That does NOT look great. And I am NOT sorry my Nascar is gone and would have purchased one for my game.

After reading PinJim's posts I know I was way way way over my head on that machine. It's awesome to watch someone with skills work their magic.

Thanks, I always have a game in some state of repair, and I really do enjoy it.

Edit: I should add, @smoothbore19, if I can ever help with anything, let me know. Reading about the spike system scares me though. Maybe someday I’ll try and tackle surface mount stuff. You were right though, the Whitestar board set is very similar to WPC. Good stuff!

NO thank-you for your compliments and i would NOT post a larger image up if someone asked but i've sent it to the printers and hope to pick it up on the weekend.

This guy made me a very good repro plastic for Nascar . And at a very reasonable price shipped from Russia ! Might be worth getting in touch.

https://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/vbobrusev

Thanks, I wrote him. Fingers crossed!

Well, he doesn’t have that plastic. Anyone else know of a source for plastic #17?

Does anyone have good scans of the plastics for this game? Or a good pic of #17. I'm still not liking the idea of buying a whole set...

Now NOT taking orders. PM for details.

Printed on mylar backlit material, double pass to display color correctly when lit.

It looks a touch dark when not lit, but i think thats all lightbox prints.

To give everyone an idea of how it looks, its beside standard led lit games. My nascar has an LED tube in the backbox.

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Since your not selling these and I sold my pin and I would not hang this on my wall. What would the not for sale price be for me not to hang on my wall and throw in the trash?

I would also NOT like to buy one of these. I'm NOT in Ontario.

My “track exit popper”, the trough switch, quit last night. Luckily it was something simple, see pic. And that’s my game, lots of crappy soldered jobs from botched repairs in the past. I assume the arcade had jr technicians working on the machine.

My garage seems to struggle to raise at times. Time to pull it out of the machine to see if there’s mechanical damage or if everything just needs a good cleaning. Hopefully it’s the latter...
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Here’s the patient. The grease on the slide was near solidified. The welds on the scoop are broken. And there’s some hacked on switch bracket. Needless to say, this thing needs serviced.

I’ve never dealt with broken welds. I assume this is stainless? Do I just go to a metal fab shop and they can fix it? I assume the actual part is unobtanium...

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Ive worked on a few pins from em, ss, sys11, wpc and this is my first semi modern dmd stern..

Im hoping i never need to tackle that garage mech - ever!!!!

I pity having to change over the game to LEDs... when did pins change over to that wierd plasticky clip bulb holder housing? They seem super fragile.

Luckily, marco has the scoop assembly. I’m in $150 in parts to make the garage right. Like most project games, by the time I make this one right, I’ll be into it for what it’s worth (or close to anyhow). Factor in my time and it’s a losing battle. Not a good way to try and make money. But I should have a nice, reliable Nascar when it’s all said and done....

Agreed, the overall build quality seems below Williams/Bally. Or maybe I’m just partial to WPC games. I suppose it’s what you grow accustomed to working on. At least the Whitestar boards are serviceable...

The build quality IS below WPC/Bally/Williams games. NASCAR was my first "modern" pin so the differences between them stood out like a sore thumb to me. Those light clips ARE super delicate. They will break if you look at them the wrong way.

The garage mech on this pin is completely under-engineered. The fact that it doesn't use bearings is ridiculous. Slide bushings? I mean seriously? How cheap can you get? This is the main component of the game and they cheaped out there. It's a horrible mech. I've always wanted to re-engineer it. The weld break is very common. It looks like you're missing a piece of the metal completely?

Which piece of metal am I missing?

I agree, the garage is crude. The sound of it clunking up and down during the game was a detractor when I first started playing the game. Now I’m immune to the sound, but all of that metal-on-metal bashing can’t be good....

In your third pic, I don't remember that being open like that. It's been a while though. Maybe one of the other owners here can provide more info.

Here’s what a tech did for the cheap-o light sockets on this game. At least whomever did this had some understanding of pinball electronics.

Some other pics too. Wonder what’s under the tape on the switch wires? One battle at a time...

The fuse block is for a flipper. I’ll have to clean that up at some point.

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If anyone is having trouble with that center scoop firing stdm, make sure the bolts holding the assy to the pf are tightened up before making any adjustments.

Helped mine out.

Finally finished rebuilding the garage. I was missing the correct coil sleeve for the raise coil and honestly just lost interest for a few weeks. Anyhow, new raise coil and sleeve, new scoop weldment, new targets, most remaining items ran through the ultrasonic cleaner. Fresh lube on it.

One step at a time...

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Looks solid!! I cant get enough of playing mine.

Just figured out that the spinners and the captive ball control which mode is awarded... go figure.

Can anyone reliably tell me that their diverter is smart enough to allow them to alternate ramps? Mine usually goes to the left flipper almost all the time unless
1. Lock is lit
2. Collect race letter on left ramp is lit.

But thats about it.... anyone else?

PinJim looks fantastic!

Thanks. I still have a lot to do, but getting there. The pops need rebuilt, as do the slings and diverts, launchers, etc. my captive ball switch isn’t working, and I suspect my right ramp switch is marginal. And more. All part of the fun....

I just came across this hard to find part.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/nascar-test-car-and-car-mount-bracket

Curious if anyone here has had any trouble with the garage not lowering? I ran it in test and the switches activate properly, and the coil does attempt to fire, but its almost like the pulse is too short? The horizontally mounted coil will pull in the angled plunger most of the time, but there are odd times where in game it will try to pull this in a few times and eventually give up. I hear the coil trying to pull in the angled plunger and the plunger is totally clean and free of any debris or residue.

any ideas? anyone else have this issue? IN test mode garage up/down, the up works 100% of the time but the down will attempt to fire and sometimes pulls in, letting the garage fall, or it pulses and fails. If i try again, it seems to work correctly, but intermittently.

diodes for all the switches look good and the switches themselves test fine.

There was an upgraded coil stop and rom update for this issue. Marco's use to have them for sale and they are still in stock.

https://www.marcospecialties.com/pinball-parts/502-5043-86

Thanks grumpy, the coil stop bracket is the upgraded unit.

Just not sure why its firing but not registering sometimes, either frlm switch or from test,

Btw i havent forgotten about that translite - toronto has been on covid lockdown....

Also, switch 39 tests good, if garage is up, i can trigger 39 and it will fire the garage release coil without any issues

EDIT: maybr i screwed around with it enough last night cuz its working fine from what i can tell so far.

Will update.

Check the stern grand prix test car problem thread maybe that will help solve your garage issue

Played a few longish games.. no issues thankfully.

I am pretty sure its not mechanical since everything is free, clean and moving nicely. Will update!

I am down a left flipper bushing tho....

Corrected, down both bushings.

If any of you have a guillotine fetish, i put my phone inside the game while running the garage up and down test.

Interesting as the raise coil actually engages for a fraction of a second while the release coil pulls in.

I did some digging and Grumpy is right in that there were changes but , From the firmware changelogs, this appears to be normal operation up starting at v4.00

CPU Release Version 4.00
Date October 25, 2005
File nascpua.400 (American release, checksum $32FF)
nascpul.400 (Spanish release, checksum $F1FF)

– Improved the driver for the car mechanism to prevent wear on the
release coil latch.
– Improved and more efficient firing of lower track exit diverter.
– Better compensation when the Test Car switch is broken. Modes will
start properly now.

That is part of the changes when using the updated Rom chip.

Woah now, i did not see that in the Changelog.

Im on 4.20 tho

Your past the 3.40 update. I noticed that a few coils acted different when I updated from 1.02 to 3.40 code. Mostly a bit softer hit. I sold the game a few years ago and my recollection is a bit fussy now.

Just finished restoring a NASCAR, because I always like the game.

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Nice job!!! I was just looking at ideas to dress up the diverter as a flag tower earlier today...

Stacking modes like test car and speed shots and multiball all at the same time is pretty satisfying.

More details on your test car replacement?!

Wonderful job! My main problem with NASCAR has always been the throw away decals on everything and the generic signage. I love what you have done. I had plans to update the decals/signage and tower as well but sold mine before it happened. For the drops, my idea was to put 5-0-0 and create a Daytona sign for above it. The spinners were going to get car logos like you have done. I had plans to update that shitty Saturday Night sign in the back and the boring TEST CAR signs.

I really like the way you updated the ramps with proper cars and roadway. I hated the STERN yellow stickers with a passion. So much potential with this pin, but understandable why they dumbed it down so much. Royalties and sponsors would have been a real pain in the ass.

My largest plan was to replace that shitty truck in the back left of the playfield for a real diecast version.

It’s a 1:43 die cast, with Jeff Gordon because you know, bash Jeff Gordon! My buddy took a half inch thick piece of acrylic and cut it to shape then routed down the inside for the car to sit in. That thick of material isn’t bad to screw into so it just mounts back in. Honestly, it works perfectly. And having that piece work great and look good is awesome. I did a full tear down and rebuild of this machine though. Replaced all the switches, polished the forms, the works. It took forever, but it looks and plays amazing! #worthit

Id love to upgrade the car on my game.

Even if someone just came out with a sticker skin to wrap the car, id be fine with that.

I was even thinking of making it a building and the car goes up into it when the garage is open.

And some of us dont want to bash on toyotas

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Had car replaced on mine

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At least something that looks more like a car.

And less like a bar of soap...

On to my next oddity. There’s a pulsing sound coming from under the playfield. One of the LEDs on an opto board flickers in sync with the opto sound. Odd. If I unplug J9 from the driver board, the pulsing goes away. I’m not excited to chase down this gremlin. It doesn’t seem to effect play. Just odd and annoying...

Anyone have an led ocd board in their nascar? Any videos?

No vids but the ledocd boards in this era of stern are imho required and amazing.

MustangPaul has one.

I notice nascar has a lot of nice bulb fade effects and half lit bulbs to make it look like sequenced animations... im not sure what other games utilize these effects on dmd games... i dont think wpc era games did this.. it was either on, or flash or off...