So here we go again with another bowling themed machine to bring back to life. RonSS Why did I let you talk me into picking up this new project ? I picked this machine up it was in 1 families basement for the past 40 years about an hour south of chicago. Overall the machine is in pretty good condition and was about 90% playable to a degree. Had some scoring issues and some cosmetic issues and a couple structural reinforcement issues under the lane to get fixed as shown in the last pic. 1st issue i'm tackling is cleaning her up because the 3 people who lived in the house smoked like chimneys so it is covered in nicotine tar. It smells pretty bad from that so i'm looking for a product to help mitigate that awful cigarette smell. I also have about 4 spots with duct tape residue which i'm thinking goo gone will remove? Currently i've just been cleaning with 409 and draping Downy dryer sheets on it, i'm sure there has to be a better product for this? As soon as I finish scrubbing every inch I will be moving on to the internals. I will be starting with all the steppers and score reels in the recessed part of the backbox behind the backglass. After all that is done I will be moving to the switch banks, relays, steppers and score motor all mounted on the backbox door. The machine is pretty dirty as i'm sure there has been no love given to her for quite some time. Looks like the last time she saw action commercially was 1974 from the tax stamp still on the backglass. I'm taking the guru @mopars advice and not plugging her in until all listed work above at lesst is finished. So come along and join me on my journey as I embark once again into the world of EM's that I don't know much about still even after my 1st shuffle alley resto. Any and all advice given along the way will be greatly appreciated and hopefully I won't have to begging for very many parts but if I do plz steer me to the right spot to get them. I've already reached out to Bowlerguy (Chris) for a couple items and luckily he is a local guy so that will be a huge help. I will however be looking hard core for a 3ft extension piece so I can convert it to a 16ft bowler but that won't be an issue until this old bowler is back up and running 100%. So wish me luck and call me crazy but here we go. I'm sure i've missed a lot but a big thanks in advance to all of you, Bill.
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I get that a lot

Jumping right in and getting these internal components cleaned up and really they aren't that filthy. Thankfully they stopped using that nasty grease on the 60's machines that they used on the 50's machines. That stuff is a bear to get off all those little parts.

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Yeah and meanwhile i'm cussing you as I scrub these stepper unit parts and reassemble them.

Thanks I will pick some up tomorrow as this ashtray smell is awful.

Been a pretty productive day. I did a whole lot of cleaning the exterior today which took about a half a roll of paper towels. Also knocked out everything on the bottom row which was player 6,5,2 and 1. Took those player steppers apart thoroughly cleaned all parts and reassembled. Filed and cleaned all contacts on those A,B and C reset relays also.

So as I was finishing up bolting the player 1 stepper in I noticed this loose wire. It looks like it came loose of the player up reel and someone just taped the wires together. Would it be safe to say it needs to be resoldered to the pin that has no wires on it in the pic? I'm including th front view of this reel also.

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I've been pretty productive this morning I finished up the last 2 player steppers. Getting ready to start on the scoring reels now after a quick road trip I had to take. Big thanks to Chris from St Louis ball bowlers for setting me up with some new ball return rubber and a broken rollover switch. I got some food in my belly now so it's time to quit typing and get back to work!

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Geez i'm playing babysitter here at same time i'm trying to get this thing cleaned up. You guys are ruthless slave drivers! I'm on my last stepper u it before starting on the score reels.

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Don't worry I will be posting soon over there

Anybody know if theres an LED bulb that I can use to swap out these old #55 bulbs?

So would I be able to just plug in a #44 led 6.3v bulb even though these #55's are 7v bulbs?

Sweet I have some downstairs. Thank you!

Ok so player 2 score reels were one hell of a project. Pretty much all 3 coil stops were completely mushroomed and a bitch to get out of the coils. Looks like I will be tabulating a list of replacement parts i'm gonna need. All in all it was a good day and one step closer to a fully functional ball bowler.

Yeah it's a little different with this one because I know it was playable it's not like I last Shuffle alley project that did not work at all when I picked it up and needed a ton of work to get going.

Thanks it took me almost 3 years to find one that was in my budget. They are some of the most fun machines you will play.

So I took all the score reels out took them all apart and all the little parts are in the ultrasonic cleaner. Score reels will all be done and reassembled hopefully tonight.

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Well I forgot I had a Zoom call last night with the guys over on the Pinball and Bourbon thread at 8 last night so I didn't get much done. Up and at em though this morning and getting back to it but I gotta run back out to st louis ball bowlers to grab some more parts at some point today. Will do a progress report some time later today.

Just got back home from another parts run out to st louis ball bowlers. Time to get cracking!

Let's get these parts installed.

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Scrubba dubba dubba... These reels were filthy, nothing a little Dawn dishsoap won't fix.

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Ughh... 7 more reels to go. I'm really starting to remember how much I hate score reels

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Yeah worst part about it is every single one of them has burns on them so I'm just going to have to keep my eyes open for some better ones that might pop up for sale. However in the meantime I have now completely finished the back box. I got the last score reels put together and assembled and will now be moving on to all the other components like the flash motor and score motor and the switch stacks and the bank relays that are all attached to the door.

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Lol I used a black sharpie to touch up some spots where the black had flaked.

I put my 8yr old to work filing switch contacts under the playfield. Helps them understand you rarely get to plug things in and they work fine. Gotta teach em early how much more you appreciate something after you put in a bunch of work on it.

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I couldn't find the coil for the score reels on marco or pinball life or even doing a google search. 3-26-1200 coil.