 red and white wires going to positive on coil. but from those pics looks like one so need to see if i have it right
Quoted from Schabs81:Problem is my buddy clipped wires and said it was one way ,we have 2 red and white wires going to positive on coil. but from those pics looks like one so need to see if i have it right
There are 2 Red/White wires daisy chaining power to the next coil.
Need a little help fellow F-14 owners... I just got an F-14 that is in great shape, however the left center target doesn't work. There is a a 1 1/2" yellow wire coming off the bottom of it. If someone could let me know where it goes, it would save me a lot of grief looking over the schematics. Thanks!
Here's what I hope is a simple question: on my F-14, one time and one time ONLY have I ever had the SPECIAL outlane lights come on during a game. I was super excited when it happened, yet had no idea what I'd done to activate them. And then I drained SDTM and never got to see what happened next.
WHAT IS THE DEAL there?! I looked it up on IPDB and couldn't find anything. WEIRD.
Special is usually just a free game. I think if you spell tomcat during multiball SPECIAL will lit but I honestly have never bothered to put any thought into it.
You can change the "special" light to be qualified by various settings during multi-ball. Since mine has been setup as HUO with extra ball awards instead of free games for awards, it has not been a real interest for the 28 years that we have had it. Haven't thought about it much. But see the manual section for it below. We probably hit it a few times, but with multi-ball on this machine, you're just keeping balls in play that are rocketing at you.
Jesus Christ, no *wonder* I only managed to light it once in 2 1/2 years! Getting 3 landings with at least 2 balls still in play is hard enough!
Quoted from Shiny_balls:Together with green wires
THANKS Shiny_Balls! That was my guess, but I've guessed wrong in the past with dire consequences.
I'm in the middle of a restore, rebuilding the beacon assembly. When it gets triggered, the (new) motor isn't able to start the rotating. Only after i move it manually, they start up. I'm trying to find friction or anything that could be hindering the movement, but no luck.
Any tips on this? Thanks
I replaced my beacon motor and the rubber belts/bands when I reworked mine. It was sticking a little at the beginning. I messed with the pulleys a bit as my thoughts were that they were side loading a bit and after they were not used for 25+ years, there was likely some dust/dirt restricting it here and there. I pulled on the new belts/bands a to flex them a little so that they were maybe not as tight. That worked, but was still sticking from time-to-time. After it got used maybe 5 times or so, it worked a lot better. Not sure if that will help at all, but I had the same thing happen.
I'm selling my early run Tomcat in the "northeast for sale thread": it has all the early production trimmings: clear flashers, 5 working flashers near the top, clear domes, insullated lamps, early production scorecards, prom's marked Proto5, different sounds/attract modes & scoring, LED's and very clean for 1100
1 week later
You can check with pinball life. They have a lot of options and may have one that will work.
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=121&pg=1
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=639
I think this one should work for you. My space station has the same problem and I am going to replace it as well. F-14 should be really close in parts as they were made in the same year.
Custom ramps now available for F-14.
Info here...
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/f-14-tomcat-custom-ramps#post-3201618
1 week later
Quoted from Jumping-Box:Within my pop-bumper, the wedge light has a bad connection. The light does not work, but the pop is fine. Am I able to fix without removing the whole pop bumper?
Yes, the lamp socket is the first thing you have to remove and the last thing to get put in when removing a pop bumper. All you have to do is go to bottom of playfield, remove the two wires going to socket, remove socket from top, insert new socket, and re-solder on the two wires on bottom...
You need sockets with wire pigtails...
Quoted from Jumping-Box:Within my pop-bumper, the wedge light has a bad connection. The light does not work, but the pop is fine. Am I able to fix without removing the whole pop bumper?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-rebuilding-pop-bumpers#post-485877
1 week later
Does anyone have these pinblades installed on their F14? If so, can you post a couple of pics of them installed on the machine? Thanks!
http://www.tiltgraphicsinc.com/#!product-page/c7zeb/7345d3e3-7920-f2a4-2ab1-b476e5a11660
1 week later
Quoted from Crater:Hey Everyone, I'm about to go check out an F-14 Tomcat for sale tonight. I wanted to know if anyone has some advice on what to take a look at before I buy it (common wear spots, quick-to-go-bad electronics, etc...)
Thanks!
Look for raised inserts under the Mylar.
Look for cracked inserts.
Look for cracks in the welds of the 2 center wire ramps that launch the balls.
Check that the motor works that spins the beacons $$$
Check that both diverters work on the upper left plastic ramp.
Check for corrosion on the traces near the battery pack.
Check for broken plastics, especially around the upper loop (the skinny ones)
Quoted from vid1900:Look for raised inserts under the Mylar.
Look for cracked inserts.
Look for cracks in the welds of the 2 center wire ramps that launch the balls.
Check that the motor works that spins the beacons $$$
Check that both diverters work on the upper left plastic ramp.
Check for corrosion on the traces near the battery pack.
Check for broken plastics, especially around the upper loop (the skinny ones)
Thanks a bunch for the tips! I didn't end up getting it because a few of the things you mentioned. It was tough to say no because I have been on the hunt for an F-14 for some time now, but the price and quality just didn't match up. I'm always up for a project, but only if the price is right. I guess the hunt continues...
2 weeks later
Unfortunately I need a new roof on my house. F-14 is going to help pay for it. Leaving this club (for now)... 
Promoted items from Pinside Marketplace and Pinside Shops!
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
