I'm not a big fan of the flippers on Flash (sluggish, clunky, weak, etc.). I was originally thinking of just rebuilding them with new parts, but I've heard its really the design that sucks, and a rebuild would help but they would still suck. I've played a couple other games from that generation, and they seem to all be like that. I recently read a thread (http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/59658-13-flash-generation-flipper-upgrade-awesome) where some guy upgraded the flipper assemblies to the next generation Firepower style assemblies (http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=711).

What does the pinside community think? Rebuild or upgrade? Is there anything to the upgrade beyond removing the old assembly and making space to mount the new one? How about voltage for the new coils?

Thanks!

That's my feeling too. I think great flippers will take this game to the next level.

I thought about this, didn't know it was possible. Pinballlife offers a number of coil sizes and coil stops for those assemblies. (http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=172). Which size do you think? Do I need to worry about voltage issues?

I should mention that I don't want to "overdo it". That is, I don't necessarily want to be rocketing shots up the playfield at unnatural speeds and breaking targets.

The only objection I have here is that this coil is not an option on PBL for the WPC mechanisms.

The default coils that come in the PBL WPC mechanisms are: (Coil Number, Manufacturer, Size, Resistance, Notes)

FL-11629 WILLIAMS FAT 4R4/135R6 Flipper Coil (50V) (Blue - strongest - 5/5)
FL-11630 WILLIAMS FAT 4R7/? Flipper Coil (50V) (Red - medium strength - 3/5) - Wico sub 04-0718
FL-11753 WILLIAMS FAT 10R3/164R3 Flipper Coil (50V) (Yellow - weakest - 1/5) - Wico sub 04-0720
FL-11722 WILLIAMS FAT 7R0/156R3 Flipper Coil (50V) (Green - weaker - 2/5)
FL-15411 WILLIAMS FAT 4Rl/69R6? Flipper Coil (50V) (Orange - stronger - 4/5)
FL-17636 WILLIAMS FAT 4R3/? Flipper Coil
FL-15411 WILLIAMS FAT 4Rl/150R Flipper Coil

All of them are 50V, I'm guessing none would work? I wonder if I contacted them they could substitute coils.....

True, and I may do this. I believe the Flash coils are shorter, so in order to use the Flash coils I would have to redrill the holes for the front part of the coil holder to make sure that it fits snug.

Thanks viperrwk. I think that's the winning combo. I'll let you all know how it works out. Might b a while, lot of work to do on this machine still.

Okay, so I finally got to doing this upgrade, but I ran into a snag. I installed the left flipper first. Everything appears to be in order, but the left flipper just won't fire. I'm getting proper voltage readings at each lug on the coil, so no blown fuses. Last night, I thought i heard the coil making a noise each time i pressed the flipper button so I decided to hold the flipper button (no idea what I was thinking) and the coil started to smoke! Any idea what's going on here? Did I kill the coil? This feels like I'm making some dumb newbie mistake, but I figure best to stop and ask pinside before making any other dumb errors.

Oh yes, and I used a test cable to make contact between the center lug and ground wire. The coil did fire here, so it's probably not dead.

Edit: ok after this test, the flipper worked normally using the flipper button like two times, then the center lug on the coil sparked and it no longer worked again. Ugh! Now the coil no longer fires when i connect the center lug to ground. I have no idea what is going on.

Oh man, totally forgot about this post. Just saw your reply, jedimojo. I don't remember the exact details of what happened, but I ended up taking off the capacitor on the EOS and replacing the coil diode and everything worked again. Haven't had an issue since.

Totally worth it.