Joined the club earlier today. She was non working but now up and running with only a few minor issues (other than being FILTHY dirty! ).

Other than the layer of grime on the playfield it seems like there is a spinner noise that is off, and two flipper wear spots I don't know how I'm going to deal with. Definitely a "players" machine so far but I feel like I stole it at $400.

Is the trough ejector supposed to have some kind of rubber on it?

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Wow, good for you. Unfortunately mine is not a very good example with bare wood in a few places. All the black hatch lines make for a tough resto as far as airbrushing.

I just bought a $50 beater meteor playfield to practice on in the hopes that Gorgar might get the treatment some day! I need to get clarification on how much can be done with water slide decals and how much should be done with the airbrush.

My "gar" standups are behaving strangely. If all targets are standing and you touch the "G", even just a little bit the coil fires for a reset and 5k is awarded. If you hit the "A" or "R" nothing happens. I took them apart and cleaned the contacts and pads with rubbing alcohol and q-tips but nothing changed although they were badly gunked up. Nothing looks to be grounded or having any kind of issue although I guess it might not hurt to reflow the solder points. The other problem I have is the rubber behind these targets sometimes prevents them from dropping. I tried moving the whole assembly forward as best I could but the holes are just wide enough to accommodate the screw so no real clearance is gained. It's a little bit of a problem on the "GOR" standups but not nearly as bad.

What looks better on gorgar, black or white bands?

Heh, yeah I was thinking about red or otherwise colored titans in some places.

On the restoration front, does anyone have playfield scans they can share for making decals?

I'll take anything you have. My biggest area of concern is above the flippers where I've got bare wood and insert decals but I will take everything available for this (hopefully not to far off) future project.

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Got gorgar back up and running almost 100%! Only big issue remaining is the spinner sound only works 1 or 2 of the revolutions at a time, not like it's supposed to sound. Any go-to fixes for this?

Very interesting! I'll try "hot wiring" it when I get home and see what happens.

Fliptronic = awesome but my flippers were trashed before the upgrade so I don't have much comparison. The Lane guides were a must for me too as the old guides were waaaaaay off. I increased the playfield angle, set the slings really sensitive and it plays fast and nasty now!

I'd think it would do more with the mechanics of the actual switch than anything else.

Don't be scared, if you're alright with a soldering iron you'll be fine. Have a little solder wick around in case you accidentally bridge something but I was able to do the mpu and sound boards large molex connections with no problems they're all spaced pretty far out.

Where the male pins are soldered on the back of the board, if I recall correctly they are all along the outside.

I'd start by trying to re seat all the connectors and socketed ICs on the sound board. If it fixes your issue you may need new sockets or connectors. Check especially that you don't have "scanbe" brand sockets in there.

As for your displays stay with the same reseating connectors and re flowing solder. I was amazed how many cold solder joints my gorgar had and how many issues reflowing resolved.

Edit: just noticed the connectors in the bottom of your last pic with wires run under the connector to the board. You should probably just redo all your female molex connectors as somebody has already tried to half ass fix them for some reason.

There's enough people on here to walk you through it. It's an easy process, just a little nerve raking drilling into the bottom of the playfield for the new mechs!

My gorgar playfield is pretty beat. The cabinet is trashed but damn is it fun to play! I have it set up super nasty with hair trigger slings and I'm still trying to beat the default 500K high score.

I think he might be saying he has it set to extra ball at replay score, which he has set to 300k, is that right? If it resets the gor-gar value that might be a bug, basically running the same code through as if you got the extra ball by completing 3 gor-gars and hitting the saucer.

Has anybody put these on? My cabinet is trashed (p.o. had it in an attic for 5-10 years) and it might be a good option after shoring up the wood. As it is now it's cracked up pretty good.

Does anyone make a flatbox replacement cab for classic williams / stern /etc?

I got one that was in an attic for many years and it bounced back pretty quick after reflowing solder and a few other small fixes. Not sure about those wires but you can check the schematic or give us colors and locations.

It's an incredibly fun game for such a simple layout. I love it.

You mean the connectors on all the boards / where they're hooked up?

I can take some photos when I get home tomorrow. Are they not keyed?

What happened?

Are you positive it's paint and not a vinyl backing that gets removed? If so that's a pretty big bummer. I wonder if you could polish the paint away and have clear.

In line with the ball guides

Could be connectors getting wiggled from the socket action, or cold solder joints. All the boards on my gorgar had em.

That's a crazy problem. I had on off sound, some incorrect noises and a host of other really bizarre intermittent issues and nearly everything was resolved by reflowing solder on every single board's connectors. I replaced sound board caps at the same time but I'm not convinced that was it.

If I was doing a full restore I'd have to think about that custom cabinet art from earlier in the thread. Not sure if black or red would be a better hardware accent either way.

If your gorgar is easy adjust your slings so that if a ball even grazes em they fire. The outlanes are brutal.

I do the special for 50k but no extra balls except the saucer. Works well and gives you an extra incentive to get the stars & hit the roving arrow. I think there's another special in an outlane but I must have it turned off as I don't think it's ever been lit.

Awesome pickup! Mine was bought not working as it had the dead battery code

Gorgar made someone really really mad

Lock in the paint with some triple thick, mask and airbrush. Don't just spray paint over the cracked areas with black like the jerk that had mine did >

Wow!!!!!! That is a sharp looking gorgs.

Vid has a thread on upgrading Williams flippers with fliptronics mechs from pinball life. A+ would recommend.

Your guides are likely worn down. Cliffy makes replacements that will give you a smooth transition like new.

Are your flipper mechs tight or can you move the flippers from the top of the playfield? You may have worn bushings. Another thing you can try is loosening the screws, putting some pressure on the guides so they are positioned better, and tightening the screws while you have hand pressure on them. If your screw holes are wallowed it you can do the toothpick trick. Make sure you put the toothpick on the worn side, probably the bottom.

I did the upgrade and recommend it. I put the nails back in as I preferred the black nail heads to empty space or filler. It was pretty straight forward as the guide specifies as I recall. I remember being really nervous about drilling into the playfield for the screw pilots. I did the old masking-tape-on-the-drill-bit trick to make sure I didnt exceed the correct depth and had a buddy hold the mech in place to ensure the bushing / flipper stayed centered while I drilled.

Well the replacement mechs will solve bushing issues, not sure why your guides would be wandering. I'd recommend giving the upgrade a shot if you like the game. It's really a big improvement over old worn mechs, especially if yours are as rough as having loose bushings. At least rebuild!

That's correct scoring. B is more valuable than A or C. Hit it before the spinner lights, avoid it after until spinner is unlit at 20 bonus.

For more fabulous scoring tips and tricks we'll be streaming Gorgar at 6PM EST Saturday from the Richmond Pinball Collective. Twitch channel is #richmondpinballcollective, should be fun times.

Stream starting shortly! Say "hi" in the chat.

Wow wow wow! Great work!

Seeing your cab with the hardware off makes me think it might look pretty swanky with black powdercoat.

That is a brilliant idea! Can you make a system so they can detach like pingulp premiums? I could save a ton of money... the ability to detach and holes in the bottom would make them perfect.

They need to be removable to make room to slide between games and access the back box when you have your pins close together!

The ball guides are a must!