Elvira and the Party Monsters
Bally, 1989I need advice on my flippers on Elvira. They are a mess and in need of total rebuild, new coils, EOS, get rid of compression spring, etc.
Here is my question:
It currently has 11722 coils which are weaker than the 11630's that are supposed to be in it, but it plays "OK" even before the rebuild. I am able to make the ramps fine. Should I stay with the 11722's or go back to 11630's?
If you're happy with it why change I guess, but personally I prefer sticking with stock coils, the game was designed for them. I rebuilt mine to lose the compressing spring and use the WPC style though.
An 11722 is significantly weaker than an 11630. They may play okay for one or two games, but if you have company over and the game gets played a lot, the left ramp is going to get extremely hard when the right flipper coil heats up. I considered upgrading the 11630's in my EATPM just for this reason. Even with factory 11630's, the left ramp would get hard at the end of league night. I ended up selling the game instead.
Ok. Ordered 11630s since it seems silly to not even have it as strong as factory (thought maybe there was an Elvira reason). Ordered the works including flipper switches. I will have about $6000 in this thing by the time I am done with it. 
And OMG every t-nut on the playfield was locktighted or superglued. Who does that? Almost every one broke, stripped or was unusable. Somewhere there is a retired route guy who is laughing his head off right now.
I went though my entire bag of (the correct) spare posts. There were at least 10 of them at $4 each.
Rant over....
Quoted from BadBrad97:And OMG every t-nut on the playfield was locktighted or superglued. Who does that? Almost every one broke, stripped or was unusable.
Heat those up from the backside with a micro torch or big soldering gun and they come right out.
Quoted from BadBrad97:I will have about $6000 in this thing by the time I am done with it.
That's nuts, how did you even manage that? I bought mine badly routed for $900, put maybe $1000 in parts into it, and a lot of time and work restoring the playfield, but I can't imagine finding another $5000 to do.
Quoted from BadBrad97:And OMG every t-nut on the playfield was locktighted or superglued. Who does that? Almost every one broke, stripped or was unusable.
Ugh, I hear that, I had the worst time with t-nuts on my Elvira too. Had to brute force rip and cut some out. (Edit: damnit vid, now you tell us 
).
Also another trick you could have was just order complete new WPC type assemblies with coils included for about $40 each and be done with it forever. )
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=172
Or build up a set like Vid's Guide to rebuilding flippers shows.
Quoted from BadBrad97:Ok. Ordered 11630s since it seems silly to not even have it as strong as factory (thought maybe there was an Elvira reason). Ordered the works including flipper switches. I will have about $6000 in this thing by the time I am done with it.
And OMG every t-nut on the playfield was locktighted or superglued. Who does that? Almost every one broke, stripped or was unusable. Somewhere there is a retired route guy who is laughing his head off right now.
I went though my entire bag of (the correct) spare posts. There were at least 10 of them at $4 each.
Rant over....
Normal for a lot of sys 11 games for loctite on the t-nuts. I just saved myself the hassle, ordered new tnuts, posts, and took a dremel to the top of em, then hammered what was left out of the pf. For me it was a time vs money factor, and I hated trying to heat the tnuts, and then still have em snap.
Quoted from Aurich:That's nuts, how did you even manage that? I bought mine badly routed for $900, put maybe $1000 in parts into it, and a lot of time and work restoring the playfield, but I can't imagine finding another $5000 to do.
Sorry. I couldn't find the exaggerate smiley face.
I am going to have closer to $3000 in it though. But it is actually turning out really nice. I have it back together as of last night and played few games. Other than the new coils and a few plastics that need the rivets drilled to install it is pretty much done.
Quoted from BadBrad97:Sorry. I couldn't find the exaggerate smiley face.
I am going to have closer to $3000 in it though. But it is actually turning out really nice. I have it back together as of last night and played few games. Other than the new coils and a few plastics that need the rivets drilled to install it is pretty much done.
Heh. Sounds super sweet, a deserving game.
use the FL11629 from the WPC games.. they are perfect for your application, a bit stronger than 11630's
630's were usually used on upper flipper assy's and the 629 for the lowers from the factory...
I have used 629's in all my sys11 stuff and upgraded all of my WPC's upper flippers with them as well..
you wont be disappointed at all
So if I were to order this, would that include everything I need for a rebuild with exception of flipper bats? http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=717
Would I need any other parts at all (maybe included on this)? http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=980
Sorry, this will be my first rebuild & there are no local shops I can go to - mail takes a few weeks to get to me, so I'd rather pay a little more & ensure I have absolutely everything needed to rebuild & not be short any parts - thanks.
The first link would be everything you need. Plug and play.
The only thing I would change is for a few dollars more, switch out the compression springs by adding the bracket (looks like it may already be included) and other spring.
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/01-9376
http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/10-364
Quoted from ozuba:So if I were to order this, would that include everything I need for a rebuild with exception of flipper bats?
You also need one of these for each flipper:
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=270
Step by step:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers
Quoted from vid1900:You also need one of these for each flipper:
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=270
Step by step:
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/vids-guide-to-upgradingrebuilding-flippers
I thought the Pinball life kit included everything.
2014-01-30 12_16_22-Full Flipper Assembly For Williams_Bally Machines from 02_1988 To 11_1991_ pinba.jpg
Awesome, thanks guys - a kit, a bushing, a spring, and a flipper bat for each side. I am hopeful that the new spring setup will work, from the picture it looks like it should.
Wow, thanks for both the catch & clarification, I missed that . If I go the full flipper assembly route, I would only need to add a bat & the new spring (not a bushing), correct?
Quoted from ozuba:Wow, thanks for both the catch & clarification, I missed that . If I go the full flipper assembly route, I would only need to add a bat & the new spring (not a bushing), correct?
Correct. Full flipper route is complete except the extra spring.
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