Haha, good ole' auto "in"-correct. LOL.

where are you at on your #HS restore?

I'll tell you, it is a DAMN ton of work. Not sure I will ever go this in depth on a cabinet paint job again (I say that now, My Aztec does need help in the cabinet fixup and paint department). I dug myself a hole with a huge shovel and now I am going way overboard. I am enjoying watching it come together though. It will hopefully be one nice #HS when all is said and done.

I am hoping to get it completed by the end of the month.

You are resurrecting your old cabinet? I started sanding mine and realized that it would never get to the quality that I needed it to be. Kudos to you for doing that. You have quite the thread going on your restore. I need to read through it. I think I ran across it once.

I now understand why you hate the painting part. Your work on the Firepower restore is amazing. You have really turned that pin into a nice game from the depths of H3LL.

Made some good progress on the paint. Since this is my first time doing stencils and this level of high quality paint I started with the head since it is smaller and easier to handle.

Mostly everything came out exactly as I wanted.

I had one glitch where the red started to wrinkle. I sanded the head down with 600 grit before I started the stencil colors. I have 3 colors to apply then finish with clear.

Per the stencil sequence, RED goes down first. Stencil went on slick and I started painting both sides of the head. One side laid down perfect.

The other side started a wrinkle pattern. It kept growing then finally stopped. About a 2" circle. I spoke with the paint shop guys and he thought I might of sanded through too much of the clear coat. I had laid down 3 coats, should have done more or sanded less.

I was very careful to not sand too much but it is what it is! So I will be sanding and repairing this section.
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Putting that behind me I decided to continue with the good side.

Red goes on...
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Next Yellow...
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And then I took a cue from HEP and made the "Williams" logo white instead of yellow. I think I really looks good that way. (thanks Chris)
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ok, time for a dip in the pool then will attack the repair of the red wrinkle tomorrow.

Thanks for the link to your painting trials. I used Naptha to clean after sanding, I wonder if that was part of my problem. I am still not sure but will find out in the next few days. I sanded down the wrinkles and masked it off to repaint tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I am leaning towards wrapping the stripes but have not made a definite decision yet.

What does everyone else think about wrapping the stripes around the front?

I really liked the white "Williams" Logo change but the wrap I have not fully embraced yet.

This morning I attacked this wrinkle problem with everything I knew, which isn't much when it comes to paint. Its mostly everything I read.

I was going to clear over the sanded area then start laying down colors again. However I decided to lay down a very-VERY thin layer of black. 4 thin layers to be exact. Used FAST reducer to help it cure before it had a chance to wrinkle and put it in the sun to bake it on, reducing the chance of it wrinkling.

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I still could see it wanting to wrinkle but it did not and I am good to go.

Next let it dry mask the red again. Spray red, 7 VERY thin layers. Let that dry, place the yellow/White Stencil.
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Here is a layer by layer progress pic series. Like I said... Very thin layers
Layer "1"
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Layer "2"
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Layer"3"
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Layer"4"
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Layer"5"
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Layer"6"
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Final Layer
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Spray Yellow and White
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remove stencil
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Then 6 coats of Clear. DONE!
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Now I did have a heart stopping moment when I laid down the first coat of clear. The bottom right corner started to fish-eye a little. I got a little upset then just said. Whatever, Ill just keep spraying more coats and deal with it with sand paper and more clear coats in a couple days.

Well, much to my surprise as I sprayed the second coat the fish-eye completely filled in and disappeared! Wow, I did the happy dance and kept spraying.

Super relieved about this little setback and I learned "Less-IS-More" So anyone doing paint, go with thin, multiple layers. Yes, it takes a bit more time and patience but it works.

Getting a touch nervous and prepping the #HS cabinet for stencil and painting. With the previous little hiccup on the paint process I am a bit gun shy going into the large cabinet paint process. 3 Stencils, 3 colors and a final clear.

Stencils are ready...

Cabinet is ready...

...Am I ready???

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Thanks for the boost of confidence! I need it.

Big Progress overnight. The cabinet is stenciled and painted. Just needs clear. All went well with just a few insignificant hiccups. Nothing that needed any additional input.

I decided I liked the wrap around stripes. A bit more work but I think it is worth it.

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Yea, that is one thing I did different was the factory stop position on the back of the cabinet with the stripes. The wrap is definitely the way to go.

Gathering all the parts that have been patiently waiting for a cabinet to live in.

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Some more good progress today on the cabinet. Ran most of the ground braid and built up some components inside the cabinet.

Eliminated the tilt mechanism board. There is really only 1 purpose for this board and that is to serve as a playfield stop when you lift the playfield for service.

#HS only has 3 items on this board and it is just dead weight and completely unnecessary to re-install. I installed the roll and pendulum tilt mechanisms directly to the cabinet.

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I relocated the Volume pot also. The OEM location is just way too far back in the cabinet and not user friendly.

Installed the updated leg brackets as well and will be including the protectors on the exterior of the cabinet. Just waiting a few more days for the clear to fully clear to install the legs and stand the cabinet.

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RED
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or

CLEAR
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Backlit with LED's

Clear is rather boring when the game is off.

Maybe color changing LED would be interesting with Clear. Nice thing is the buttons are easy to swap.

Maybe clear housing and red button.

I just don't know. Still have time to figure it out.

I had red before with lights behind.

Starting to look like a pinball game once again.
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Pollishing up some of the hardware
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Do you loan your "assistant" out to polish?

Ha, Deal! I work for the airlines and can get her butt on a plane for free. LOL Just not sure my girlfriend would be very open to her polishing my hardware.

Now just in case you are wondering how much ground braid it takes to do a High Speed Cabinet? 25' with 3" to spare. LOL. I used 1/4" throughout the cabinet. Had some 1/8" laying around as backup.

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Tomorrow, I tackle the alignment of the Playfield tilt hinges and put in the Playfield stop block where the Tilt board would have been. Since I eliminated the Tilt Board I need to install a stop block.
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Put Chrome Carriage bolts on the coin door.
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I can smell it... The end of this restore is very near!

The day has arrived...

I bought this High Speed in July of 2019. It was quite neglected but with a little TLC It was a playable pin. The playfield was very rough and the cabinet was weathered badly.

I played it until November when I started the restore. Bought a CPR playfield, plastics and Back glass.

Was originally thinking it would be a fairly quick restore, 1-2 months. Well, as I dove into the game it really needed a complete restore. Cabinet was a loss, water damage and delaminating wood. Light Board warped. All hardware rusty. Speaker panel broken.

All the original boards were in great shape. I did end up buying an aftermarket Power Supply. The loud hum left with the OEM PS.

Tackled the Playfield in about 3 weeks. All new screws, New wood rails, New plastics. All new Light Sockets. Anything that was slightly worn or rusty was replaced and/or polished/plated.

The Coin door was rusty. I cleaned it up, had it powder coated and Nickel plated all the mechanics.

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Secured a new cabinet and painted it with automotive paint and Automotive PPG 2 part clear.

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Today she came back to life. Added power to the PS, checked all voltages and slowly started powering parts of the game. Back Glass GI, Playfield GI, CPU fired right up, no errors, PF light matrix, Solenoid matrix, Flipper board.

All came back to life without a hitch.

The shooter lane was cut a little shorter from CPR than my original so had to adjust location of Ball Shooter switch and trigger wire.

Since I removed the tilt mechanism board I cut a piece of oak and made a Playfield service stop.
I put a slight angle on the stop so it would fit to the playfield fully.
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removed all the protective coatings on the plastics and replaced all the yellowed spacers.

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The shooter gave me a bit of a challenge. I had to do a little opening of the cabinet hole for the shooter. It was too low and was sending the ball into the air.
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The upper right Ramp switch needed cleaning and one of the Hideout switches as well needed adjustment.

Other than that. This #HS is a beauty.

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I will post some more detail close up pict tomorrow.

Are you going to start a thread so we can all watch the restore?

It's a wrap. Ready for High Speed fun

Cleaned up the remaining last few details.

Here is a summary of the restore.

My first ever restore of a pinball game of this level. done a lot of bringing back from the dead type restores.

What was replaced, what was modified and what continued to live in this pin:

NEW:

• Cabinet
• Playfield
• Plastics
• Rubber (Black)
• Backglass
• Light Board
• Speaker Panel
• Full Automotive paint and 2 Part Auto Clear coat
• All new hardware (Screws, bolts, etc)

MODIFIED:

• Changed over to new style lighted start button
• Red Freeway Ramp from Freeplay40
• New Vertical ramp stoplight @Robtune
• Eliminated the unnecessary Tilt board that held Ball tilt, Pendulum Tilt and Vol Pot
I moved the Volume Pot closer to the door opening for easier access. Much cleaner and less clutter.

ADDED:

• Freeway signs under ramp
• Lighted flipper buttons
• Lighted Rollover star switches
• Lighted Kickout hole
• Full LED kit from Comet Pinball.
• Red and Blue alternating police light bars behind backglass (GRUMPY design)

STAYED:

• All original boards except the Power Supply.
• Coin Door
• Transformer
• Most of Playfield mechanics

Remaining todo:

• Need to find some good Instruction Cards (don’t have windows computer to print them)
• Still contemplating LED Flasher install. I have the LED’s just need to make the decision and do it.
• May replace pop bumper caps with new caps. OEM caps are a bit dull, maybe switch to clear red
• Polish Lockdown Bar

Issues after completion:

• Left Ramp switch needed cleaning - was not registering ball
• Left Hideout lower micro switch intermittent, temporarily cleaned current switch (looking for new one #17-1085)
• Shooter Rod needed alignment. Was sending ball into air. Raised shooter rod - Good
• Kickback alignment also shooting ball into air.
• Had to lower cabinet grounding strap on right inside of cabinet. was too close to playfield when playfield was raised for service.
• Right Hide-out exit wireform was touching playfield glass. Lowered wireform, now good.
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Thanks Mario. I am super excited it is done. Your cabinets about ready?

Thanks Grumpy. It was quite the project. Fun but a LOT of work for sure. I think next time I will just use decals. LOL

Love the mechanical restore the most. Had a blast doing the playfield and light board and all that electrical stuff. I wish I had the in depth knowledge you have acquired. I am getting there.

Thats Great! will look forward to seeing your #hs come back to life.

Thanks.

Yes, I need to get some half moons as well as the eject hole and freeway ramp dump area upper right. Getting a parts list going to make an order. I do have a sheet of mylar for the other wear areas, just need to measure and cut and place.