Joined the club today. FINALLY!
Played a GZ-LE Dec 10th at a launch party. Ordered a Premium on December 13th. Distro told me "You'll be in my August allocation", and continued to tell me my position in his roster as the months rolled along. Was still agonizing.
Found this thread in mid January and have read every post. A million thanks to those of you who are regular contributors. You have helped me learn, made me laugh, and helped me keep my sanity as I waited anxiously for 7 months. I have learned a ton and am excited to join a community of such friendly, helpful and patient people. I must have 40 bookmarks to refer back to for settings, adjustments, fixes and so forth. And, like others, I have a closet full of mods that will take some time to get after. GZ Prem. Born June 18, 2022. Glass comes off nice and smooth. Only about 20 plays in, but it seems to be playing perfectly. Thanks again to all of you offering amazing help, advice, support and mods.

NIB GZ 6-28-22 (resized).jpg

This and PinMonks Tibetan Breeze Flipper and Coil fans plus new coil stops. If you still have cash, Stremmy's OD mod is killer as is Sleal16's saucer. The GZ Mod thread is excellent.

Shaker motor is a must on this pin. If you don't have one, order it today. Game is not complete without it.
Best $200 and 2 minutes install time you can spend on this game.

I am running the Stern. Standard settings. No adjustment. Love the way it responds in game.
Glass doesn't rattle, no squeaks (which have been reported by others) but it is aggressive at some points.
Certainly a matter of taste, but to me, this pin isn't complete w/o it.

Get a leaf switch adjustment tool and have at it. Google "how to use" it and go slow. SMALL adjustments.
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Looks the same as mine

Left flipper switdh GZ Prem (resized).jpg

Best way, imo, is to build a pin rotisserie. If you already have a mitre saw stand, you are almost there.
I followed YouTube instructions from Canadian Arcade. Works exceptionally well.

you can also find them on the web pre-constructed from some resellers. Google "pinball playfield rotisserie"

Video link to the build your own version here:

Super easy. And works perfectly.

Having the same issue. It definitely began after the 1.0 code

This fixed my issue. Used the flipper adjustment tool from Titan Pinball, but a thick business card, or maybe a thin one folded will give you a decent gap.
Fwiw, had already swapped out coil stops and sleeves with new ones from Pinball life. Always a good idea.

Mine stopped working after the 1.0 update. Ticket issued with Stern. If you search back about two weeks in this thread you'll see some others had the same issue. Seems to be a power distribution board issue. Contact your distributor. If you have another Spike 2 PDB try swapping that. fwiw my build date was 6/18/22.

Mine spins freely when power is off and pf up. Seems to work perfectly in game.

Other than the coin door not cutting power when opened, my game works fine.
New code is great (other than the dumbing down of the Imposter shot)
Download the code and play till your fingers bleed.

Also wanted to confirm that RoadQueen has identified (for me at least) the source of the problem with the ball not seating in the VUK. When I inspected mine, intending to put in RoadQueen's washer set-up, I noticed that all of the vertical chute screws were a bit loose, especially the two at the bottom (where RoadQueen had put in 0 washers). I secured those tightly (no washers added) and have not had a "lost" ball in the VUK in 50 games since. Seems to me that a contributing problem is the use of the "handle" on the top of the playfield backboard stresses that area and aggravates the problem. My advice would be to not lift by that handle at all. Ever. If I do begin to experience lost balls in the VUK, I will add washers as RoadQueens solution shows. But for those of you with the same issue, a good first thing is to check and tighten those screws holding the vertical chute.

Now that I think about it, I had previously tried JayLars solution and likely those two together are what has my VUK working perfectly for now
Quick thanks to JayLar and RoadQueen!

Happens on mine some of the time. Most of the time, the auto-plunged ball will pass through under it, but not always. Sometimes gets hung up and attached. Other times rattles off. Either way, it's game on and time to shoot blue targets!
Have the ABE_FLIPS mod from @Lermods. Mecha multi ball has worked pretty much the same both before and after.

Push left flipper once after start of player, but before you launch the first ball.
it will toggle between Japanese and English
Selectable for each player individually

This happened to mine just last week. Easy fix. First go to page 56 in the service manual to see the exploded parts diagram.
Lift the playfield and find the screw that goes in the back of the magnet core (his belly button). Part #7 in the diagram. You will also need to find the spring washer (part #8) which is most likely still inside Mecha, just fallen down.

Two tips.
First, while the Magnet core is out of Mecha take the screw and thread it all the way back into the core. On mine, the threads had "tightened" I think due to the heat that gets generated. Had to drive the screw all the way in to sort of re-expand the threaded hole. Was no problem, just could not get the leverage while it was in place trying to reattach.
Also, holding the spring clip in place was a bit of a challenge until I used my magnetic grabber tool to hold it in place while I slide the magnet core back through. Super easy with the magnet tool assist.

15 minute fix. Five minutes to search for the screw. Five minutes to scratch my head and strategize. Five minutes of work.

Also, I put a dab of blue lock-tite on the screw when I replaced it (distributor's suggestion).
Probably 100 plays since fixed. No further problem. Working as it should.

Imposter is when the magna grab holds the ball and then you get it to go behind the upper flipper. Either by releasing it so it rolls down that way, or if you hit it up through there before it times out.

And yes. most likely the issue seems to be your MRS (if you have installed it behind the upper flipper) is triggering during the magna grab. Go into switch test and check it out. If that's it, Sonic is great about replacing flakey switches with new and improved versions. Just hit him up.

Yeah, mine took an airball awhile ago. When you consider the damage created by the mass, velocity and impact of those balls, these and other 3D printed things are never going to last forever. But for roughly $100 I don't expect more or mind fixing them as long as possible and maybe evey 5 years replace the entire set.

I have had excellent success with using a 3M mounting tape splint. Then cover the front side with your badge or sticker of choice.
For me, a Stealie makes everything better. If you want to keep with the electric theme, I did have a lightning bolt on there before which also looked great. This has taken additional airballs and has needed to be "re-repaired/repositioned" a couple of times. But, the mounting tape splint system has been great for me.

For those curious the lightning bolts (and other excellent stuff) can be found here: https://grateful-fred.com/products/the-grateful-dead-chrome-bolt
(no, I have no affiliation, just love his stuff)

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Tesla Tower front side (resized).jpg

Finally made it to Planet X the "right" way by progressing through all four cities and playing all seven main battles before going to Planet X.
Got this game NIB 18 months ago.
Over 2200 attempts.

Now I gotta get back there, but next time only after completing all carnage bonuses in each city.
Hope it doesn't take another 2000 attempts. But even if it does,
Damn good fun every game!

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Holy smokes! I had no idea. Thanks for that.
2200 plays gave me plenty of time to learn the rules, and especially the particulars of my machine and when/how to nudge/slap/deadflip etc. If your main goal is scoring in particular, you'll want to focus on getting to, and then collecting those super jackpots in all the mini modes. You can get past 1B without leaving Tokyo if you collect on everything.

For me its a strange mix of patience and aggression. Patient when the ball is near flippers to let it settle for control. Milliseconds later, nudging and slapping like a caged gorrilla on crack to keep it out of the outlanes.

Currently, I am super stoked. Have a TMNT Premium arriving within the hour.
It's actually going to be gifted to my kid for whom its a dream theme but he is not in a position to buy right now. And he's currently in a thin walled apartment. I figure I'll have time to put about 2000 plays on it before he's settled and post some scores on there that will annoy the crap outta him!
I am pacing around the house looking out the window every 30 seconds.
It's Pin-Christmas today!

I put PDI on two of my pins a few months ago. I will now have to put it on the others. The difference is amazing. But really I think any HD/invisi/vodoo are alll a huge improvement over regular glass. I don't think you'll find an unhappy owner with any of them.

A huge impact regardless if you change the glass or not, is to make sure to adjust the setting for "backglass brightness during gameplay" to something less than 18%. I like 10-12% on my machines.

I went with the Godzilla eye shooter from Super Skill Shot.
Then went with the same start button. Love them both

https://superskillshot.com/search?q=godzilla+eye

I now have Super Skill Shot shooter rods on every machine I own. They shoot like butter.

Well I didn't want to pile on to Chuck & Dak's posts about how great they are at Super Skill Shot. Didnt want to sound like I was pushing too hard.
And btw, there is a mod thread here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-mod-thread

Definitely worth paging through. Lot of amazing work by talented people.
But fair warning. You will drain your wallet.

To answer your question:
The first time I went with 40mm. After almost 2000 plays, the front popped off.
I emalled Bill, the owner of Super Skill Shot asking about glue reccomendations. He insisted he send me another free of charge. I insisted that 2000 plays was out of warranty and so I paypal'd him anyway. So Bill drops the Godzilla eye start button in the box with the rod and sent that at no charge.

The first time there wasnt a 35mm option. Bill had asked and I told him I preferred smaller. And after install I definietely do. Reason being, that is basically the siize of a Williams/Bally or a stock Stern. Except the quality is phenomenal. Literraly shoots and feels so smooth. And I prefer smooth shooter knobs. Both front and backside. His are like glass.

Also, I loved the eye start button so much, i paypal'd him for that as well. Over his protests I should add. But I just love the modding community and what those people do. Creative stuff and never going to sell millions of these things. And really. 2000 plays, to me is about 1500 out of warranty.
Was gonna take pics of my machine, but the ones on his website look exactly like they will look on your machine.

Try swapping your balls with new ones. Carbon steel preferred. In my games anyway, one of the first signs of magnetised balls is shooter lane acting up, by either misfeeding, or feeding two. Btw, new balls are packed in oil to prevent rust, make sure to wash them in alcohol, naphtha, or similar before loading in your game.

For the VUK, sounds like you've found the key post with washers. And it sounds like that is a pretty solid fix.
For me, I didnt have to go that far. Early on, I had the same issue. When I had the playfield on jacks I noticed my backboard was not screwed tightly to the playfield. If I remember correctly there were only 3 or 4 wood screws holding that backboard.
I tightened those up nice and snug, did the same for the VUK brackets, both the one under the playfield and the vertical chute on the backboard.
Then, and I think most importantly I believe, I have never again used that "handle" on the top of the backboard. I reach under the playfield gently with two fingers and find a bare spot to use as a lift point. Over 2000 plays since and it miss-fires maybe once every 15 times. And then it always makes it up on the second coil fire.

ymmv, but worth a check.

Had the same issue on EHOH, same fix with "cupping" the plunger. Havent been under my GZ in a long time. I dont remember if that plunger is poly like EHOH or metal. But I also dont really think it is the same issue with GZ as it was for EHOH. For EHOH it was a "sloppy" situation where for whatever reason the ball wasn't centering on the plunger. For GZ, I think the main issue was the gap where the underplayfield trough meets the vertical chute. Ball was getting caught sitting in that gap. I believe that's why the business card solution can also work.
But, take all this for what its worth. Which ain't a lot. I havent been in that area of GZ for over a year now. Just going on admittedly failing and faulty memory!

You should be able to hit the loop from the magna grab drop.

Check the key posts up top.
It's buried in there

Here ya go.
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/170#post-6820254

Yup, I know it says its for easier entry to the left ramp.
And it does help with that as well.

After that, if you are still missing, I believe the next advice was to start dropping your back left leg leveler by a quarter turn until you can.

I used the washer solution just in front of the coil stop. Been working perfectly for 1500 plays since.

From this post, found in the key posts top of page:
"Solution : Added 4 11x.9mm washers between the end of the plunger and the coil stop to restrict its motion. A flat washer without the hole would probably be better but this is all I had on hand. The number of washers required will depend on the amount of unwanted motion you have,

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/stern-godzilla-official-owners-club/page/128#post-6714220

Ah, you are correct bwalter I totally missed the point on that. And yes, mine looks the same. Pretty beat up. I boughht a new one from Pinball life about 1000 plays ago thinking at some point I might have to change it. But I never have and for sure its more beat up now, but not THAT much more beat up if that makes any sense. In any case, still seems to operate just fine so havent worried about it.

$10 at Pinball life
https://www.pinballlife.com/stern-godzilla-magna-grab-cap.html

I have Stern shakers in all my Stern pins.
Only EHOH squeaked. And it squeaked a lot. At first I didnt care because it kinda goes with the theme.
But after seeing people post about the $5 Pinball life polarity reverser I figured I would try it.
Amazingly the thing was squeak free immediately and has remainded that way for another 400+ plays.
I suppose it may start to squeak again, and if it does, for sure I wil just take it out.
But yeah, can confirm. $5 and worked great for me.

To relight Kaiju battles you have to shoot both the left and right ramp once each, then put it in the scoop. In Tokyo only you can shoot the same ramp twice. All this is assuning you have it on easy/normal settings. There are yellow lights on the signs by the bridge entrance that will unlight as you qualify each bridge shot. (in Tokyo they both stay lit until you make two shots). Once you do that, the scoop will light for Kaiju battle followed by a callout and Godzilla pulling up in the boxing stance on screen. Shoot scoop. Choose battle.