F-14 Tomcat
Williams, 1987You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider gutz.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Picked up a tomcat from an operator as a part of a bulk buy. The machine was routed for 11 years before it was damaged in a building fire. Some PCBs were yanked for parts and the game was condemned to die in a shed. After 18 years of hot summers and cold winters, it found me. I'm not sure which did more damage, the fire or the storage conditions after the fire. I am glad the op didn't trash it and kept it for so long. It was sold for 'parts' but I will have the final say.
Before pics. Anything plastic in the head melted. Lots of soot/smoke damage. Bubbled paint on backbox top and a little on the back. The PCBs that were stored in the machine, all fuse holders, hardware, light sockets, and connectors up high (ps and sound board) were corroded/rusty. Knocker too. Not sure if the corrosion started after the fire or during storage.
Translite was missing. Mpu and display were pulled before storage and are not corroded. Speaker panel melted. The legs were borrowed from the titanic. There is a nasty yellow corrosion on the side rails and lockdown bar.
IMG_20161228_144701_646 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161227_143329_731 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161227_143251_577 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161227_124744_386 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161227_123714_031 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161227_123703_950 (resized).jpg
More progress pics cleaning up the damage. I have no idea what the corrosion on the side rails and lockdown bar were, but evaporust didn't touch it. They had to be cleaned mechanically with scotchbrite/steel wool. There are still pits in the finish but its much better than before.
The light panel was magic erased to remove soot. Beacon assembly had heavy soot on top that was sanded clean. The bottom was heavily rusted. The bottom was sanded down and painted black. The sockets were corroded but a dip in evaporust cleaned them up and they are working.
IMG_20170115_225206_041 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170106_241028_391 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170105_233712_823 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161229_160413_670 (resized).jpg
Beacon assembly finished up. I didn't take any after pics out of the machine because I was so excited to get it back on the machine.
Old domes were heated and pressed back into shape and polished 
ha! The old ones were f*cked up beyond repair and had to be replaced. The red one actually melted around the lamp/post and was a joy to cut off with a rotary tool. All the mounting bolts were rusted and surprise surprise snapped during removal. New beacon motor, center pulleys, nylinears, lamps, and belts. Connectors were corroded, so they got repinned.
Top of the back box was sanded down and repainted black when the domes were off.
IMG_20170202_095211_489 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170202_095338_057 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170202_095135_814 (resized).jpg
Outside of cab mostly done. Cab and backbox sides are checked, but considering the history of the machine, they look good. Legs are spares I had, not the legs that came with the machine (i never even bothered unpacking the original legs). Coin door painted.
IMG_20170202_185734_368 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170202_180017_420 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170202_175950_027 (resized).jpg
Quoted from dozer1:Been following your thread. Lotsa work ahead, your work looks great so far. Did the game have a decent PF?
Playfield is surprisingly decent for a tomcat. Wear on the top loop, loop inserts, and kickback lane but nothing horrible. Top and bottom mylar with a few high inserts. The goal is to have a nice players machine, and the original playfield will achieve that and will look pretty good considering the history of the machine.
Quoted from crlush:Wow nice work so far, i wouldnt know where to start.
Sometimes, starting is the hardest part
Insert panel back in. Sanded backside the best i could without removing sockets and wires. The lamp sockets and wire are rusty, but still work, so I will leave them alone for now. Head brackets cleaned and polished up. Fuse holders and new fuses installed (corrosion). Bridge fuses added.
IMG_20170205_123248_452 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170205_123121_029 (resized).jpg
Board time! Power supply and sound board area had corrosion issues, many parts were replaced. New caps, fuse holders, new +5v regulator, transistor, and bridge. New connectors on both boards.
For testing, I checked each AC pair of wires from the transformer first. All present! Next, connecting the input plugs of the power supply only, checked for all DC voltages. All present!
Some parts maybe didn't HAVE to be replaced, but without solid power the game won't be reliable. I also didn't want to waste time tracing issues back to questionable components/connectors/corrosion.
To save some suspense: the mpu booted on the bench (power up only, no in/outputs tested) over a year ago. It was the only thing I tested before packing the game away in the que. Luckily, the batteries were pulled before storage! The mpu and display were in a separate box. I dont think they were stored in the same shed as the machine because they are in much nicer shape. I told myself that if the mpu booted, I would try to save the game. Sometimes the games want to be saved 
I replaced the power connector on the mpu, installed the board and only connected the displays and coin door switches. Its alive!!
Only player 1 and 2 displays work. 3 is dead and 4 was missing glass. 'Adjust failure' remedied through the menus, and the machine was in game over mode
Hooked the playfield systems up one at a time and verified through the menus: lights, switches, coils. A few switch adjustments, new lamps, new flash resistor/reflow and I had a 99% working playfield!
IMG_20170202_215346_804 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170205_123147_952 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161230_212722_727 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161231_153407_039 (resized).jpg
IMG_20161230_195916_990 (resized).jpg
The machine was missing the translite and kruzman hooked me up with a nice one (and glass)! Installed new trim, which was a snug fit. I warmed up the trim with a heat gun to 'open' them up. New speaker panel plastic installed and pinscore display installed. Players 3 and 4 are working, thankfully no mpu issues! I will wait until all the up/down/in/out is finished on the speaker panel to peel the coating (bluish tint in the pics)
Quoted from SUPERBEE:Nice work!! Your beacon lenses look really nice and clear. Especially the "clear" one but the blue and red ones also look really nice. Ive noticed that some of the new ones dont look that nice. Where did you get them from ? Marco ?
Thanks! I picked up the beacons from planetary pinball because they were the only site (that I frequent) that had all colors in stock. I went with the clear dome because the 'white' looks too opaque in the pictures to me. Maybe it isn't as opaque in person? The clear looks good on the cab, but holy hell is it blinding! I didn't do any polishing to them before install. Up close they're not perfect, but they look good from the player's perspective.
The last board to hook up was the sound board. I had apprehensions with this board because there was a dated tech note (pre-fire ) in machine saying "loud hum from sound board - disconnected sound board". It was also the only board left in the machine (Mpu and displays were stored in a separate box, power supply was inside the coin box but I don't know for how long) and I figured it was left behind for a reason. Upon inspection, the sockets and socketed chips didn't look good from the corrosion. I measured the capacitors (keeping the hum note in mind) and the radials were not horrible and all the axials were bad. Replaced the axial capacitors and fired it up to hear sound board issues 
Some static, missing sounds, and no sweet ass tomcat melodies. Repair notes in this thread: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/system-11-sound-board-repair-d-11581-f-14-tomcat
After the repair, I cranked up the volume and smiled This is what it felt like:
Quoted from CyberNinja24:Looking awesome Zach!!
I look forward to checking this out in person sometime soon!!
Damn it, jimmy...now everyone knows our real names!
Everything put back together and this bird is flying high. Still need to compile the total cost of the project. Waiting for a larger order to pbresource to pickup new enhanced kill targets, and a gpe order for a new sound ribbon cable ( old one works but is very crispy). Other than that, I'm closing the restoration book on this f(ire)-14 tomcat
IMG_20170214_204246_191 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170214_203246_832 (resized).jpg
IMG_20170214_203221_370 (resized).jpg
Project costs:
Purchase: $100
Cab
Leg parts (feet, bolts, protectors) $15
Translite/Glass/Trim $115
Beacon parts (3 Domes, motor, belts, pulleys)$140
Speaker panel $75
Playfield Glass $22
Misc (shooter parts, locks, hardware) $23
Electronics
Display $200
Components (power supply: connectors, caps, transistor, ic, fuse holders, fuses. Sound board caps, connectors, Snubber resistors, ribbon cables, ect.) $50
Playfield/shop out (balls, lamps, rubbers, coil sleeves, targets, coil, mech parts, flipper rebuild, pop bumper parts, posts/domes, plastics)
$260
Shop supplies
$10
Shipping
$50
My time: priceless
Total cost $1060
You're currently viewing posts by Pinsider gutz.
Click here to go back to viewing the entire thread.
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Great 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+!
This page was printed from https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/fire-14-tomcat-learn-to-fly?tu=gutz and we tried optimising it for printing. Some page elements may have been deliberately hidden.
Scan the QR code on the left to jump to the URL this document was printed from.
Vandalia, OH