Jump to After Photos -- COMPLETE!!

*** The Background ***

Even though Pinside has some excellent restore threads on this game already, I am compelled to share my restore journey since (like many others) Funhouse is THE game from my childhood. In the mid 90s, my family frequented a ski area in Northern Michigan with a Funhouse. Playing the game when we made the trek was high on my priority list. And whenever I ran out of arcade money (which was quickly, since I wasn't very good), I would gawk at the attract mode instead, pondering the clock and admiring Rudy. Knowing nothing about pinball machines, Rudy was a character of mystery, creepiness, and delight. I've been obsessed with the game ever since.

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***The Search***

After a 4 year search and a couple great deals missed, I sold a few things and finally picked up a local game. It plays perfectly, but needs a lot of cosmetic help & cleaning. As such, I'm giving this classic the full treatment

Hopefully, you find my experience useful or at least interesting. I've learned a lot in past shops & playfield swaps (see my Whirlwind swap thread), but have much more to learn, so I welcome any feedback & advice you have. This is my 2nd full swap and first complete cabinet restoration. Lots to learn, but the destination is in the journey.

***Acknowledgments***

For inspiration, knowledge, & eye candy, I defer to FH threads by Skypilot & evanshane237 (among others). I hope mine lives up to their high bar. For you assistance, service, & products, thank you to Bay Area, Marco, IPB Playfields, Planetary Pinball, Pinball Resource, The Ron Kruzman, Comet LEDs. Let's get this show on the road!

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You may notice I had to take the backbox off (to fit the game in my car). Since I already went through that pain, I threw the game (gently) in my utility room & dug in immediately

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My observations about this example:

- aside from the backbox (shabby!), cabinet art is not so bad on the pictured side. Other side has fading & a serious scrape. Lockbar holes, dings, the usual
- apron looks great
- translite is solid
- Rudy looks solid
- boards look excellent (no GI burn? Crazy.)
- plays/functions perfectly
- playfield has a lot wear for my taste (pops, mylar covering some touch ups, etc)
- DIRTY (ahem, subway ramp...)

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A wise lady once told Bill Paxton "a used pinball machine is a deep, dark ocean of secrets" - or something like that...

The three biggest secrets I've uncovered in the beginning (in order of least surprising to most surprising):

3) You like ball trails? Check out what's in under steps:

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2) "Ooh ramp protectors on the main ramp. Nice." Turns out, they were load-bearing...

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1) an ugly welded flipper plate! I didn't even know you could break these, but I suppose this is 20+ years of flipper action

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Nice, just ordered a Mirco for my project. How does it look?

I haven't rebuilt a Rudy before, but I think we'll be pleasantly surprised what a good cleaning and refurbish will do for him.

Thanks everyone & good morning. Rudy video is helpful, thanks. My goal here is not a step-by-step, since there are wonderful guides already on pinside for things like pop bumpers, WMS flipper rebuilds, Rudy. Just sharing the journey and few details about my approach (both challenges & victories as they come up)

Here's what I'm adding:

* New playfield
* new ramps
* new playfield stuff (cliffy's, pop bumbler caps)
* new coil wrappers
* new plastics/protectors
* cabinet decals
* LEDs (frosted warm & cool white above, color matched inserts below)

Here's what I'm doing:

* bondo, paint, clear cabinet
* clean absolutely everything (boards, harnesses, coils, etc)
* flipper rebuild
* coil rebuild
* polish to the best of my ability

I have a small collection & a couple small areas to work in, so it's been difficult to justify loading up on the tools I need to do this correctly. I'm not doing multiple swaps in a year, so I'm trying to find the right balance of equipment.

For example, since I'm trying to avoid a projecting exploding in my game room, I chose this narrow workspace instead

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After exhaustively hand polishing and cleaning everything in my last swap, I decided I couldn't live without these!

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Couple things I've used before:

+ a good pair of side cutters (essential for me)
+ For polishing, this stuff is wicked, but excellent for polishing metal. I use it for anything that won't fit in the tumbler

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I don't like to rely solely on pictures (though I still take hundreds). Instead, I do bagging, color-coding, lettering, and numbering systems.

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You must have the right tools for the job!

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A couple of sleepless nights and major progress this weekend. I vow not to take 2 years doing this again. Not having a newborn this time will certainly help! I want to be playing this "beauty" by August. Hope I get there.

Topside teardown:

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Tearing down your favorite game is a double edge sword. Until I started doing this, pinball was always such a mystery to me. When I was a kid, I wondered what was in Rudy's hideout. It seemed magical in some ways. For better or worse, the mystery is revealed

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Looks good, man. I can definitely see the benefit of an extra spot light here or there

Sometimes, it's the little things that slow you down, like a 15lb bag of walnut media exploding in transit

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Moving quickly here, hope I can keep the pace. I labeled, removed, and cleaned all 3 harnesses. Doing them one at a time seems much easier, even though I had to snip a few overlapping wires. Williams installed the switch harness first at the factory, but I opted to removed the switches before the lights, as it felt more intuitive.

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Lots of labeling. If I start getting impatient, I slow down or stop. For me, rushing leads to mistakes. This time around, everything feels more comfortable & familiar. You can see the dusty outline of the subway ramp. This game has seen some serious play.

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Blah, subway, blah.

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Love me some simple green.

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I do the wash part quickly. Rinse in warm water, lather in Simple Green, let sit for a couple mins, wash & repeat until clean. I grabbed a can of dust spray to blow out the connectors.

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The lamp harness is not as brittle as many games I've worked on. Very thankful for that. Still, pictures are handy when a wire pops off unexpectedly (had one already I caught early and labeled)

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1st round of new stuff, along with clean lamp boards and R5-D4 for some reason

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dirty pop bumper spots & dirty coils

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Playfield is very nearly stripped

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Workshop getting full(er)

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Broken glass hiding behind one of the rails from some past catastrophe

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Never noticed this nod to Whirlwind before (also hidden)

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Absolutely, I'm a big kid which makes pinball a good fit. It's a good life. Very small collection of vintage stuff. Most of the carded figures on the workbench are Funko Alien ReAction figures. Love Funko: They're the Kenner of the 21st century!

Haha. You described the process perfectly. It's equally fun & not fun. It appeals to my Type A side for sure.

Most definitely pinball glass. Whoever broke it almost got it all. There is also some deep in the cabinet

Broke out the ultrasonic cleaner last night. Holy crap, this is my new favorite toy. The results are quick and mind blowing. Still have to tumble & regrain.

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Only hit one roadblock: Any tips for removing the black gunk from flipper bats?! I have some new ones on the way, but I'd still like to give it a whirl

Hmm. Assuming it's not broken, What solution are you using? I went with a 50/50 simple green and warm water mix. Worked great. There is an ultrasonic cleaning group thread on pinside that will have much better information that I could tell you.

He was saying on the flipper bats themselves, but also good advice.

Making more progress. Took a stab at emptying the cabinet. Dirt shadows!

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Maybe it's the delirium setting in, but tell me this stain doesn't look exactly like Lake Michigan:

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I continue to be blown away by the results of ultrasonic cleaning and tumbling. Why didn't I do this before!!

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Coin door madness

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My IPB playfield arrived today (my 2nd repro playfield, 1st was a WW from CPR). I'm blown away by the quality. It's georgeous. I can find tiny imprefections if I nitpick (I have to look pretty hard), but what IPB & CPR have done is an absolute gift for us crazies. We're a tough crowd too.

Side-by-sides:

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The pictures don't quite do it justice.

This is old news for many, but if you haven't seen this, prepare for controversy ("Diamond Plate" stamp on the repro)

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A very non-controversial choice was to pre-countersink the pop bumpers. Reduces the margin of error. THANK YOU!

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I'm definitely going to clean the crap out of it and sand it. I'm not going to do blue on horizontal surface, but I do like the look of painting the sides completely. Little cleaner than the factory fade spray effect.

I'm conflicted about the exterior & would welcome advice. I have the decal set, but the right side looks so great for a Funhouse, it makes me want to leave it be. This is also the side you'd see in my gameroom, which doesn't help the decision image_(resized).jpeg

On the other hand, it's pretty much down hill from there: lockbar holes, some fading on the front and left sides, major gash on the left, back box art looks good, but the rest of the head is rough

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This is a pretty serious mech so I took quite a few. Hope this helps:

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God God: anyone know how to remove the start button housing??

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Ah, thank you. Much simpler than I was making it out to be.

Next question. Any trick for removing the hinge bolt housing without damaging the wood or the part? It's a little tapered. One side came out easily, the other is a beast

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Moving right along. Main cabinet is just about stripped (aside from the stubborn bolt casing mentioned above - help!) and my tumbler & cleaner have been going non-stop for days. I have just about every part I need (new & NOS ramps, playfield, flipper rebuild kit, plastics, etc)

I've been really racking my brain for how to accomplish the painting, sanding, decal removal task. Not because of color or process, but because I've been literally unsure how to pull it off logistically. I've traded location for space with my house and have no garage or workshop that is big enough (let alone with proper ventilation). Outside is a good option unless it's windy, which it often is at my house.

Options:

a) Make it work in my tiny space
b) "borrow" a garage
c) Rent a workshop of some sort
d) Work outside with a pop up canopy with walls. i.e. temporary "paint booth"

Leaning towards a temporary setup.

Anyways, thinking out loud

Thanks for the input. I'll try some different removal tactics when my daughter isn't sleeping...

I'm with you. Thanks for the suggestion. I have a walkout (though it isn't level with the ground), so perhaps I can pull it off without the extra $$

Speaking of removal, a putty knife and some heat gun fun!

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More new stuff

1) I use so much simple green... Also, sipping some of Michigan's finest cider.

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2) Ramps! Both NOS & new. Impossible to tell which is which, both look excellent

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3) a box of goodies

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4) I seemed to be acquiring doubles. Bought a repro and NOS set of plastics. Not sure which to install. A couple of small print variation, but if be happy with either.

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5) Somehow, I ended up with way too many trapdoor plastics... Welcome to the sickness

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Thanks for the tip. I'll look into it. Part of the decision on simple green is due to poor ventilation in my "workshop" - Simple Green is very fume-friendly to me

Thanks sharing the pic. I posted one, but I was thinking he meant the other diverter. Makes sense now

Too many projects. Trying to finish these 2 quickly to free up workspace room for Rudy. Almost there

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Speaking of Rudy, part of me wants to save this smug dude for last

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Now seriously. This bolt housing is demon spawn. I've tried finesse and brute force. There must be a better way?!

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Thanks, that might be the only chance here. This is the replacement, correct?

http://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/02-4352

I keep thinking "no going back" but I think that point was really when I bought the game

Art removal! The dark wood represents the main cabinet's biggest flaw. Tonight, I'm having some challenges with the heat gun. The original decal is thinner than it seems and doesn't want to peel off in big chunks

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Well geez. I should've let the heat do the work. Much easier with the right tactic

Well, I got the bolt itself out without much trouble. The taper on the end of the housing won't budge through the wood without destroying it. I could try to bend or clip it, but might have to just cut it and replace it

Exactly. I wasn't explaining it well, but this is exactly the problem. The mushrooming of the metal is fighting the wood.

Gum?! Bad kharma for this guy/girl! (This is 1/4 of the gum).

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Taking advantage of a gorgeous Memorial Day (this is post beach of course)

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Rudy's Ghost
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Pro Tip: wear freakin' work gloves while using a heat gun

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Nothing some All Day can't fix

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Just one of those nights I wasn't geeked about working on the game, but made myself do a few things. Turned on The 'Burbs and ended up taking it slow & enjoying myself.

Steps, tumbling, cleaning, cleaning, tumbling, labeling, snipping, cleaning

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It's funny what gets replaced (and what gets neglected) on games. The apron looks excellent & even has some fancy new instruction cards, though no one ever bothered to clean/wax the playfield in difficult to reach places

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Looks like they gotcha covered on your pic request on the FH club page. If not, let me know

Wow, I need more time for pinball. Summer, family, & work have slowed my progress, but I'm back on. And if you know anything about soccer, June was like Christmas for soccer fans, which took up any small free time I had. Anyways, no more excuses! Nice weather finally coincided with a few days off so I took advantage.

More cabinet progress:

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Nothing like a freshly sanded bottom! image_(resized).jpeg

The fire pit taunts me in the background image_(resized).jpeg

I have my work cut out for me when it comes to the back box.

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I like to wash my boards & inspect for cold solder joints (simple green, quick wash, quick dry).

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Look closely at my art flattening technique for the side decals (a low traffic, heavy rug)
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Scratch build looks good man. I can dig it, especially because you appear to have some kind of Nintendo wall in the background. I'm a Nintendo nut as you can see

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I make promises to myself each time I do this of how I'm not going to repeat painful processes. Next time, I'm upgrading my sander. Sanding has been a major undertaking...

On an unrelated note: check out the tar! I bet wiping the back of a cabinet for tar would be a good HUO test (provided the seller is not a smoker)

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Bondo. Sand. Bondo. Sand. Bondo. Sand.

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Lockbar holes be gone.
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This weekend: Prime. Sand. Prime. Sand. Paint. Sand.

Winter is Coming! Snails pace last couple months, but back at it in a few days with an empty house and a long weekend... Work, summer, excuses, excuses.

Cleaning up the speaker grill (and some cabinet pieces).

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It's probably not best practice to put painted bolts in the cleaner & tumbler, but I wanted to re-spray them. Worked out pretty well, they are rust free and ready to hit.

Yes indeed. I'm determined to not let this take 2 years, and also to stay ahead of the weather.

Priming

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Blue! Starting to look like a Funhouse again.

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It helps to bring a friend, inspecting the work

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My entire body is sore from 2 days of finishing the prep, monotonous spraying, & sealing.

Star Chicken Shotgun IPA. Earned it!

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"Pro" tip: olive oil works great to remove oil based enamel from your arms/hands. I was looking pretty blue until I googled that one...

When people say spray paint gets everywhere, it's absolutely true. Even the underside of the cabinet had enough blue overspray from the updraft that I had to re-sand it last night. My back patio looks like a Smurf murder scene. Any tips for removing blue spray from concrete? (Oil based)

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Big day ahead:

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Legs soaking in white vinegar. If only I had a tumbler large enough. Sigh.

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Lockbar madness. Topside looks pretty nice at least. Just heads a little polish.

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Thanks. Can't wait! Just a mental game at this point. I'm my own biggest obstacle

Whaa?!! I did this with my Whirlwind and missed it immediately

On the plus side, an empty house let's me work on my game all weekend. On the minus side, I have to figure out how to feed myself.

For our reward, I'm slow cooking some meat for 8 hours, Korean-style. C'mon over! The recipe calls for 3lbs!

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Haha, true story. It's tiny & has a big crack straight down the middle. And my backyard has the majestic, natural foliage look of the Michigan lakeshore (some would say "weeds"). The benefit is the backyard is full of deer & other animals in the winter. Pretty cool. I could sell my restored Funhouse and completely redo the back, but I'd rather have the Funhouse

Couple of things I've learned from restoring video game coin doors & control panels

Trick to painting bolts easily:
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Getting the textured finish on coin doors (scale up or down on the glossy scale depending on what you're going for). I do a 2-part process that includes the Universal "hammered" finish
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Lol, I hope you're wrong, or it will be a lot like that scene in 40-year-old Virgin where Cal describes spending 3 hours making an Egg Salad Sandwich and didn't feel like eating it.

Small update. Important to document failure & success. I ended up sanding & redoing the wood rails on the playfield and a couple of metals parts. They turned out poorly at first and took too long to dry. The coin door turned out perfectly (used the Universal hammered paint.

I used the 2x Painters Touch on the first attempt with the extra pieces. I didn't have any issues using the blue, but for black gloss, the Universal is worth the higher price. WAY better. Even coats and quicker drying. I repainted the rails and coated them with polycrilic.

While I was at it, went ahead with another light brushed coat of polycrilic on the inside and outside of the cabinet. 3rd coat was a charm. Much more even/smooth across the board. Progress!

Not moving as quickly as I hope, but making progress. The other day I woke up super early before work and decided it would be a good idea to apply cabinet decals (solo, dry method). I almost had a panic attack at one point as one side of the cabinet main art folded over on itself. I remember think "what's that crease?" - Ahh! Luckily, the art is good quality and I was able to peel back slowly and correct. Phew!

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6 months since my last post -- you may be wondering: "Is everything ok? Is that FH guy still alive? Did he give up?" Yes. Yes. No.

****

This winter, I checked out the shop of The Ron Kruzman with a friend. Of course, since we were headed that way, I brought my Mirco FH playfield to Ron for an uber clear treatment. Very excited to see the results. Now for some Cabinet updates:

Added a staple gun and an air compressor to my arsenal. Difficult to avoid with the ground braid. Glad I did as this was very easy with the right tools:

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A little help from my buddy

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Re-Assembly begins:

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If you're curious, I used metal cabinet protectors and put Velcro underneath (soft side) so they would ride above the decal. Hopefully that curbs any wrinkle risk.

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Lockdown bar before & after. Thank you Plastic Dip!

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Light panel is on deck. Sanded and ready for fresh paint

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Tackling plastics and assemblies. LOTS of documenting to keep everything straight:

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Another giant pile of screws, harnesses, etc. to the Ultrasonic cleaner!

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Going crazy? Haunted by Rudy

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Rudy day is here. I have a feeling the sequence of disassembly will be important for re-assembly. You guessed it: Pictures! I'll include a few here in case any needs them. Rudy was dirty dirty dirty

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For you & me both! Thanks for sticking around.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Light panel time! Again, Rustoleum universal is great rattle paint. IMG_5913 (resized).JPG

And wheezin' the juice! A+ if you catch the reference. IMG_5912 (resized).JPG

Cosmetic hiccups with Rudy

1) ideas on whitening the eyes without losing the iris paint?
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2) top layer on the eyelids have started to peel & have a dull look to them. I'm not sure if it happened in the ultrasonic cleaner (mistake?) or over time in the game. Salvageable? Something I can sand/buff? Luckily there are replacements, so I'm willing to experiment
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A+...

Thank goodness for long weekends. Spent a couple hours today prepping and clearcoating the light panel and Rudy's wood base (neck?), polishing metal, and tumbling. All the pieces I haven't had time for are coming together nicely (with a little help from my friend)

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On deck for clearcoating. I sanded and buffed Rudy's eyelids as @Ib1 suggested. Turned out fairly well. I wasnt sure how the clearcoating would turn out, but so far I'm glad I took the extra step as it brightened them up with a "new" look.

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The white edges of the decals had been bothering me for months. And I've been sitting on how to amend it, but finally settled on simply touching up with leftover blue & a small paint brush. Results were great. I'm quite happy with how well it smoothed the look of the corners.

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I have some concerns about the durability of the decal at the lockbar and plungers, so I went a little clear happy today in those areas. Not sure how the clear will like that surface, but I figured it couldn't hurt since those are low visibility areas.

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Finished the light panel! Nearly ready to move on to the "fun" part...the playfield!

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Quick thoughts:

* Re-assembled Rudy with no issue -- one section took a couple attempts, probably shouldn't have been watching a movie while doing this

* After seeing Rudy assembled, the yellowness in his eyes kept grabbing my attention. I picked up some Frisket and am taking the sound advice of lb1 and trying the peroxide/sunlight treatment.

* After re-soldering a couple of pieces in the cabinet, I was able to test the game without the playfield. Game powered up fine. No surprises, smoke, or explosions.

* Spent time this weekend thinking about LEDs. I typically go with Comet. I've mixed the Warm & Natural whites before depending on color, but Sunlight is calling my name as a good compromise. I'm looking for crisp & bright but not blinding/distracting, and possibly going the LED OCD route. Is frosted 2xSMD or 2xLED too much for the GI of a classic Williams?

Thank you! In the past, I've done the non-ghosting, but that won't help me on the fade effects (been down that route with TSPP). I'm likely going with the LED OCD board this time around.

Ouch. I attempted to bleach Rudy's eyes with peroxide and with frisket to cover the iris & pupil. It worked really well to turn yellow into white, but it also caused peeling on the first layer of plastic, giving a coarse, bumpy, & dull effect. I may have left it in the bag too long because it wasn't yet as white as I wanted (24 hours). 8 hours of sunlight may have been smarter. I'm attempting to sand the white and clearcoat the eyes to restore, but that is looking like a dead end.

Either way, I'm in the market for a set of Rudy eyes if anyone has a line on one...

Good news though: my playfield is ready to pickup after getting the full clear treatment. Yes! Also bought a rivet punch set to redo plastics. Definitely ready for the next steps.

Behold!! Playfield eye candy. Thank you to Ron Kruzman. The clearcoat is stunning... As usual, the pics don't do it justice. Mirror finish. Game on!

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Haha. I waited my turn, believe me!

Thank you! Definitely an undertaking. Some may say obsession, I say a lifestyle. At this point, I can't even replace rubbers on a game without feeling compelled to take everything apart, clean, & rebuild. Once everything is apart, you start thinking, "this playfield doesn't look as good as I thought" and "well, if I'm swapping the playfield, may as well re-do the cabinet". A year later, here I am

Now that my playfield is back, let's pick up the pace, shall we?

Spent my early morning hours regraining & buffing ball guides and other metal pieces too big to tumble.

I picked up a packet of sandpaper from Amazon ranging from 400-3000 grit. Low to high and "with the grain," finishing on the buff wheel - Tedious, but effective.

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Picked up a few new tools at Harbor Freight. Since space is a premium in my workshop, everything is mini. Could definitely use a larger wheel at some point, but this is a neat unit for small pieces. The vice/anvil will be handy all around, but used in the short term for setting rivets.
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Just when I was hitting a rhythm, the sound of tiny footsteps approached. And Saturday AM was spent building Lego robots instead
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Finally, a grown up rotisserie. I don't have time or the metalworking skills to build my own. I powered through with the tall C-clamps in previous swaps, but this I suspect will be much smoother!

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Happy Saturday. Finally tracked down a new set of Rudy eyes. Thank you mac622 for hooking me up. Great guy to deal with.

Got up early this morning, touched up Rudy's lips and reassembled. My touch up turned out pretty well. The lips are perhaps a touch dark as are the repro eyelids. But overall, Rudy is looking much healthier than when I brought him home.

The hair and rosy cheeks are still in good shape. Contemplating adding a touch of clear for a little shine.
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Before:

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After:

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Rudy recap:

* Sanded, clearcoated wood base
* tumbled metal parts
* cleaned, rebuilt coils with new wrappers
* cleaned parts in ultrasonic cleaner
* replaced eyes & eyelids
* repainted lips

If something doesn't seem quite right, it probably isn't. Case in point: I put my 26-1200 coil assemblies back together I wound up with one assembly that did not Have the correct coil stop. I traced it all the way back to the ball eject where I installed a pass-through instead of a stop. When I did it, I was wondering: how does the coil sleeve not break here? It must be correct. Do'h!

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It's the little things. Made possible by clear shrink tubing & a trusty heat gun

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Okay, no more messing around. Dinner's ready, movie queued. Time for the home stretch.

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The dreaded POP BUMPER SCREWS actually went pretty smoothly this time around. Marco & newer CPR playfield have pre-recessed holes, so no counter sink required. However, most of the holes are undersized. I used dremel bits to cut the clear and gradually larger drill bits until the hole was large enough to fit the fin shanks without blunt force. Then, i just had to cover the screws with a block of wood and gently tap. I put painters tape around the block of wood for added scratch protection.

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T-Nuts. Same concept, cut the clear, drill until hole is large enough

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I love populating playfields. I usually enjoy this part the most, and I think I did here, though in retrospect it was stressful. I was very paranoid about making a mistake with such a beautiful playfield, all compounded by FH being my favorite game. Unfortunately, my paranoia didn't help me! I made a couple of mistakes. Every time I did, I walked away, took a few deep breaths, and learned from it.

This game has a wicked clearcoat. So the topside installing was extremely tedious. On 2-3 occasions I didn't did cut enough (thought I did) and the clear separated slightly in the spot under the post. I shot the inside perimeter of the hole with a tiny dab of thin super glue down installed the post. Frustrating, though completely hidden from view when posts installed. The one I cried about was a drill slip by the slingshots. It put a tiny nick in the yellow section in the clear by the left slingshot.

That was a big mistake, but overall I'm improving. Hey, I'm not a professional, though I hope to get there someday with my skills as I love doing this. For now, this is supposed to be fun!

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