Thousand Oaks, CA
Recently finished up this FH restore. There are plenty of well documented Funhouse restorations out there, so I’ll post some of the highlights.
(Topic ID: 126256)
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Quoted from phuping:Wow - looks great. More inspiration for me. Thanks for sharing!
Quoted from Aurich:Looks incredible man! Who knew how many months of work for both of us you were loading up that morning, huh? (I tackled restoring that Elvira, did the playfield, never did the cabinet.)
Thanks, I was going to mention the Elvira in the back of the SUV now resides at Aurich's house, but didn't want to be a name dropper 
Thanks again all, I tried to take a custom hot rod approach with the inside of the cabinet. Doubt some of the purists will dig some of the things, like the no triangles, removal of the coin box stuff, and the yellow bottom...but eh, I built it for myself.
Quoted from Dawson:Christ! And I'm atheist ! Fricken insane ...
Peps in Cali stop at nothing ..
Love that cab , clear coat looks nutz!
Please don't hold my insanity against the whole state, although I did hold back a few detail pics knowing it would show my ocd for exposed wires.
For example -
FH300.jpg
Wow, thanks again...wasn't expecting these kind of compliments. Yea, I definitely suffered from the affliction of ‘why-stop-there-itis’. It never ends, even now reviewing some of these photos I see a bulb that needs replacing, two missing washers, and a section that could have used a little more bondo. I consider myself still an amateur at this restoration game and a student of all the killer restore projects here on pinside. Just paid close attention to all the pro threads from Bryan Kelley ,Jim McCune, Chris Hutchins, and the countless other awesome FH restore threads (off the top of my head - Skypliot, NJGecko, dmacy, mof, evanshane, and yes even your’s beezleboob).
FH303.jpg
For the paint color, I used a slight variation of the Lowe’s formula most everyone uses. It has an extra two shots of 2Y (blue) for a little darker tint. I used the Phoenix Arcade Decals from Darin, so not sure if the PPS Next Gen decals will match the color. I picked Darin’s decals over PPS because somebody had posted a picture of a few registration errors with the new ones (not sure if that’s still a problem). Darin is running out, but right now still has them listed on his website. The picture of the Lowe’s labels show an awkward version of the formula, which I can explain...but it would hurt my head. For this batch, they mixed 102-4y, 113-5, 115-26.5 (the bottom label), then added the top label 102-15.5 for the extra blue tint). The paint was semi-gloss interior Base C Valspar Signature and I used a HF $11 purple gun and craiglist air compressor for both the paint and clear.
FH302.jpg
FH301.jpg
FH304.jpg
As far as the clear-coat, used PPG Shopline 830 and medium hardener 8380. Didn't use any reducer because of sticker shock, but in retrospect...it might have made the clear lay a little better. It’s far from a show quality 2PAC job, but that wasn't the goal. This Funhouse will be on the corner of a high traffic area, lots of kids will be around this machine and to avoid future prison time, I cc’d the cab for protection...added bonus no need to worry about UV fading. I put on the pinball life metal cab protectors underneath the legs, so shouldn't be any lifting. If it takes any futures dings, it can be repaired by wet sanding...which sounds better than me doing 20 to life upstate.
Quoted from reynolds531:Did you replace any boards? They look very good.
Boards were all good, just cleaned them up a bit. The batteries holders weren't solid, but was switching to a remote pack anyway.
FH400.jpg
Quoted from oldskool1969:BUT, how does it play?
This sounds like a dig at ‘style over substance’. I get that...So Cal has a reputation, but real Westside LA style would be overpaying for a base model and sending it off for somebody else to restore. This Funhouse plays like a speed demon now (almost too fast for me). I tried to be as meticulous with the gameplay as the cabinet. Along with the playfield being tested twice (as pictured above), here's a few more hardware shots. Rebuilt Flipper mechs, new pop bumpers & slings, replaced coil sleeves, new cherry switches...yada yada.
FH401.jpg
FH402.jpg
FH403.jpg
FH404.jpg
Little foam strips under the slings, quieting the kickback and protecting the wood.
FH405.jpg
FH406.jpg
Mostly black cable ties and clamps, no worries about future yellowing.
FH407.jpg
Quoted from beelzeboob:You didn't happen to make a count of all the switches you got (and diodes)? I've got to do some shopping for those parts, and you'd save me a lot of time!
Ordered 30 of these cherry switches and had just a couple leftover.
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=830
http://www.pinballlife.com/index.php?p=product&id=173
Can't recall how many other switches were needed, but not many, less than 3 or 4 total.
Here's the website with some common colors:
http://pinballpal.com/colors/
Quoted from dontfeed:What's the Lowe's formula that most use?
This is the one most settle on (there is a typo in the formula on the pinballpal.com site)
Colorants: 102-2Y 15.5 113-5 115-26.5
The one I used had two more 'shots' of blue for a slightly darker tint.
Lowes: 102-4Y 15.5 113-5 115-26.5
Although, the paint formula written this way seems to confuse them (the smart ones figure it out).
A better way for the Lowe's folks to look at it would be:
Color Code = Amount
102 = 2Y + 15.5
113 = 5
115 = 26.5
Quoted from shimoda:Question, where did you get the braided and other cable housing.
Picked them up from the local fry's electronics, but any online PC/computer parts site like newegg should have it too.
Quoted from Squeakman:I am curious since you went so far with this why no blue display?
No particular reason, had a current display that worked well and the orange doesn't bother me at all.
2 weeks later
Quoted from Pinballer73:Brilliant job! Can I ask why you didn't upgrade the flipper mechs to the newer WPC style without the plunger style return spring?
Thanks again all, didn't expect this thread to still have legs 2 weeks later. I know the painted bottom and chrome wasn't going to please everyone, actually expected a few more "just not for me" type of posts. Not that people weren't thinking it, just were respectful enough to not chime in. For the flipper mechs, it just came down parts on hand and thinking the original style isn't that bad. I know others prefer the new version, but I don't feel a huge difference and it works for me.
2 years later
Yes, you'll definitely want to thin the Valspar paint with some water or your gun will sputter more than spray.
Seeing this thread again makes me realize how terrible my phone/camera was a couple years ago.
I think the Whitewater project finished recently turned out a little nicer than this FH:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/whitewater-restoration
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