That saved the manufacturer money for wire and relays.

The one coil has the same power but a different frame size. That's the difference between A and G.

The metal spoons are fine. The only reason to replace one is if one breaks. I don't know how a plastic spoon could get a wear spot in it since the skirt end sits in the center and goes in all directions but whatever. No need to replace metal spoons.

Howard answered the other question. The didn't always do it. Sometimes each bumper has its own relay. I don't care for the paired situation but that's what they did.

Vid's guide is for more modern assemblies such as on solid state games. I have actually encountered many times where a plastic spoon has worn a hole into itself (rendering it useless because the skirt stem gets stuck in the hole). Sometimes the plastic spoon "warps" causing inconsistent sensitivity all around the skirt (sometimes it takes harder hits to trigger the bumper and sometimes it's too sensitive).

Those problems does not occur with metal spoons so you are fine. Just clean out any old/dried out grease/gunk in the metal spoon with a q-tip soaked with either lighter fluid or alcohol. Then you can regrease the cup lightly with Super Lube synthetic grease.

When I start disassembling pop bumpers I tend to keep one together to use as a reference in case all the photos I took don't show how they go back together again. Photos are nice, but having a physical example is always better for me.

I can't wait to see what your game looks like when you're done.

The manufacturers usually paired pop bumpers to save money, yes, but where it wouldn't adversely affect the overall action of the pops, i.e. not wiring two pops together which were right next to each other which would totally screw up the action with the ball flying off one pop and then hitting the second pop while it's ring may not be all the way back up.

I re-use the old rings and polish them on the buffing wheel. Inspect these two areas for breakage first though.

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I use mother’s mag and aluminum polish and it does a great job on the rings with just a rag. One other thing I have rarely run into is that the posts can get bent and bind going through the playfield. Make sure the springs that push the rings back up are good too. That makes a difference in good pop action. Sounds like you’re well on your way.

Dave

Mother’s is what I use when I polish by hand. I’m still getting familiar with buffing on my bench buffer so just using the rouge materials it came with.

@undrdog, I use the same process Dave does and the rings come out great

Smart move. Don't forget to buy one pop bumper ring replacement. You''ll be grateful you have it, even if all of yours are fine. Beats making a new order for one broken ring. It also gives you the ability to replace a beat one, or just a good ring for the future.

Don't even waste time using a Dremel for buffing a pop bumper ring. Too small and slow. You need a table top buffer and rouge to polish.

You can totally hand buff, with some off the shelf mother's mag polish or the like and get a decent shine. But it'll never get the shine/polish a bench buffer would achieve. Don't get hung up on it, but a Dremel would just make a mess and you'll be better off hand polishing. If you continue restoring metal, spend $100 on a bench top buffer and $100 on wheels and rouge.

I prefer to replace the rings with new on older games, reason being is that years of hitting often old and chipped balls marks them and re-polishing reduces the already worn plating.
Just my thoughts....

No. If you really want to you can do it by hand