Only if you get your eyes parallel to the cab and look up/from the side at the housing. then you can see that it's not flush

This is what it looks like

8D71A052-A904-471D-97E5-3D573FB57D59 (resized).jpeg

Is this post factory? It just seems oddly placed

1FBF44B0-49F4-49C8-A209-DD073D42193E (resized).jpeg

Only a few more posts to take off. I really hope I can put this thing back together once I get this thing on

2FDBD171-F456-441E-BB8D-D4B0EA15047D (resized).jpeg

I have a bunch of shop out photos I can send you if you need them.

Thanks that would be helpful. I took tons of pictures but I’m sure I’ll land on a point where I say “oh crap I missed that”. The hardtop should be here tomorrow. The new posts and everything I need for the first layer of reassembly should be here by Monday. I think the thing I’m most nervous about surprisingly is putting the pop bumper sockets back in correctly. There are also a few posts still on the playfield that are secured with a regular nut but the top of them are perfectly round so I haven’t thought of a good way to grip those. Any ideas? I’d like to have the hardtop on by Saturday or Sunday so I can start reassembly on Monday

Picture?

Ones like this the one between the green and white insert

3ACBDA48-02B6-4E8F-B2B6-D2D37C503523 (resized).jpeg

Put an old post rubber on that post and give a squeeze with the vice grips while you use the nut driver on the other side. That way you won’t damage anything.

Oh yeah, I probably just did some channel locks with a towel around them or something. The caps probably won't fit over those pop bulbs but you can usually remove the dome with some needle nose pliers.

It’s here!!! The channel locks method with a rag wrapped around is working good. All I have left are the rails. Can’t wait to get this on!

C05C2874-B829-497E-A873-DED0CB550E1F (resized).jpeg

This thing looks incredible! I can’t wait to get it back together! Yes it still has the front side protective plastic on it.

C51DE17B-86E7-4597-8945-4B03A3B8BF2E (resized).jpeg

This is a horrible horrible picture but lucky to report I did not short out the lamp matrix or GI while doing this and no more blue GI!

AC8A3375-0B71-4DD4-B2C5-E157E92FE920 (resized).jpeg

Starting to repopulate. Got the rails on. Gonna put all the metal ball guides on and that will be about all I can do today. New posts arrive tomorrow!

3D1A7E1D-56B4-40A0-9775-7A13720D7FC2 (resized).jpeg

Was hoping to get my order with all the posts today. Somehow the order that didn’t ship until Saturday got here before the one that shipped Thursday.. oh well pops are annoying so may as well get them back together

image (resized).jpg

Has anyone chromed their Taxi armor and or coin door? I’m considering this but would like to see some pictures first.

I think my preference is black coin door with the chrome rails and legs.

Thanks!

I’ve run into what I think Is going to be my only problem. Where does the support leg for the wire form from the arrival ramp attach to near the pop bumpers?

image (resized).jpg

Jmckune you sure you have the correct wire form for that ramp?

It looks like it. I went through my pre tear down photos and it looks like there was a wood screw in the spot directly on the playfield. Drilled a hole and called it a day.

image (resized).jpg

There was a topic a few weeks ago where someone else had the same question. I think the hard top is missing the hole

F7BFEEFE-4846-4DF4-BAE8-A3B34687BC5D (resized).png

Has anyone chromed their Taxi armor and or coin door? I’m considering this but would like to see some pictures first.
I think my preference is black coin door with the chrome rails and legs.
Thanks!</

Joefox22 owns one that is chromed out and might still be for sale. Check out his profile for archived ads
F7BFEEFE-4846-4DF4-BAE8-A3B34687BC5D (resized).png

I’ll call this one done! I’m waiting on someone from work to come help me solder in the pop bumper leads. For whatever reason they were giving me a lot of trouble so he said he’d help me with it. After that it will be good to turn on and play!

B1AD4311-83DD-418E-8957-8BE029DCC947 (resized).jpeg

Don't forget that MRS!

Solved my own problem... Duh.

So after putting back together one of the pops locked on. My first thought was transistor. However before going straight to the board, I looked closely at the switch, there is a gap so it wasn’t causing it, this being broken off might though. I’m gonna have to get another new pop socket for the light because it broke when I tried putting a light in.
Edit: after resoldering that the coil still locks on. Gonna try replacing the coil then if that doesn’t work it’s definitely the transistor
70505B33-D100-4891-A885-BEEB2D4C2A6C (resized).jpegDA0E5284-CAC4-44FC-B2F9-7D18682A1D90 (resized).jpeg

Would it be possible for the coil to lock on as soon as the game was powered on if it was something at the switch vs a transistor? Switches shouldn’t be active until the game starts.

Simple meter test will tell you if it's the transistor or not. I'm guessing that's it. The diode on the switch may have gone bad too.
SmartSelect_20200507-175409_Chrome (resized).jpg

I’m going to test but if it were the diode wouldn’t that also cause it to lock on only when the game was started?

No test even needed. This transistor is definitely bad. Is there anything that would cause this? The switch was not stuck closed. Anything else I should check before plopping a new one in?

ABFB1BD2-871D-4321-8E4D-B1E6F0F42A50 (resized).jpeg

There might be a small pre-driver (half-circle, 3 legs) before the transistor. It might be bad too. You'll know if you replace the transistor and the coil still locks on.

I’d like to find a likely cause before I put another one in to fry it too. Would that broken resistor be enough to cause the coil to lock on initially? I had the machine on for several minutes looking things over before it started smelling and smoking and it wasn’t until I started the game did I notice it start to smell and smoke. Would it be a good bet that the resistor being broken was the root cause and then once the game started enabled the coil to lock on and fry the transistor?

Occasionally transistors do fail on their own. I would just swap both:
Q75 transistor (tip102)
Q74 Predriver (2n4401)

Turn on your game and watch the left pop bumper. If it instantly fires shut your game back off and then start looking into why its locking on.

Also check F3 fuse on the AUX power driver board. Make sure it's not over fused. Should be 2.5A Slow Blow.

This is unrelated but does anyone know what the two flashers at the Very top of the playfield are for? I haven’t noticed them specifically light unless they are with the ramp flashers. Not the spinout or joyride ones, the ones in the very top

If you are not successful with transistor replacements also consider the electrolytic capacitor on the switch under the bumper assembly. If it shorts the bumper coil will lock on. I recently went thru this on a taxi project of my own -- a post with pics here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/project-paragon-breathing-life-back-into-the-beast/page/15#post-5632935

Hello all,

Been having an issue with the sound in my taxi. When I power it on after it has sat a day or two, the background music will not start until the first ball drains. After I play the first ball it always come on. I have all other sounds during the first ball just not the background music. I'm assuming it's a cold solder joint somewhere, but any advise where to look first would be appreciated.

Thanks Chris

Make sure to wait when you first power on for the "bong" sound which indicates the sound board is initialized. I've had this exact problem when starting a game before the bong sound and the music did the same. Good luck!

Good luck @grindhouse. I'm sure a bare playfield wont be too awful hard to come by. But a new harness might be kind of tough. Probably better off finding someone with 2 project machines and getting their (worse of the two) playfields then doing a hardtop on it. The boards, backglass, new displays, playfield glass, lockbar and coin door, can all be obtained. First thing I would do while its bare like that is strip the cabinet and sand/repaint the inside. Make it look nice and it can give you a little confidence boost towards finishing the rest. There's a few guys in this thread that have some spare parts they'd probably sell down the line when you start to get a little more complete. Congrats on the pickup! I love watching these old Barn finds come to life. I'll keep my eyes peeled for anything you may be needing. Start your own thread and document all of it for you to look back on in the future. I'd love to watch your progress.

Grindhouse I'm currently redoing my Taxi. My Taxi was in a slightly better condition (not much), than yours.

I put on new decals, and sprayed 4 coats of 2-part auto clear. I sanded with 600 / 800 / 1200 / 1500. Now I have to polish it to mirror shine!!!

I bought my Taxi and it came with ton's of extra parts off playfield (coils / brackets / metal rails and 100's of misc screws ect). I don't know what to do with the extra parts. They are heavy tho.

Let me know if you're interested.

Kerry

This is going to be quite an adventure. I did a complete restore to a Big Guns in similar (but not quite as awful) condition. I would encourage you to seek out used parts too when you can, as a lot of what is on that machine doesn't need to be new, it just needs to be there. Plus, things like base plates and mechs (new) can be really quite expensive as it ads up. Plus, there is great fun and satisfaction in restoring the old parts.

Good luck with your restore!

You can definitely switch without issues. Mine had an original Marilyn playfield in it. What was weird is the backglass and software were Lola. I debated heavily on converting to full Lola when doing the swap since I had 2/3 things i needed but opted to keep it Marilyn, since then I changed the Roms so it now says Marilyn on the screen. Last thing I need to track down is a backglass or translite.

So I took a picture of how nice the new pop bumper caps look and it actually turned into a pretty cool picture overall, redoing this game has made me appreciate it a lot more. I love it, won’t be going anywhere for a long time!

0F513BB1-703C-44E9-8D5E-60425FCDA820 (resized).jpeg

Mines exactly the same. Lola roms and BG, Marilyn playfield.

Maybe someday I'll switch. Probably better off finding someone who wants Lola and I can just trade them.

Just joined the club with a Taxi that has been in a house during 16 years without any form of cleaning or maintenance.
Game Worked but flippers are weak.
Noticed that mine are no typical System 11 flipper assembly.
Is this kind of hack?
Will install a hardtop because mylar ruined the art.

DSC_1997 (resized).JPG

DSC_2123 (resized).JPG

DSC_2126 (resized).JPG

It’s the right assembly, it’s just missing it’s capacitors.

I need to join this club. Don't see a lot of Taxi's for sale.

Best to keep it like this or change it with the model with capacitors?