Quoted from Gogdog:Manual plunger
Increase power: Setting the manual plunger to hit dead center on the pinball. If it already is...then you would have to switch the spring to a stronger colored spring.
Decrease power: Easy....move the auto plunger so its not quite centered. I would recommend that you keep the left/right alignment and move the plunger vertically to decrease power (if the plunger hits off centered horizontally it might slightly move the ball out of the ball guide in the lane). Its also possible maybe you could add a small washer to the plunger so it doesn't hit the ball quite as hard.
In my example....my manual ball path was lower than the auto (manual hitting post and auto hitting top flipper). So, I left the auto alone and decreased power to my manual. It was enough to get them close to the same path.
Am I missing something here?
To lower the power of a manual plunge, simply don't pull the plunger back so far. There should be no need for any other adjustment.
The only important adjustment is to ensure that the plunger tip hits the centre of the ball consistently.