Chapter Seventeen: Now Fix It, Dumbass!
So here's a little tip from a first timer: Get yourself the Pinrestore.com riveter - it's a huge life saver when you have to do a lot of factory rivets like you do on a Funhouse. But here's the catch: Spring for the extra $30 long head rivet die. It helps you do ramps in a jif. I took forever trying to figure out workarounds for putting the rivets into deep areas like ramps. I finally gave in and bought the damn thing.
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I reassembled everything, put the playfield in, and waited 24 hours until my wife came in and said to me (verbatim):
Her: Are you gonna turn the thing on, or what?
Me: Eventually. I'm scared to. I'm bringing the fire extinguisher down just in case.
Her: You are such a pussy. If you don't do it, I will.
Needless to say, I plugged the GI in and turned it on, then did the same with the switch harness, and then the solenoid harness. Nothing caught fire, nothing arced or blew up. And it looked pretty damn nice. (Not a big fan of graphic blades, but the Pingraffix set with apron makes a fun-looking game even more fun-looking. I think the apron on a FH is the ugliest part of the machine. I kept the original, though!)
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But here's the laundry list of fixes I'm facing (as far as I can tell with all the tests I've run)...and anybody who can give me any leads to make it go smoother will be forever in my debt:
MECHANICAL:
1. Every time I flipped the flippers, the bottom flippers would stop higher...and higher...and higher. I was able to push them down back into place, and that's how I realized they might be a little too loose.
2. I'm not having a shooter centering problem like some people do. My problem is that the ball doesn't rest against the shooter tip, so I don't have enough power to get the ball around the steps ramp or perform any type of skill shot with the main shooter.
SOLENOID:
1. Right-hand pop (the white one) doesn't fire.
2. Dummy eject doesn't work.
3. Tunnel kickout goes once, then hums (I'm assuming it freezes.)
LIGHTS:
1. Dummy flasher doesn't work.
2. Red and white diamond flashers under main ramp don't work.
SWITCHES (and here's the big problem...):
1. Start button doesn't start a game.
2. Right sling switches don't work.
And the big one...
3. Left outlane triggers the left sling and says "trap door" on the screen during a test. I'm going to have to check all my diode directions on those affected switches, I guess. I thought I was careful about that, though!
This, for me, is the worst part of a restoration. You put all that work into the game, and in a perfect world, you fire it up and can play a game right away. But I know that's not reality. So I'll try to hunt down each of these problems one at a time over the next few days.
Again, any help from anyone who's seen this stuff would be more than welcome!